Darrell Clarke on why taking Barnsley FC from League One to the Championship would be something special to him

The journey of the Reds new head coach includes five promotions, one as a player and four as a manager/player-manager.

He has managed comparable clubs to Barnsley in Bristol Rovers and Port Vale and had successes.

Clarke guided Rovers back into the Football League in 2014-15 and into League One the following season and led Vale to the third tier in 2021-22.

But stepping out in the second tier has so far eluded him in his career - whether out on the pitch or in the dug-out.

It’s something he is driven to achieve and feels he now has a chance of doing, crucially.

Clarke has joined the Reds - who have reached the League One play-offs in the past two seasons since relegation from the Championship at the end of 2021-22 - on a two-year deal after leaving Cheltenham Town, who he joined in late September.

There is a further year’s option in the club’s favour.

The 46-year-old, who went desperately close to securing a memorable ‘Great Escape’ from relegation to League Two at the Gloucestershire club - only to endure final-day heartache in 2023-24 - said: “I am in League One now, but have never had that realistic opportunity to get a team out of it to the Championship whether it be (because of) facilities, budgets or what not.

"This gives me a platform and I know how desperate our fans are to get to the Championship and I’ll build a squad to do that.

"There’s high expectations, which is good and I want a club that has a proper fanbase, which we have got here and one that wants Championship football and I have got to give every minute of my day to try and build that and that’s what I will be doing.

"The club has been a little bit unfortunate in the past two years to miss out, but it’s not about the past, but how we move forward and a club and group and there’s a lot of work to be done over the next weeks to recruit a team who can be up there fighting.

"It’s a club I believe I can get into the Championship. Of course, it’s going to be tough, every league is tough and League One next season will be very tough.

"But I want that pressure and know how to handle it and understand it. I’ve been in clubs who shouldn’t be in leagues and there’s pressure to get out of it.

"Barnsley is another chapter where we want to get out of this division as quickly as we can.”

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Clarke will be assisted by Martin Devaney, who led Barnsley on an interim basis at the end of last season following Neill Collins’ sacking on April 22. The club stalwart has signed a new deal. Jon Stead, an assistant alongside Devaney in 2023-24, also remains at the club.

Clarke, who describes his footballing style as ‘front foot’ with high pressing and counter-pressing principles, will be looking all aspects of the coaching set-up.

He will give existing staff the ‘platform’ to form working relationships with him over time, with no pre-conceived ideas to bring in any new faces to his backroom team.