Why Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel can start planning another big day out

TRIUMPHANT Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel admits he has an extra reason to be grateful that the Reds have clinched automatic promotion to the Championship – it means he can now attend his brother’s wedding.

Stendel’s sibling Guido will get married in Germany later this month, with the Reds chief revealing that play-off participation for the Oakwell outfit would have precluded him from being present at the big day.

Instead, Barnsley’s fate has been wrapped up with a game to spare with the potential for League One title gloss to be applied in their final League One fixture.

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Stendel’s men need to better leaders Luton’s result at home to Oxford United.

Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel: Title opportunity.Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel: Title opportunity.
Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel: Title opportunity.

On sealing a place in the top two on Tuesday night without kicking a ball – after promotion rivals Portsmouth and Sunderland both lost – Stendel told The Yorkshire Post: “It is good for me as my brother gets married this month and I say, ‘Oh, we have the play-offs maybe and it is difficult to come’. He was the first to call me and he is happy I can come.

“I did not expect to be promoted on Tuesday. I thought we would need to win the game on Saturday. But, after the results at Portsmouth and Fleetwood, we were very happy.

“For me it does not matter if we got promoted on the sofa or on the pitch.

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“It has been a big, big adventure and we are now promoted after a long season.”

Citing his pride at the club clinching promotion at the first time of asking and helping to lift spirits after arriving at Oakwell last summer – just under two months after the Reds were relegated at the end of 2017-18 – the former Hannover 96 head coach added: “The proudest thing is that we changed the atmosphere in Barnsley, not only among the supporters, but among the supporting staff and the academy.

“We are all together and only had one goal and worked hard for this.

“It was not really so sad as I expected it before. But we wanted to develop our ambition and the players wanted more and more in every game and every week in training. It was good to see.

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“Character was a big point and you can only have so much success when you have good character and team spirit.

“We have also played some very good football and had some good games and we have deserved most of the time to win games. Together, this is the big thing.”

Promotion via the conventional route represents a thoroughly deserving accolade for a Reds side who have broken several records in 2018-19, including recording their biggest points haul and most clean sheets in one campaign, while also going unbeaten on home soil in a whole season.

In a noteworthy season they have also seen five players – Adam Davies, Dimitri Cavare, Ethan Pinnock, Alex Mowatt and Kieffer Moore – all named in the Professional Football Association’s League One Team of the Year.

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Stendel is the first to acknowledge that the feats of a number of players will not have escaped the attention of bigger clubs, but he is hopeful that they will remain at Oakwell potentially to pen another rewarding chapter in the club’s modern-day history.

He added: “We will try and we want to keep a lot of players from our squad and we deserve to keep the players here – although it is not so easy.

“I think a lot of players have improved so much from this year that there will be interest from other clubs. But we know we have a family atmosphere in Barnsley and we hope that they can stay and we can add one or two.

“I do not know (yet) how many new players will sign for our goal to stay in the Championship.”

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One more assignment at the Memorial Stadium awaits before the Reds depart League One and focus on preparations for the second tier, with the tantalising prospect of Barnsley clinching their first title since 1954-55 if they eclipse Luton’s result.

The pair are level on points with the Bedfordshire outfit ahead on goal difference by four goals.

Stendel, one of three German managers in with a chance of lifting league silverware alongside Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Norwich City’s Daniel Farke, added: “A lot of friends ask me that and it is all possible for us.

“It is a good year for German coaches in the UK.

“I met Daniel one time this year at a match and I am happy for him that he has the success and has been promoted to the Premier League. We are both happy this season.”

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On his side’s title quest, he said: “It is not so easy as it is not really in our hands with Luton having four goals in front of us.

“But we want to try to win the title as you do not often have the chance to do it in your life.

“It is a chance for us and the players want it also. We will see on Saturday, but the chance is higher for Luton than it us for us.”

Forward Jacob Brown is a doubt for Barnsley’s last-day fixture tomorrow due to a hamstring issue.