Just about twelve months ago Michael Duff was Barnsley manager and looking forward to a play off final at Wembley against Sheffield Wednesday. A late winner for the Owls condemned Barnsley to another season in League One but the work of Duff drew the attention of the Swans who, of course, appointed him as a replacement for Russell Martin.
Duff’s tenure here in SA1 has been well documented as short and a poor fit for the Swans and when he departed the club at the start of December it was probably not a huge surprise as it was pretty evident that things were never going to work out.
Meanwhile at Barnsley they were competing at the top end of League One again under Duff’s replacement in Neil Collins who was appointed in July. However, despite pushing at the top end of the table Collins was sacked before the season ended after the Tykes had a string of defeats that damaged their automatic promotion hopes.
The team was managed by interim manager Martin Devaney into the play-offs, but a 5-4 aggregate loss to Bolton destroyed their prospects of returning to the Championship and essentially launched the search for Collins’ replacement.
According to journalist Alan Nixon, they may urge Duff to return to Oakwell and give him the responsibility of getting them promoted the following season. Nixon said Duff would be interested in the opportunity, which is certainly not surprising considering he hasn’t had a job since being fired by the Swans.
It’s debatable whether Barnsley supporters would embrace it as warmly, but a brief scan of Twitter yesterday night revealed that more people were in favour of it.
Given the terrible nature of his tenure here at Swansea, there will also be a strong perception that Duff has a point to prove, which may motivate him to take over again at his previous club.
What are the chances of Barnsley and the Swans being paired together in the League Cup, should that occur?
