First Weeks of the Transfer Window.
Coming off the back of a very long and up and down season, Barnsley remain in league one for another season with a new manager in Darrell Clarke at the helm and 2 players signing on for the new season who some could say know Oakwell pretty well, Hourihane makes a return after a sizeable stint away from Barnsley on a 2 year deal as a player/coach, he admits he may not be the first name on the team sheet but when he is on the pitch he still has the ability to change the game and contribute to the goals we will score this season. Another ex-red who has signed on for 2 years is Marc Roberts from Birmingham City, Marc was part of the 2016 promotion side for Barnsley fc along with Hourihane and he adds a vast array of skills not only on the pitch but also off it as we have many young defenders, I can see him taking under his wing. There is still work to do at Oakwell to equip Darrel Clarke with a promotion worthy team with The Tykes needing a new striker, goalkeeper, left wing back, and some more depth in midfield after the departures of Kane and Connor Grant who returned to MK Dons after an impressive loan at Barnsley and a Man of the Match worthy performance in the Play Off second leg.
Darrell Clarke has brought in his Goalkeeping Coach from Cheltenham to replace the vacant position at Oakwell, he is currently working with Martin Devaney and Jon Stead so I doubt he will bring in any of his coaching staff from Cheltenham Town.

A Piece on Darrell Clarke.
Darrell Clarke is a very experienced manager boasting over 11 years of managerial experience starting as the Assistant Manager of Bristol Rovers. In his first full season as manager, he saw a massive overhaul of the squad releasing 16 players and signing 13 to come through the door showing a no prisoners motive, some might think this is reckless however they would be proven wrong as Clarke led Rovers to back-to-back promotions and even won manager of the year in doing so.
His next job saw him at Walsall after their relegation to league 2 and again we saw his no nonsense transfer approach with 23 players leaving and 16 being brought in, his start to life at Walsall wasn’t all that exciting with the team being solid defensively but struggling to create chances until Clarke changed the formation and saw massive improvements until the season was ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Port Vale comes knocking and Clarke answers taking over from Vale when they were 18^th in League Two, it took him 8 games to get his first win which was a 2-1 victory over Newport County which was the start of a 22 year club record winning run with 6 wins on the bounce, he earned the April manager of the month for this run earning 16/18 points and conceding only 1 goal!!! At the end of the season, he claimed he “Can’t wait to get rid of the deadwood” and again performed one of his massive shakeups at Port Vale, and again many people would criticise this strategy, but Vale eased to a Playoff Promotion in what was a very special game for Clarke as he dedicated the win over Mansfield to his late daughter.
His previous job had him at Cheltenham Town where he took over from a goalless and down and out team, sat bottom of the table with no wins and no goals after 9 games, many people had Cheltenham Town relegated already, however Clarke didn’t let that narrative be proven right he switched the squad to put the experienced players on the pitch and in what could have been a footballing miracle took Cheltenham Town to a last day decider where they got relegated by Stevenage.
Clarke takes over from the Departing Neill Collins and fans are looking forward to seeing him in the Dugout come August with his tactics praised by many fans and his work style being exactly what Barnsley needs after an exodus of first team players. I personally trust Clarke behind the wheel, and I trust the board will give him every tool he needs to build a squad that will fight for him and for the many fans packed into Oakwell.