Next Barnsley Manager Odds: Five replacements for Neill Collins
EFL pundit Gab Sutton discusses five potential candidates to replace Neill Collins in the next Barnsley manager odds.
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1. Dominik Thalhammer
Currently odds-on favourite, Dominik Thalhammer’s appointment would represent a return to the continental model that the club previously adopted with mixed success.
Barnsley looked to be onto a winner when Daniel Stendel took them up to the Championship, Gerhard Struber kept them there and Valérien Ismaël even got them to the Play-Offs, with a young, high-energy pressing side.
However, the Reds dispensed with that approach when Markus Schopp and Poya Asbaghi oversaw relegation with a whimper in 2021-22.
Thalhammer coached the Austria women to their first major tournament, Euro 2017, and got them to the Semi-Finals, earning him a nomination FIFA Women’s World Coach of the Year.
Returning to the men’s game, he led LASK to the Europa League and an Austrian Cup Final, before keeping Cercle Brugge in the Belgian Pro League, finishing 10th having been second-bottom when he took charge.
A 2017 feature on Thalhammer from ghanasoccernet.com offers us a glimpse of his principles.
In addition to possessing vision, passion and enthusiasm, the 46-year-old, who describes himself as ambitious, level-headed and perhaps even visionary, has achieved success thanks to his training philosophy.
"Really good but also very willing to learn" {he said of his players}. "They’re always open to try new things and new ideas, they're very self-critical and never rest on their laurels, there is never any sense of standing still; further development is possible"
"We have certain principles we want to follow that come before anything else," Thalhammer said.
"That's why we're able to play with great flexibility within our systems. It's not the basic formation that's decisive but these overriding principles, which can be implemented in every system. It's important for a team like Austria to excel through a certain tactical versatility in order to counterbalance certain advantages other teams have."
Verdict: I can’t profess to be an expert on Thalhammer, and the nuances of the work he’s done elsewhere which are difficult to attain from results alone - so it’s a question of how much to trust sporting director Mladen Sormaz - who Belgian Pro League-based recruitment analyst Oli O’Connell has described as an outstanding football brain.
2. Martin Devaney
If Martin Devaney can oversee a stark improvement, after a month of rapidly deteriorating performances and results, he has a chance.
Devaney’s only league game in charge is Saturday’s hosting of Northampton, in which a win would secure Barnsley a Play-Off spot, but he could certainly put himself in the frame for the job with a strong performance in the competition.
If the Reds go up under the former striker, it would be difficult not to give him the permanent job, and if they just fall short, there’s an argument for an internal option going into what could be a youth-oriented rebuild.
This appointment, though, wouldn’t be universally popular with the fanbase, despite him having played for the club for six years, and having been part of the famous 2007-08 FA Cup run under Simon Davey.
Verdict: A touch more coaching pedigree might be preferable in the next appointment.
3. Michael Duff
Michael Duff worked wonders at Barnsley in 2022-23, overseeing a cultural reset, establishing a clear identity with strong patterns of play, and achieving a top six finish.
Some fans were disappointed when he left in the summer for Swansea, after the Play-Off Final defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, feeling he departed prematurely – although management is such a precarious industry, sometimes putting your own career first is a must.
Nonetheless, a section of fans would give Duff a lukewarm reception if he returned, but as always they could easily be won over with results, and one suspects the majority would welcome a coach of his calibre back to Oakwell.
The bigger question is whether Duff is almost overqualified for the job; whether the scale of the rebuild Barnsley will need if they stay down is incompatible with the Northern Irishman’s immediate ambitions.
Nonetheless, you’d rather have a manager of his quality in your own dugout than in the opposition’s.
Verdict: Would be an excellent appointment, if he’s prepared to be patient.
4. Grant McCann
Grant McCann has just overseen a nine-game winning streak – and counting – with Doncaster, propelling them from 20th in early March to a shoe-in for the Play-Offs ahead of the final day.
Held back by injuries for much of the season, key returnees plus smart January business has seen McCann’s side soar into contention, thanks to an unusually low Play-Off bar – possibly the lowest since 2016-17.
The Northern Irishman is an ambitious manager, as he said when he returned to Rovers, and could be open to a bigger opportunity – but the Play-Offs are a stumbling block.
If McCann is not prepared to talk about his future until after its conclusion, that’s just under another month to wait – and he might still say no.
As such, it would only be worthwhile for Barnsley to pursue the former midfielder if they had some indication of interest.
McCann’s appointment might mean a formation change, too, from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3 – he likes wide forwards staying high up the pitch – but with the likely squad churn, this would be feasible.
Verdict: Would be a good appointment – but Barnsley don’t want to risk wasting too much time in an attempt to poach him after the Play-Offs.
5. Paul Heckingbottom
All of Paul Heckingbottom’s three management jobs in England have come in Yorkshire, so logistically a Barnsley return could be pretty smooth.
Ordinarily, a manager who’s worked in the Premier League this season might hold out for a Championship job, but if there’s a Yorkshire bias to his preferences, a move to Barnsley – even if they miss out on promotion – might be favourable.
‘Hecky’s exit was perhaps even more unpopular than Duff’s because, firstly, it was to Leeds – the disdain would have to be mutual to call it a rivalry, but that doesn’t mean Barnsley hate them any less – and secondly, he had been ‘one of their own’.
As such, the hurt would be a lot for Tarn fans to work through if the 46-year-old were to return.
Nonetheless, he is an excellent coach who has nurtured some of the best talent the EFL has seen in the last decade.
Verdict: You broke their hearts once, Hecky – you don’t get to do it again
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