Adam Hammill insists he would sacrifice his winners medals to ensure Barnsley maintain their Championship status at Derby County on Sunday.
The talismanic Reds’ winger helped the Club to Johnstone Paint Trophy and League One Play-Off success in the 2015/16 campaign, but says staying in the second tier is more important.
“That’s history; this is now, in the present,” asserted the 30-year-old. “This is more important to stay in the league than past glory.
“I’d take my medals and give them to someone if they could guarantee me on Sunday we’d be safe. That’s the way you’ve got to be, that’s the way I am - I’d rather put the football club first than my self-glory.”
Barnsley head to Pride Park on the back of a morale-boosting victory over Brentford at the weekend, with goals from Kieffer Moore and Oli McBurnie in either half enough for all three points.
A repeat performance against the Rams will ensure José Morais’ side beat the drop, and Hammill believes the team owe it to the fans on Sunday.
“For me, you’ve got to enjoy it; you’ve got to stand out,” continued the winger. “Walk out with your chest out, head held high and put a performance on for the fans, yourself and your family.
“We want to be playing in this division next season, it’s where the Club deserves to be. We owe a performance for the fans because we’ve maybe not hit our expectations this season, obviously we’d done so well last year, but we’ve been a little bit disappointing.
“There’s no better way to finish the season than with three points on a last day relegation scrap and avoiding that hopefully.
“We need to go out there on Sunday, put a shift and performance in, and hopefully come away with the three points; if we do that we know where our destiny lies.”
The Reds could be beneficiaries of results elsewhere on Sunday, with Bolton Wanderers hosting Nottingham Forest and Burton Albion travelling to play-off hopefuls Preston North End.
However, Hammill maintains that the team will not be thinking about what is happening in other fixtures up and down the country when the game gets underway at Pride Park.
“There’s no point in focussing on something you can’t effect,” said Hammill. “We’re out there on Sunday and we’ve got a job to do to get as many points as possible, regardless of what we do on that pitch it’s not going to effect results elsewhere.
“As long as we take care of our business it shouldn’t really matter.”
