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29th Apr 2022

Barnsley mascot ‘arrested’ just days after Championship relegation

Callum Boyle

Things have gone from bad to worse for Barnsley

Barnsley’s difficult season got a whole lot worse on Thursday after the club’s mascot, Toby Tyke, was seen being arrested – or so it seemed.

The Yorkshire club were relegated from the Championship recently, just a year after qualifying for the play-offs, and even look set to finish behind Derby County, who had a 21-point deduction.

Defeat to Huddersfield Town last week consigned the Tykes to third-tier football next year, with manager Poya Asbaghi leaving the club just two days later.

And it appears things weren’t showing any signs of improvement following Toby Tyke’s arrest. The mascot was seen being escorted into the back of the van by several police officers – despite protesting his innocence.

It left fans concerned and worried, however their fears were put to bed after it emerged that it was nothing more than a PR stunt to put smiles back on the faces of Barnsley fans.

A tweet from South Yorkshire Police Barnsley said: “How about this for ruff justice? Officers from @BarnsleyWestNPT and @BarnsleySE_NPT had to arrest Barnsley mascot Toby Tyke today as part of promotion work for the BFC Community Game Changer Barnsley project. We bet sitting in the back of the van gave him paws for thought.

“Rest assured we followed every lead going to get our man!”

https://twitter.com/SYPBarnsley/status/1519731885655703557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1519731885655703557%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Fnews%2Fbarnsley-mascot-arrested-season-goes-26828986

Barnsley midfielder says league form has been no laughing matter

Although it was some light relief from an otherwise disappointing campaign, Barnsley midfielder Matty Wolfe insisted their form on the pitch was nothing to laugh about.

“Two teams have had points deductions and it is embarrassing to be honest that they are above us,” he said.

“Not finishing bottom is a target we’ve got. It’s probably been the lowest week. Seeing the lads, everyone is devastated. Obviously, the game against Blackpool, we wanted to go out and press and get in their faces, and things just didn’t go to plan again.

“It’s obviously hard to put a finger on what’s going wrong, but nothing seems to be falling for us and they were the better team again. We didn’t deserve to get anything, and it was a poor game for everyone.

“There’s no explanation; we haven’t been good enough – and that’s everyone, really. People are putting in shifts, but even myself in the last couple of games, I haven’t been good enough at all. I know it’s cliché, we’ve got to keep going and that’s all we can do.”

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