Heart in Hannover, and beating Borussia '“ five things you never knew about Barnsley's new boss

Barnsley are set to appoint relatively-unknown German coach Daniel Stendel in the next 24 hours. Here are five things you might not have known about the 44-year-old the Reds board hope can steer them back into the Championship.
Daniel Stendel of Hannover gestures during the Second Bundesliga match between VfB Stuttgart and Hannover 96 at Mercedes-Benz Arena on December 12, 2016 in Stuttgart. (Picture: TF-Images/Getty Images)Daniel Stendel of Hannover gestures during the Second Bundesliga match between VfB Stuttgart and Hannover 96 at Mercedes-Benz Arena on December 12, 2016 in Stuttgart. (Picture: TF-Images/Getty Images)
Daniel Stendel of Hannover gestures during the Second Bundesliga match between VfB Stuttgart and Hannover 96 at Mercedes-Benz Arena on December 12, 2016 in Stuttgart. (Picture: TF-Images/Getty Images)

1. Playing Career.

Stendel’s playing career was conducted solely in Germany. The striker made his debut in 1994 representing Hamburg II, the reserve team of German giants Hamburg SV.

He made seven appearances for the first team in his time there but was predominently a reserve player.

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Born in Frankfurt, he went on to play for another four German teams before hanging his boots up in 2008.

2. Love affair with Hannover 96.

Hannover is where Daniel Stendel found his home in football. He signed for the club in 1999 from FC Gutersloh where he had spent the 1998-1999 season making 31 appearances and scoring five goals.

His form at Hannover was better, the German spent seven years at the club where he made 184 appearances and scored a respectable 43 goals. After leaving Hannover in 2006 Stendel spent 2006-2007 in the fourth tier of German football playing for FC St. Pauli, however he only managed two goals.

New Barnsley coach Daniel Stendel during his time as manager of Hannover (Picture: Joachim Sielski/Bongarts/Getty Images)New Barnsley coach Daniel Stendel during his time as manager of Hannover (Picture: Joachim Sielski/Bongarts/Getty Images)
New Barnsley coach Daniel Stendel during his time as manager of Hannover (Picture: Joachim Sielski/Bongarts/Getty Images)

In 2007 Stendel returned to his ‘footballing home’ but this time signed for the reserves Hannover 96 II where he made 15 appearances scoring four goals before retiring at the end of that season.

3. First steps into coaching.

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After retiring from football in 2008, Stendel went straight into coaching taking on the under 17’s at his faithful Hannover 96, staying in charge until 2013.

In 2013 Stendel was promoted to coach the club’s under 19’remaining there until 2016.

4. First managerial job.

After impressing as Hannover’s under 19’s boss, Stendel was given the remaining six fixtures of the first team’s 2015/16 campaign to try and save the club from relegation from the Bundesliga following the dismissal of Thomas Schaaf. Although Stendel was unable to save them from the drop he was rewarded with the job on a permanent basis as they sought an instant return to the top flight.

After a positive start in the Bundesliga II, Hannover’s form began to slip and they dropped down to fourth place.

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Stendel was relieved of his duties on March 20, 2017, and has been unemployed ever since.

5 Behind the numbers.

Despite losing his job after 11 months in charge, Stendel actually had a win-percentage of 50%. He only lost eight games of the 34 he took charge of at Hannover, and despite being unable to avoid them slipping out of the top flight, they took notable scalps against Borussia Monchengladbach and Hertha Berlin.