Barnsley FC lacking foundations as they contemplate League One rebuild

FOLLOWING BARNSLEY’S last relegation from the Championship, there was defiance from the top. And hope.

Then chief executive Gauthier Ganaye, speaking in the immediate aftermath of the Reds’ bruising 4-1 final-day loss at Derby County which consigned them to League One at the end of 2017-18, spoke of the club having the foundations in place to make an instant return to the second tier.

He said: “I think we have the base to get us back there. We need to make sure we keep our best players.

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“I think there is a good core. The team is not a shambles. Most of the players are under contract.

Will the likes of Mads Andersen, above, and goalkeeper Brad Collins, inset, have played their final games for Barnsley as the club face up to the reality of relegation to League One. (Picture: George Wood/Getty Images)Will the likes of Mads Andersen, above, and goalkeeper Brad Collins, inset, have played their final games for Barnsley as the club face up to the reality of relegation to League One. (Picture: George Wood/Getty Images)
Will the likes of Mads Andersen, above, and goalkeeper Brad Collins, inset, have played their final games for Barnsley as the club face up to the reality of relegation to League One. (Picture: George Wood/Getty Images)

“If we do everything we have to do during the summer, we will come back to the Championship.

“When you are the head or the organisation, you need to take responsibility and I accept that. My responsibility is that I will make sure we will roll up our sleeves and come back stronger.”

Ganaye’s words were prescient, eminently sensible and he was as good as his word. Barring Andy Yiadom, always likely to leave on a Bosman, Barnsley kept their big-hitters.

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Ethan Pinnock, Liam Lindsay and Kieffer Moore – who started in that last-day trouncing at Pride Park – and two unused substitutes in Adam Davies and Dimitri Cavare went onto be mainstays of next season’s side which won automatic promotion.

Barnsley keeper Brad Collins. (Picture: Tony Johnson)Barnsley keeper Brad Collins. (Picture: Tony Johnson)
Barnsley keeper Brad Collins. (Picture: Tony Johnson)

Five players – Davies, Cavare, Pinnock, Moore and Alex Mowatt – made the divisional PFA team of the season in 2018-19.

Barnsley’s policy of keeping hold of a strong core, buttressed by shrewd additions such as Cauley Woodrow and Kenny Dougall, bore fruit. It was joined-up thinking in a joined-up season.

Compare and contrast to now.

There is scant hope being offered from above and growing sections of Barnsley supporters are feeling as estranged from their club as they have done in a long time – perhaps ever following an utterly shambolic season.

Barnsley
striker and captain Cauley Woodrow. (Picture: Tony Johnson)Barnsley
striker and captain Cauley Woodrow. (Picture: Tony Johnson)
Barnsley striker and captain Cauley Woodrow. (Picture: Tony Johnson)
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Just where is the hope? A fanbase whose support of the club in Covid-hit times was outstanding deserve something better.

Instead of a declaration that key players under contract will stay, there will be departures. As for predicting Barnsley’s line-up on the first day of next season? Answers on a postcard.

A new side will probably have to be constructed in the space of a couple of months. Maybe less.

Mads Andersen, Callum Brittain and Carlton Morris have all sat out at least one game at the end of 2021-22, while two ‘assets’ in Brad Collins and Michal Helik have been missing for longer spells.

Poya Asbaghi was sacked as 
Barnsley (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)Poya Asbaghi was sacked as 
Barnsley (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)
Poya Asbaghi was sacked as Barnsley (Picture: Bruce Rollinson)
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It would be no surprise whatsoever if all of them have played their final games in a Barnsley jersey, quite possibly alongside Callum Styles.

The third tier is also likely to be an unedifying prospect for Woodrow, who turns 28 in December, even accounting for his pride in captaining Barnsley.

With falling into League One from the second tier likely to cost Barnsley between £6m-7m in revenue – and next season’s playing budget expected to be significantly hit – chief executive Khaled El-Ahmad has acknowledged that getting players out before bringing new signings in will be the close-season priority.

Speaking last month, he said: “That is probably the more realistic way to look at it. We first have to do the necessary adjustments. But it goes hand in hand.”

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Quite simply, he has one of the hardest jobs in football this summer. Few will envy him.

Other clubs will have cottoned on to the situation at Barnsley and might just indulge in a game of poker when it comes to transfer targets. Word will have got out that Barnsley are seeking to sell most of their ‘better’ players in the summer, but why dive in straightaway? Wait for them to become desperate.

The summer transfer market opens on June 10 and the longer the clock ticks afterwards with no key departures, the more likely it will be that Barnsley might just have to take what they can get when high summer arrives. A fire-sale could well occur.

El-Ahmad operates to the financial parameters of his bosses, majority shareholders Pacific Media Group. What they say goes and budgets will be dictated to by PMG. He’s unlikely to have little if any say.

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What compounds matters are some catastrophic mistakes made in last summer’s market to bring in Obbi Oulare and – to a lesser extent – Aaron Leya Ieska and Josh Benson.

Co-chairman Paul Conway took personal responsibility for the calamitous addition of Oulare, brought in for an expensive outlay from Standard Liege on a three-year deal and one of the club’s top wage earners.

Somehow moving on Oulare – sent out on loan to Belgian second-tier outfit Molenbeek in January – permanently will be hugely problematic. Before all this, of course, Barnsley must bring in a new head coach.

Given the failures of the club’s last two coaching appointments from the continent in Poya Asbaghi and Markus Schopp, bringing in someone with no EFL experience to take on a relegated side with a greatly reduced budget would represent a huge gamble this time. That particular policy is at a crossroads.

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The club’s decision to bring in Daniel Stendel to replace Jose Morais following the club’s last relegation may have proved inspired. Yet there is a cavaet.

Even though the German had many qualities – not least his motivational skills, aptitude on the training ground and instant connection with Barnsley’s supporters – he was blessed with having a fair bit to work with in the building when he arrived.

His successor is unlikely to be afforded anything like as good a hand when next season gets started.

Barnsley’s side in 2022-23 is very likely to consist of several rookies who will be experiencing League One – an increasingly competitive league these days – for the first time.

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Inward recruitment will have to be as smart and on-point as last season’s summer transfer activity was spectacularly bad.

Should another appointment be made from Europe, that individual will have to quickly work the town and possess a fair bit about them to galvanise a fanbase whose frustration is now bordering on something much more concerning. Apathy.

It’s no surprise after a disgraceful season when the legacy of the short-lived but successful Valerien Ismael era was reprehensibly trashed.

To be frank, it is as if it never existed.

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