BARNSLEY talked ‘openly and honestly’ about the different situation Daniel Stendel would find the club in to when he led them to an immediate promotion in 2018 before he agreed to return this summer, says chief executive Jon Flatman.

The German took the Reds to second in League One in the 2018/19 campaign – after relegation from the Championship – then was sacked months later.

He has now rejoined a club who have found it more difficult to compete in the third tier, finishing in mid-table in the last two seasons, and there are large gaps in the playing squad.

Flatman told the Chronicle: “I think undoubtedly the squad that we have right now is a very different one to the squad that he had coming out of the Championship. But his philosophy remains the same – very, very youth-driven, player development-driven, playing to his style of football which the club wants to play.

“That was the real driving factor.

“The second part was: will the club support him in achieving those objectives?

“There was a lot of homework for him to do in terms of understanding the background and where the club is and where the rules are which is different to his first spell.

“We talked through it openly, and we talked through it honestly and we got to the conclusion that we could definitely do something.

“We’re building on that every day on recruitment calls and we’re looking at our current squad and looking at how we can make that stronger, but how it can also fit into his style.

“The recruitment’s going to be absolutely critical this summer, based around the style and the type of player he wants.

“There is a very natural fit in that the Daniel Stendel style of football seems very much to be the Barnsley DNA – a true connection.

“When that connection is there, recruitment becomes more defined and more direct because the club and the head coach and the recruitment team are all aware what the priorities are in the individuals.

“That narrows it down and then we find the targets and work that from there.”

Asked how the Reds aim to turn around the fortunes of a club who have finished in a lower placing than the last for five straight seasons, Flatman said: “I think we need to go back to the playing style that we’ve had success with before and then the success that the fanbase can get behind.

“And I think it’s two-fold. I think once the fans start to see that on the field, the noise, the enthusiasm, the energy that they’ll bring will be reflected back on the field as well.

“From that point of view, let’s go and recruit players with that passion and that hunger.

“They will then show the fans what it means to play for the shirt, and the fans will then show the players their support.

“That’s the way to turn it round.

“And if we can make that recruitment count, I think we’re going to.”

Stendel almost rejoined the Reds in 2024 but Neill Collins was eventually appointed.

Flatman said: “There have definitely been conversations during the period that he was away.

“Both from a club perspective and from his individual perspective, there were reasons why that couldn’t happen before.

“We revisited that when we looked at putting the list together for potential candidates.

“Daniel’s name was really strong and firm.

“We looked at a number of candidates, as you’d expect a club to do, and we were provided with a number of candidates as well.

“It was a kind of push and pull.

“When we looked through the eyes of the owners in terms of what style of football we wanted to play, when you looked at what we wanted from a fanbase perspective, through the lens of the new sustainability rules, then we wanted a coach that played a high press, that played full energy, that the crowd could really get behind.

“It was of even more benefit that we had someone who knew the town and club. In those discussions with Daniel over a period of time – and the things are never quick – we got asked a lot of questions and answered a lot of questions from him.

“We just felt that the fit was good.

“And I can certainly say, a few weeks in, that it feels like the right decision.”

Flatman said there was ‘no news’ on appointments to Stendel’s backroom staff.

“We’re just working with Daniel to put a group of people around him that he trusts. We could bring someone in from Germany but that’s unlikely to be in an assistant coach role.

“That’s more likely to be in an analyst-type role.

“Having someone that Daniel knows who knows how Daniel wants to play from working with him on a regular basis before is really, really important.

“And it allows us to hit the ground running.”