Barnsley FC exclusive: Michael Duff on summer battles, coal mines and stripping egos

Relegation in a corrosive 2021-22 had left the Oakwell club hurt and divided. Players wanted out and staff morale was low. As for the supporters? Many had simply had enough.

Duff - whose father John served in the Royal Air Force for 50 years and earned an MBE for his service - drove up the motorway from Cheltenham and the rest is history.

Barnsley have won 10 of their last 12 matches to magnificently push themselves into top-two contention in League One, with Duff having brought a team and fanbase back together within an admirable time frame.

It is providing one of the EFL stories of the season, without question.

It was all a bit different last summer when the Reds chief came in on 'high alert' as he puts it. A time when he had to 'learn on the job.'

Duff told The Yorkshire Post: "When I arrived, there were lots of hidden agendas basically and lots of disruptions. I got told about all of this - disruption at boardroom level, disgruntled fans and players who did not want to be here.

"From there to now has been pleasing. The results look after themselves a little bit once you get all the other things right.

"I did not realise fans were as disgruntled as what they were, especially being an outsider looking in. When you have been among them a bit, you could see people that had been damaged and hurt by it.

"There were lots of players who did not want to be here and were (saying) 'why I am here?'

"There were all sorts of questions and it was literally trying to build relationships as quickly as you can.

"There had been a lot of disruption in terms of (previous) managers so from the players, it was: 'Am I really going to put any time into this because he will only be here for four months.' Players are cynical like that as well.

"It's been a really big learning curve for me, but I have enjoyed the challenge.

"You go on all these courses and this and that, but until you are actually in it and in the fabric of it, you don't know what is really going on.”

Dealing with the players was Duff's first port of call. He needed help to find out who he could trust and his good mate from his Cheltenham days in Martin Devaney - on the coaching staff at Barnsley – marked his card.

"I spoke to Davvers a lot before I took the job," Duff continued.

"Ultimately, I was never going to walk into a brilliantly run, well-oiled machine. I wouldn't have got the job otherwise.

"He gave me little things of who needed to go and who wanted to go and a bit of background on all the players and their characters, which was good.

"He told me the truth as well. The only lie he told me was that it was two hours from Cheltenham. I have not been close to doing it in close to two hours since being here!

"It was important to have that as I was coming in on my own and not knowing certain things. The club tell you certain things. It's not that they are trying to hide things from you, but you find out more with the more layers you peel away."

Leading players left, but good ones remained and good players and people were recruited. Crucially, everyone has bought into the pillars that guide Duff's working life and embraced them. Respect, hard work, humility and enthusiasm.

This time last year, the talk was about asset-stripping ahead of relegation. When Duff came into the room, the conversation soon switched to stripping egos.

Ex-royal marines commandos Ben Williams and Antony Thompson were brought in early to speak to the group about the importance of possessing an ‘elite’ team mindset.

Duff also took his players to the nearby National Coal Mining Museum to provide perspective and insight into the kind of people they were representing each week.

Duff said: "Players being players go 'what are we doing this for? But there was a genuine interest.

"While they know Barnsley is a mining town and always has been, they don't know what they (miners) had to do and actually went through for not a lot of money.

"Malc (Mitchell) the kit man really helped with that. He's not really one for words, but he does give you a couple of little stories and reality chats. And the players go 'we are not going to disrespect Malc after what he had to do.' He lost a few of his mates, so I am not going to go down a mine and go what the **** are we doing this for?

"Once you take the cynicism away, they start asking questions. Whether that affects results, I don't know.

"But it gets the group together and asking questions rather than sitting on their phones watching Snapchat or whatever.

"Once you take your ego away in terms of ‘how’ you have to look and what a footballer is supposed to look like and wear, they are just normal people. A lot of what we are trying to do is strip egos away.

"There's never any doubt we have always had good players. Have I improved Herbie Kane to kick the ball 70 yards? Probably not? But I might have affected his mentality and professionalism. They are the sort of things I have to touch upon and try and improve."

Barnsley's renewed togetherness and spirit have shone through an illuminating late winter. Fans are back on board too. The gate of 18,377 in Tuesday's fine win over Sheffield Wednesday was the club's highest at Oakwell since October 2016. There is a connection once again.

Duff said: "It's not just credit to me, but a lot of people at the club. Recently, there were two young lads who run a YouTube channel who have been season-ticket holders since they were young and follow the football club and they had never been to watch training.

"I walked onto the training pitch and Khaled (El-Ahmad - CEO) introduced me to them and they watched training for ten minutes and then went back.

"I don't spend a lot of time in Barnsley when I am not working, but I do get stopped every now and again and people say ‘we have got our club back’ sort of thing and that means a lot.

"I don't think they are saying it for the sake of it as they don't have to say it.

"Hopefully, there are positive shoots of recovery and it's how we harness it and move it forward."