Huddersfield Town v Barnsley FC: No 'sob stories' from Michael Duff and Darrell Clarke ahead of key League One derby

Their similarities stretch beyond the fact that both are the same age - at 46. They find themselves on common ground on derby day.

Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, Clarke said he was still ‘searching for answers’ regarding his Reds side.

He admitted to not currently knowing his best starting 11 and also acknowledged he is still trying to find Barnsley’s best tactical ‘fit’.

His opposite number in Duff could have easily uttered the same words in truth, although some key injuries have significantly muddied the waters for the Terriers chief, whose side have lost seven of their last eight matches in all competitions after winning their first four games in 2024-25.

The absence of two of his integral players in Lee Nicholls and ex-Reds defender Michal Helik is untimely in the extreme for Duff, but he accepts that bemoaning his lot is futile.

Management is about finding solutions and the record of Duff and Clarke - who have plenty of miles of the lower-division clock despite still being relatively young in managerial terms - has shown they have been decent in that regard previously.

Duff, whose side head into the game with memories of two lousy - and relatively recent – home defeats firmly in their minds of Terriers followers, said: "It’s not a sob story. There’s different challenges at every football club.

"Birmingham got relegated and have just signed 17 new players, so don’t have that hangover from the season before. They have not just replaced 17 players, they have brought in quality players.

"That’s a different feel at that club. At our club, we probably only lost one or two and we’ve got a group who have been together with a relegation and it is tough to change that mentality within a group and club (overnight).

"The challenge is can you get to the bottom of it, improve the players and improve their performances. And by improving their performances, can you improve results."

On similarities between himself and Clarke, who also took over in the close season, Duff - who faces his former club for the first time since leaving Oakwell in June 2023 - continued: "I have not spoken to Darrell, but you see and hear things. You come into a new club and you are finding out lots of different things.

"Some that you knew were there and some you didn’t know were there, but you have a look under stones and find problems. I am sure he is having the same problems there. And then it’s trying to find your best 11.

"Our results have been consistent in that we’ve either been winning or losing. The only consistency has been inconsistency."

Memorably, both these fanbases joined in harmony at the end of the 2012-13 season with a post-match chant of ‘Yorkshire, Yorkshire’ after they retained their Championship status following a 2-2 final-day draw.

The mood music ahead of this latest meeting is not as sweet at two clubs who consider the second tier to be their natural abode.

Some rotten form last season - the final third of 2023-24 in Barnsley’s case - has compounded the sense of angst.

It’s an additional issue for Duff and Clarke, who are tainted by events which preceded them in some ways. That’s the gig.

Clarke said: “I don’t really want to get my violin out.

"People want quick fixes, I want quick fixes, everybody wants quick fixes.

"They want quick fixes at Huddersfield and then you look at other teams in this division. Charlton. who have got through two or three managers…

"The cycle keeps continuing. Do I think it’s right? No. The support I have had from the board has been outstanding and I think you should back the head coach, whoever that may be, to give them the time, realistically, to turn things around.

"But the game is not that now, is it, with social media, the press, everything at some stage. I have to control that and the environment within that.

"I’ve been through many a stage in my career where you are searching for answers and consistency with performances.

"It’s important to control the environment. It’s not all ‘disaster’ is it…No disrespect when I was at Bristol Rovers and we were in non-league and League Two, the pressure was immense."

It represents pressure that Clarke is happy to take on board and explains why he was so desperate to secure the Barnsley job in the first place. A demanding fanbase is just fine by him.

He continued: "This is the same thing (to Bristol Rovers) - with a big fanbase expecting to be in a higher division. You go on past experience to understand and appreciate it.

"I’d much rather have a fanbase which is demanding than one which haven’t the ambition, let's just say. Our fans have the ambition and drive.

"I love that, but I also have to control that side of it and keep the place positive because football is a very negative world if you should be in a division higher, but are not there."