Having been edged out by the odd goal away to Chesterfield on the opening day of the League Two season, Barrow host MK Dons this weekend. It is a daunting start against the two title favourites but you sense that this is just how they like it at Barrow.
“We will go out and prove people wrong,” manager Andy Whing tells Sky Sports. “That is the Barrow mindset.” Indeed, it is that attitude that helps to explain why the club appointed Whing in the first place, as the club’s chief executive Iain Wood reveals.
“Andy is what Barrow is all about,” Wood tells Sky Sports. “Barrow is a blue-collar town, they want you to work hard. He is talented but he is also down to earth and has got time for everybody. He fits what a Barrow person is and they have bought into him already.”
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Watch highlights of the Sky Bet League Two match between Chesterfield and Barrow
It is five years now since the club was promoted to the Football League for the first time in their history but the against-the-odds mentality prevails. “We were really unprepared. We were literally starting from scratch. We had four training grounds in one season.”
Wood’s wife was briefly the chef. “The lads were just doing the sessions and going home, so I would bring my missus in and she would cook for the players, just to keep the costs down. We do have an actual chef cooking for us now. I am out of the doghouse.”
But the challenges remain. Barrow’s training ground is borrowed from FC United of Manchester, a two-hour drive from the town. “There are some plusses but operationally it is hard,” says Wood. “My groundsman is up in Barrow so we have to pay two people.”
Sometimes, it means mucking in. “Some days you will see Woodsy on the lawnmower,” laughs Whing. “He will be doing the water for us. We do not cry about it and say, ‘Salford have got this and that.’ We do not want any excuses. We want to do it all ourselves.”
Wood is right about his manager. He revels in that underdog spirit, a man with something to prove. Their small cabin at the training ground is adorned with those now familiar motivational messages. Ten key traits that require zero talent. No egos.
Motivational messages on the wall of Barrow’s training ground in Manchester
Perhaps it all stems from the start of his own playing career. Whing was released by Coventry City as a youngster. “It was a massive shock.” Worse was to follow when a trial at Notts County ended with Whing’s mother being told that he should stick to school.
“They said a career football was not for me.” But they were wrong. Coventry gave Whing a second chance and he seized it, going on to play over 100 games for the club. “It toughened me up but I was always resilient. I had to be as a ginger kid at school.”
He describes his career as “deeply mundane” but he scored the last ever goal at Highfield Road and would later be named Brighton’s player of the year before becoming a cult hero at Oxford. “All three clubs have been flying ever since I left,” he jokes.
Andy Whing during his playing days with Coventry City
Coaching was not on his mind until Michael Appleton, his manager at Oxford, suggested that it was time he retired. “He was that blunt.” But it came with the offer of a coaching role with the under-18s and Whing warmed to the idea of proving people wrong again.
He remembers an old colleague laughing when he turned up on the touchline. “Comments like that made me want to show people.” And then there were the courses alongside Premier League academy coaches, the little looks. “Those things drive me.”
He set about working his way up from the bottom all over again. “I know people who went straight into Football League jobs, lasted three months and never managed again.” Whing, meanwhile, applied for jobs with Tamworth and Telford but did not get replies.
“I was working at a sofa company with my mate. I had nothing at the time, no purpose.” Eventually, he was offered an opportunity at lowly Banbury, winning promotion to the National League North. “It was a brilliant time,” he says with great pride.
“I was told I needed big horrible players. I decided I wanted the complete opposite. Not journeymen but young and hungry lads straight out of academies, who were not working all day but down the gym and working hard to get back into professional football.”
It paid off, earning him a chance at Solihull Moors, where he took the club to the final of the FA Trophy and a National League playoff final at Wembley. The latter ended in penalty shootout defeat. “I cried the next day. I knew how important it was,” he explains.
“A load of staff left after we were not promoted. I felt hurt. I felt responsible.” But the truth is that Whing did a fine job, enough to persuade Wood to turn to him with Barrow struggling in the winter. Those were difficult times. A game against Carlisle stands out.
“We lost on Sky and the fans were raging,” recalls Whing. “I could have ignored them but I fronted up. They have told me since that they have more respect for me for doing that.” Barrow won away at Notts County in the next game. “It felt like we got our identity back.”
It was just another little moment that played to Whing’s strengths. “Our little contingent of away fans and us on the bench. It felt like Barrow against the world.” And against the club that had told him not to bother pursuing a career in football all those years ago.
Barrow went on to lose only one of their final 13 games, a team transformed under Whing. “We had to get back to basics and be good off the ball,” he explains, describing League Two as an “unforgiving and relentless” place. “You have to be very adaptable.”
There were many impressive moments. Wins over Port Vale, MK Dons and Walsall stand out. But key players have departed in the summer and Whing has had to reshape the squad again. It is, Wood argues, simply a necessity for a club in Barrow’s position.
“We have to be open to giving opportunities to players and then selling them on,” says the club’s chief executive. “We have to bring in the revenue. We have to think long term. It is a fine balance but there has to be a plan otherwise Barrow will not survive.”
But that does not mean they cannot dream big. “The financials are a massive problem, but I do not care if we have 50p or we have £50 million, we still have to push the limits of what we can do and aim for something more than our budget suggests,” adds Wood.
“It is a lot to do with morale at this level, a lot to do with team bonding. If you can ride that wave then you can still find yourself at the top of the league. Our attitude is to roll our sleeves up, get the right work ethic, the right team spirit and the right coach.”
Poster on the wall of Barrow’s training ground – two hours away in Manchester
One suspects they have the man for that job. “It is a small club with big ambitions,” agrees Whing. “We probably have one of the poorest budgets but we do not care about that. I am massively ambitious myself. Otherwise, I would still be at Solihull now.”
He adds: “Solihull was perfect, living three minutes from the training ground. But I want this opportunity. I have been a manager for four years now and gone up four leagues. We have brought in a lot of new players so it will take time but we still have ambitions here.”
MK Dons will be the first visitors to Barrow this season. And Whing cannot wait. “A lot of clubs come here with the mentality that it is a long way, it is too windy. Obviously, nobody expects us to win any of our first few games. Not little Barrow. But we like that.”
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