Barnsley are on the lookout for a new manager following the sacking of 36-year-old Iranian coach Poya Asbaghi after the Oakwell club were relegated to League One.
The former Sweden Under 21s manager took over the Tykes in a precarious position after the sacking of Markus Schopp, but, managed to win just three of his 19 games in charge, leading the board to believe that he wouldn’t be the right man to lead them back to England’s second-tier.
Former Barnsley player and current caretaker manager Martin Devaney is the current bookmakers’ favourite for the vacant managerial position.
The 41-year-old made 159 league appearances for Barnsley between 2005 and 2011, on top of serving the club as a coach since 2015 upon him gaining his UEFA ‘A’ Coaching License, seeing him become a Professional Development Phase Coach at the club.
Devaney’s managerial qualities are fairly unknown having not taken charge of a match at senior level, meaning that the Tykes remaining Championship fixtures against Blackpool, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion could be an audition for him to prove himself.
Devaney is priced at 2/1 to step up as manager on a permanent basis.
Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth is the final candidate on this list of those that have been linked with the job at the Tykes.
Ainsworth has only ever had one full-time managerial role in football, having taken charge of Wycombe in September 2012, managing the Chairboys 509 times, earning promotion from League Two back in the 2017/18 season, as well as winning the League One play-offs in 2019/20.
At present, Wycombe are sixth in the League One heading into the final weekend of their season, meaning that the chances of landing Ainsworth could perhaps hinge on the Adams Park club’s promotion chances.
The 48-year-old who won LMA League Two Manager of the Year in the 2014/15 season is priced at 6/1 to move to Barnsley.
Former Burnley and Cheltenham Town defender Michael Duff is the third-favourite for the job at Oakwell.
Duff currently manages former club Cheltenham where he had has success, earning promotion with the Robins last season from League Two as champions, before consolidating their place in English football’s third tier.
This move could be seen as a progressive one, with the scope of managing a side that is capable of promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking, with bigger budgets.
Duff is currently priced at 6/1 to succeed Asbaghi as Barnsley manager.
Former Middlesbrough and AFC Bournemouth manager Jonathan Woodgate has also reportedly shown interest in the job at Barnsley.
Woodgate’s managerial career started off poorly at the Riverside back in the 2019/20 season, as the former Real Madrid defender won just nine of his 41 matches in charge of the club, seeing him being sacked late on in the season.
Many of the 42-year-old’s issues at the Riverside were caused by his intentions to create an expansive team, hence for their poor defensive displays and why Woodgate was ultimately more suited to managing Bournemouth, as the Cherries had a squad that was more equipt to the style he wanted to implement.
At the Vitality Stadium, Woodgate managed 13 wins in 23 matches, seeing him have a win rate of 57%, qualifying them for the play-off places, but, losing to eventual winners Brentford 3-2 on aggregate last season. After this, Woodgate was replaced by Scott Parker following the expiry of his contract with the Cherries.
This could be a good opportunity for Woodgate to get himself back into management with a team that will likely be one of the promotion favourites in League One next season.
Woodgate is priced at 10/1 to become Barnsley’s next permanent manager.
The final candidate on this list is former Tykes manager Daniel Stendel.
Stendel, who is now 48-years-of-age managed Barnsley between 2018 and 2019, overseeing their promotion back to the Championship as runners-up behind Luton Town by just three points.
However, the Tykes' failure to adapt to second-tier football culminated in the German being sacked following a 10 match winless streak, which sparked outrage towards Barnsley’s board at the time.
Stendel managed Barnsley 66 times, winning 31 matches, seeing him leave with a win percentage of 47%.
Since his time at Oakwell, Stendel has not had success, having overseen Hearts' relegation from the Scottish Premiership upon the curtailment of the league in 2019/20, as well as taking the Nancy job in Ligue 2, where he was again sacked after failing to win any of his first 10 league matches.
Stendel is priced at 10/1 to return to Barnsley.
