IN the age of modern football, life as a manager can be fraught with pitfalls, and those at helms of clubs aren’t always afforded the time or the opportunity to put their stamp on things.

Last weekend Barrow AFC manager Pete Wild took charge of his 100th game as Bluebirds boss.

The game itself, a 2-0 defeat at home to Swindon Town wasn’t anything to celebrate, but for those of a blue and white persuasion Wild’s tenure is certainly a reason to be cheerful.

For those of us on the outside looking in, the change in Barrow’s fortunes since the arrival of Wild has seen the Cumbrians progress on an upward trajectory.

100 games is still just the start for Wild at Barrow, but should he continue to be given the support he has received so far, and an opportunity to mould his squad for years to come, then early signs suggest something really special could happen at this club.

 So what has Wild learned during his time at the club, that he didn’t know before landing in Cumbria.

“I’ve probably learned a million things since then,” he told The Mail.

“I’m a 39-year-old and I’ve got a lot to learn. A lot to learn about life and a lot to learn about football.

“We have got a young set of staff here, and what we do is we learn from the experience.

“We take the positives, we learn from the negatives, and we make sure that while we may make new mistakes as we go along, we don’t make the same mistakes as we progress.”

Barrow are still a work in progress for Wild, but he sees the positives in where they currently find themselves on the journey.

“If you look at the club now to where it was when we walked through the door, I would say it’s unrecognisable where we are now from where it was on day one,” he said.

“And I think that is something that everyone should be proud of.

“You never know how things are going to turn out when you first walk into a role.

“When myself and Adam walked through the door, this was my first full-time role in the football and league, and it was Adam’s first adult role as well, so there was always a little bit of nerves coming in, always a little bit of anxiousness about whether we were going to be good enough.

“We are really pleased that we have learned as we have gone along, we are pleased with the type of club we have built so far, and we just feel that there is loads more to come.”

Wild is no one man band, and while he and Temple obviously form a good team, the manager was quick to point out that many others deserve credit for the club’s progression.

He said: “We have had real support from above, and I think that is very important. We are going to make mistakes, and we don’t get hammered from the hierarchy above for those mistakes.

“Iain Wood (the club’s sporting director) has been a fantastic buffer between us and the owners at the football club.

“And the owners have been very supportive of the direction of travel we have taken at the football club, and I think that sort of harmony from top to bottom allows to take the club forward the way we want to.

“I think one of the major successes is that everybody is on the same page, and there’s a one singer one song sort of mentality throughout the football club.

“Having worked for clubs in the past where that hasn’t happened it’s very nice to have that here.