CONOR Hourihane acknowledges that Barnsley FC ‘is not in a great place’ but is hoping to make significant changes this summer even down to giving the walls a new lick of paint.
The Reds are 12th in League One with 58 points, ahead of their final game at promotion-chasing Reading on Saturday.
They have won one of the last 11, taking 16 points from 20 games across almost three months – with the latest being a 2-1 home loss to bottom club Shrewsbury Town.
They cannot realistically move any higher in the table as 11th-placed Lincoln are three points ahead and their goal difference is 16 better, but they could still slip down as low as 16th depending on the final day results.
Their lowest finish since 2003 is 13th in the third tier.
Hourihane – who has won one of nine games – has promised a ‘reset’ at the club including new coaching staff and major changes to the playing squad.
He is also planning to make changes such as adding ‘check-in days’ for the players to return to the club during the post-season break which he feels is too long, and taking pictures off the walls of ex-Reds who he feels did not make a big impact for the club.
Hourihane told the Chronicle: “I knew when I came back this season that the club wasn’t in a great place.
“My opinion hasn’t changed as head coach.
“I want to, over the off-season, put things in place – staff, a change-around in the squad, and bits and pieces in the building.
“I am really taking the head seat on that and pushing for better.
“I am looking for a better level and standard of players and everything else so that the club can move forward.
“Speaking to previous managers, it’s not just about the staff and players, it’s about the building as well.
“I have been told there is money to do bits ands pieces.
“I don’t want the lads to come back and see the same walls that need painting, the same gym which needs an update.
“I am really forcing the issue to put the club in a better place.”
The Reds’ chairman Neerav Parekh has said Barnsley ‘absolutely have to’ sell some of their star players this summer to balance their books.
The likes of Adam Phillips, Luca Connell and Davis Keillor-Dunn are all thought to have been monitored by other clubs.
Barnsley are expected to release their retained list after the season ends.
Senior players out of contract include Stephen Humphrys, Donovan Pines, Jonathan Lewis, Josh Benson and Conor McCarthy.
The Reds have an option to add an extra year to the deals of eight-goal forward Humphrys and American central defender Pines.
But Hourihane had hinted that the clear-out will be more extensive and many players in contract could be moved on if he does not see them in his future plans.
Hourihane told the Chronicle: “Not everyone can leave.
“That’s not football.
“But there has to be changes, everyone can see that.
“It’s evident and we have to accept it.
“I will try to get better every single day with the people who are here and the people we recruit.”
He added: “If you are out of contract or in contract, players come and go.
“I have had conversations with players about where everything is at.
“Every club in the Football League will have players out of contract and players who other clubs bid for.
“Time will tell who is here for the journey next year.”
