Was Barnsley's outright assault on the play-offs last year a one-off missed oportunity, or a foundation to build sustained success? We spoke with Joe Beardsall for the latest from Oakwell.

Can you put into words how incredible last season was?

Last season was, indeed, incredible for us Barnsley fans. We came into the season with one of the lowest budgets in the league, only stayed up by the skin of our teeth the season before and we didn’t win in our first six league games but still finished fifth in the Championship. It was the stuff of dreams. Although we were obviously gutted to not finish the job and reach the Premier League we were all massively proud of what our team achieved.

Any sense you've maybe missed a once in a long while chance by not going up?

If you had asked me on the day Barnsley were knocked out of the playoffs by Swansea if we had missed our golden opportunity to reach the Premier League I would’ve said yes but that’s because I’m so used to Barnsley having a decent season then selling all our key players but that hasn’t happened this time. Yes, Dike returned to Orlando City after his loan deal and we have lost Alex Mowatt to West Brom but those were two players we fully expected to lose. We’ve kept our main stars and added quality so I see no reason why Barnsley won’t be challenging again this season.

Barnsley’s league results so far…
Cardiff 1-1 Barnsley Pack 54 — Sibbick 69
Barnsley 1-0 Coventry Frieser 39
Barnsley 0-1 Luton Bell 4

What do you make of new manager Markus Schopp?

It’s extremely difficult to judge an overseas manager before a competitive ball has been kicked in the Championship season but the players seem to have taken an instant liking to Marcus Schopp. I’m slightly concerned that he plans to tweak our style and play out from the back because that hasn’t worked for Barnsley in the past in the Championship and it’s led to errors in defence and more goals conceded. That said, from what we have heard, he’s an advocate of aggressive pressing from the front and that was key to our success last season so that is a massive positive. I’m hoping he will take the positives from Valérien Ismaël’s style and build from there.

Summer transfer business and how's the squad looking?

The most important aspect of Barnsley’s summer transfer business was always going to be who we kept, more than who we signed. The Reds have lost Alex Mowatt but apart from that it’s been an excellent window so far, with us keeping pretty much all of our key players. We’ve added a few more so I’m feeling massively positive about the season to come.

We haven’t seen much of our new signings yet as most are still getting up to speed. The one we have seen is Josh Benson who we’ve signed from Burnley and he looks like a real gem. If he can help replace Mowatt then we could be in for another great season.

Ins >>> Aaron Leya Iseka, 23, CF, Toulouse, Undisclosed >>> Obbi Oulare, 25, CF, Standard Leige, Undisclosed >>> Josh Benson, 21, CM, Burnley, Undisclosed >>> Devante Cole, 26, CF, Motherwell, Free

Outs >>> Conor Chaplin, 24, CF, Ipswich, Undisclosed >>> Michael Sollbauer, 31, CB, Dresden, Undisclosed >>> Alex Mowatt, 26, CM, West Brom, Free >>> Marcel Ritzmaier, 28, CM, Sandhausen, Free >>> Elliot Simoes, 21, AM, Nancy (well he speaks very highly of you), Free >>> Corey Addai, 23, GK, Esbjerg (Denmark), Free >>> Luke Thomas, 22, RW, Bristol Rovers, Loan >>> Jack Aitchison, 21, CF, Forest Green, Loan >>> Patrick Schmidt, 22, CF, Ebsjerg (still Denmark), Loan

No Mowatt, no Ismael, can the progress be maintained? How do you see this season going?

It’s really hard to call how Barnsley will do this season. I’m fairly confident we won’t be in a relegation battle because we’ve kept the majority of our key players who finished fifth last season but another playoff push would also be a big ask, especially considering we have a new manager. My head tells me mid table but my heart says we will finish in the top six again.

How've you started the season? What have you made of the games so far?

Barnsley’s start to the season has been a mixed one. A positive draw away at Cardiff followed by a hard-fought win over Coventry left us feeling like maybe we were carrying on from where we left off last season. However, then came the 1-0 defeat at home to Luton in midweek. One defeat isn’t the end of the world especially against a solid Luton side but it has left big question marks over our current goal threat. We played nice football but we’re unable to put the ball in the net and that’s a slight concern.

What's the new manager changed? How's he doing?

Marcus Schopp’s start to life as a Championship Manager has been steady, with a hint of excitement but also a hint of concern. 4 points after three games is a good return considering it took us 7 matches to win a game last season. We clearly still have bags of talent having kept the majority of our best players and are more than capable of competing up the top end of the table again this season. Here comes the hint of concern - Marcus Schopp has changed our style. The so called “Val Ball” which was direct and with an aggressive pace has converted into nice passing football. It looks good at times but will it get us results? This question is yet to be answered.

Links >>> Barnsley Official Website >>> Yorkshire Post — Local Press >>> Sheffield Star — Local Press >>> BBS Fan Forum — Message Board >>> Red All Over— Podcast

The Twitter @JosephBeardsall, @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Action Images

TacticalR added 22:48 - Aug 20 Thanks to Joe. Going from Barnsleyball to playing it out from the back is a big change. Personally, I found Barnsleyball hard to watch last season, although admittedly it was effective (they beat us home and way), at least until the playoffs.
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