The second half of our look back at Barnsley's head coaches.
MARKUS SCHOPP
BEFORE: The Austrian was arguably the best player on this list, but clearly not the best coach.
He collected 56 caps for his country, including at the 1998 World Cup, and played with Pep Guardiola and Roberto Baggio at Brescia.
He coached in the youth set-up of Red Bull Salzburg then Sturm Graz before leading Hartberg into Europe for the first time in his maiden manager’s job.
During: Schopp’s 125-day stint at Oakwell was an unmitigated disaster. His appointment was part of a busy summer of change in 2021 at Oakwell following the play-offs. As well as Ismael, captain Alex Mowatt, chief executive Dane Murphy and various other key staff members left.
Chairman Paul Conway took over as acting CEO and oversaw a disastrous transfer window with the signing of Belgian duo Aaron Leya Iseka and Obbi Oulare.
The Reds abandoned Ismael’s high-pressing direct style but it was never really clear what was replacing it.
Schopp could not bring his own assistant due to work permit rules and was unlucky with injuries to star men like Mads Andersen and Carlton Morris. But he also badly underperformed as head coach, with many players who had just missed out on the Premier League. Worried noises started to come out of the club from pre-season and it was not long before Brittain publicly questioned why the Reds did not work on attacking plans in training.
Schopp actually started well, drawing at Cardiff then beating Coventry, but those four points were half the total he amassed as the following 13-game winless run was the longest in the club’s history under one head coach or manager.
They played some superb football when going 2-0 up at QPR but drew 2-2 and many other performances were dreadful.
He was sacked – something fans had been chanting for for weeks – on Halloween when they had lost seven in a row and were four points from safety.
After: Schopp returned to previous club Hartberg for two years before moving last summer to LASK Linz who parted company with him in April after five straight wins.
POYA ASBAGHI
BEFORE: Born in Iran but raised in Sweden, he never played professionally but worked his way up as a coach from the fifth tier to leading Gothenburg to the Swedish Cup. He left a job as Sweden under 21s coach to join Barnsley – where he had been interviewed previously – in November 2021.
During: Although regarded as a talented coach, he was totally the wrong fit for a squad who needed a ‘firefighter’ boss to battle relegation.
He inherited a side who had won two of 19 matches – one under caretaker Jo Laumann – while the gap to safety doubled from four points to eight in his first week in the role. He was thought to be extremely close to being sacked as he broke an unwanted club record for 11 league games without a first victory, including six straight defeats.
There was also the FA Cup game when they were 2-0 up at home to League Two strugglers Barrow, who had ten men from 38 minutes, but only won 5-4 in extra-time.
At times he just had nine first team players in training due to Covid cases and injuries, including to star men like Woodrow and Michal Helik.
They led in a series of games but conceded levellers – usually because of mistakes by players Asbaghi had brought on such as Jasper Moon at Coventry.
Brief belief was sparked by January signings Domingos Quina and Amine Bassi, plus three wins out of four in February, but another poor run including a draw with relegation rivals Reading ended realistic hope of survival.
They were officially down with three games to go after a loss at Huddersfield and Asbaghi was sacked two days later.
After: Asbaghi’s next job was assistant manager at Red Star Belgrade who he helped to the league and cup double.
Not 40 until July, he has managed three different clubs in Qatar in the last three years.
MICHAEL DUFF
BEFORE: As a defender, he played in the top eight divisions in England – mainly with Cheltenham then Burnley who reached the top flight. The Northern Ireland international then led Cheltenham to promotion from League Two as a manager and their highest ever finish before joining Barnsley in the summer of 2022.
During: Duff’s tenure can either be seen as him brilliantly picking the Reds up off the canvas following an awful relegation season in which they won just six games, or just competently managing a very good League One squad including players who had reached the Championship play-offs plus excellent new signings like Luca Connell and Adam Phillips. The former is probably more fair as morale was very low when he took over, with a series of players seeking moves which many of them got, while the connection with the fans had gone. After taking just 21 points from 15 games, they were one of the form teams in the country for the rest of the season – including nine straight home wins for the first time in a century – and finished on 88 points which left them fourth. Their 32 wins in all competitions is a club record.
They played for 70 minutes with ten men against Sheffield Wednesday in the Wembley final before conceding in the final seconds. Duff said he planned to stay and highlighted his previous loyalty to clubs, but soon left for Swansea City.
After: The fairly direct Duff football and the Swans, with the tradition of possession-based play, never seemed a natural fit and so it proved. He was sacked after less than six months with City 18th in the Championship.
He has since admitted the move was a mistake.
Duff is understood to have come close to a return to Oakwell last summer but chose their neighbours Huddersfield who had just come down to League One.
They looked to be in top two contention when spending millions on forwards in January but lost form amid an injury crisis and slipped out of the top six which led to his sacking in March.
NEILL COLLINS
BEFORE: The Scot played mainly in the second and third tiers in England for the likes of Sunderland, Wolves and Sheffield United before moving to Florida and taking charge of Tampa Bay Rowdies for five years.
During: Many Barnsley fans were not enthused by an appointment from the American second tier in 2023 and never warmed to Collins whose kindly personality did not fully come across in his fairly dull and cold interviews.
They lost big players such as Mads Andersen in the summer. They equalled a club record with 12 away wins in a league season, and an 11-game unbeaten run on the road, but the home form was never as good and the general performances did not convince many.
A terrible final quarter of the season saw them slip from top two contention into a fight to stay in the top six with two wins from 11, and he was sacked with a league game to spare when the Reds were fifth.
After: Collins returned to his native Scotland to coach second tier Raith Rovers but lasted just three months before Sacramento Republic activated his release clause in December. He is now coaching in California again in the USL Championship.
DARRELL CLARKE
BEFORE: After a playing career in the lower leagues, Clarke gained six promotions during a managerial career with Salisbury, Bristol Rovers, Walsall and Port Vale. He joined Cheltenham in 2023 after they did not score or win in the first ten games then almost kept them in League One before a final day relegation.
He was snapped up by the Reds weeks later.
During: Clarke was clearly never first choice, with a move for Austrian Dominik Thalhammer falling through due to a work permit issue, while former bosses Duff and Stendel were also spoken to.
Recruitment was poor, as were many of the players’ performances, but he suffered from terrible home form and an inability to see out wins, before his side crashed out of the top six and well into mid-table in the spring. He was sacked after a 3-0 home loss to Blackpool in March and replaced by one of his coaches Conor Hourihane.
After: Clarke has returned to his former club Bristol Rovers who had just been relegated into League Two.
