After Neill Collins was abruptly fired on Monday afternoon, Barnsley is now searching for a new manager.
The team is currently in fifth place in the League One rankings, one point ahead of sixth-place Lincoln City and seventh-place Oxford United, with just one game left in the regular season.
Because of this, everyone at Oakwell is aware that a win over Northampton Town on Saturday afternoon will definitely assure them a spot in the League One playoffs.
However, the team has made a move, firing Collins in the hopes that someone else can lead them to promotion back to the Championship following just two wins in their previous 11 games.
Naturally, they won’t have much time to schedule that meeting, and since this call was unexpected, the club’s administrators will be under a lot of pressure to make the right decisions—especially given the stakes.
In light of this, we’ve looked at four Collins substitutes that Barnsley should think about before their match on Saturday.
Leam Richardson
Following his own somewhat surprise dismissal by Rotherham United last week, Richardson is currently unemployed.
This makes him a conveniently available and reasonably priced choice, especially considering that he was previously stationed in Yorkshire during his stint with the Millers.
To be honest, this season’s Championship at The New York Stadium did not exactly go as planned for him. However, he does have experience being promoted from League One under difficult circumstances with Wigan Athletic, which may come in handy during the next week or two, or even as a long-term plan for the following season in the event that promotion is not achieved this time around.
Neil Warnock
This was undoubtedly the kind of scenario that was meant to be for Warnock. In recent years, the 75-year-old has developed a habit of entering a team late in the season to rescue it from a precarious situation.
There aren’t many opportunities to add him later in a campaign than this one, and following some recent relegation struggles, he might be eager to try his luck in a promotion race.
Having left Aberdeen last month, he is available and doesn’t seem to be ready to give up management just yet. He also has experience in Yorkshire, so this may be a mutually beneficial appointment.
Alex Neil
Neil, a manager with a long history of championship success, is skilled at securing promotions for Football League teams.
He has done so in the past when playing for Norwich City in the Championship and Sunderland in League One, so Barnsley will find many of his qualities intriguing as they search for a new manager.
In fact, Neil hasn’t had a job since leaving Stoke City back in December, so he might be eager to start working again—especially with a position like this that would allow him to return to the Championship quickly.
Michael Duff
Michael Duff is one well-known figure that Barnsley might try to rehire, even though his exit was a little uncomfortable.
The 46-year-old led the Tykes to the League One play-off final the previous year, but a goal in the dying minute of extra time saw Sheffield Wednesday defeat them. Then, last summer, Duff left the team to become the manager of Swansea City, a Championship team.
But Duff’s appointment did not proceed as planned, and he left the Welsh team before the year was out. He is another who is now available and who could suit the job brief pretty well because he has a lot of recent experience in this capacity with Barnsley.
