THERE is an old joke about a tourist in the Irish countryside asking a local for directions to Dublin and receiving the sardonic reply: ‘well, I wouldn’t have started from here.’

Daniel Stendel, who arrived back to begin full-time work at Oakwell this week, surely would have not have ideally chosen to commence an attempt to repeat the success of his first spell with the club in their current position.

He may kick off pre-season training next week with no strikers who have ever started a football match in the professional leagues and the remnants of a defence that has conceded 90 then 99 goals in the last two seasons respectively.

Adam Phillips has gone to Bradford City and David McGoldrick signed for Mansfield Town, removing two of the most talented, proven and experienced players from the squad – along with about 40 goals and assists per season between them.

Then there are the broader but connected issues of a club sliding down the EFL with disillusioned fans and an apparently mid-table budget for the third tier.

It is not an easy time to be Barnsley’s head coach.

But Stendel knew about those challenges when he agreed to return to the club he led to promotion in 2019 and there are certainly some positives as well.

Barnsley have a few excellent players for the level and a coach who transformed them into a top League One side last time albeit in different circumstances.

Currently, there seems to be too much work to do in one summer to turn them into serious promotion challengers but an improvement in league position, style of play and defensive solidity would at least be a start.

IS IT FINALLY TIME FOR A LONG-TERM REDS APPOINTMENT?

Barnsley have changed their manager, or head coach, 16 times in the last 15 years. That is more than any other current League One club.

The Reds have been wanting to build a long-term project with one head coach for a while but it is difficult when whoever does well with them is poached and they feel pressure to part company with anyone not performing.

But stability has to be the way to go.

Of the teams who finished in the top six last season, only promotion favourites Cardiff brought in a new manager for that campaign.

It was Dave Challinor’s fifth year at Stockport, Michael Skubala and Graham Alexander’s third with Lincoln and Bradford respectively while Steven Schumacher and Alex Revell were in their second campaign with Bolton and Stevenage respectively.

Some of those clubs achieved success because they have bigger budgets and fanbases than the Reds can realistically dream of. But others – most notably Lincoln who Barnsley are openly trying to copy – punched well above their weight with long-term planning, good recruitment and backing a talented coach.

Stendel is not a ‘new’ manager for Barnsley and no one has led them in more games since Paul Heckingbottom reached 100.

The German will be the first coach to take the Reds into three new seasons since Simon Davey nearly 20 years ago.

There is definitely an opportunity for a long-term project if the club and coach can truly align in a difficult environment in which they are clearly no longer one of the ‘big boys’.

They have at least brought in a head coach who naturally plays the type of football the owners, and many fans, want after his three immediate predecessors never really did.

PRE-SEASON IMPORTANT BUT SQUAD WILL BE INCOMPLETE UNLIKE 2018

Stendel is set to work the players hard this summer, with double sessions several times a week as he looks to get them super-fit and drilled in his counter-pressing, high-energy style which is very different to the possession-based approach of Conor Hourihane last season.

But it is likely that much of that crucial pre-season work will be with a squad which might look totally different to the one he takes charge of for most of the season.

There are reinforcements expected up front and in other areas while the Reds may be happy to wait until late in the summer to do business if needed.

It is fair to assume the number of incomings could be in double digits alongside potentially more sales of star players and moving on of those on the fringes.

In 2018, there were barely any changes to Stendel’s squad all summer, which was already better-equipped to challenge for promotion.

This time he will have to adapt to a hectic summer and incomplete squad. That is the case for managers up and down the country but certainly a totally different situation to his first spell.

PHILLIPS AND MCGOLDRICK NEWS MAKES BIG SUMMER EVEN BIGGER

The news broke on Tuesday that Adam Phillips was close to a move to Bradford City then, hours later, Mansfield Town announced the signing of David McGoldrick.

There was dismay in the fanbase – if not total surprise – that two of the better players were leaving and that the Reds no longer seem to be able to compete with Mansfield and Bradford financially.

Following Davis Keillor-Dunn’s sale at the start of the year, the Reds have lost their three top-scorers from last season who netted 45 goals between them – more than half of the team’s overall total. And that is from a squad that performed poorly in general and finished 15th.

Phillips is pretty much as good as it gets in League One for an attacking midfielder – registering at least ten goals in each of his four seasons at Oakwell and nearly as many assists. He has had ups and downs in form and hasn’t always been the all-action, box-to-box midfielder some managers have wanted him to be.

There isn’t an obvious position for him in Daniel Stendel’s 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 systems but he flourished under a high-intensity manager previously in Michael Duff.

Both Phillips and captain Luca Connell – who will also go if the money is right according to the CEO Jon Flatman – have been at the club for four years and it may simply be time to freshen things up for all parties. But sometimes you realise how good a player you had when they are elsewhere in the same division.

McGoldrick was a sensation for Barnsley, netting 18 goals in total including ten in nine games in January and February, while his leadership, work-rate and character were first class.

It is partly understandable if the Reds – who are on a tight budget and trying to prioritise youth – had a limit they would not go past for a 38-year-old’s wages but his departure is also very worrying because they would have been in a serious relegation fight without him last season.

They now have just one striker at the club, 20-year-old Leo Farrell who has barely played professional football.

Before the Phillips news, the Reds needed three strikers and at least one winger, full-back and centre-back – potentially more in the latter area unless Stendel can transform some who struggled last season and get somehow them to fit into his high defensive line.

They have time to get that business done, while some big-earners have left the wabegill with Phillips’ fee adding to the Keillor-Dunn and Liam Kitching windfalls plus the Liverpool FA Cup tie money and apparently an encouraging season ticket take-up.

All of that should leave them in a better financial position for the substantial incoming recruitment that needs to be excellent if 2026/27 is to be a success. They have plenty of time to get the work done.

There may still be more departures.

Patrick Kelly’s performance against World Cup favourites France last week demonstrated his huge potential and may also alert possible buyers who had previously been put off by his lack of end product for the Reds last season.

He and star winger Reyes Cleary will only leave for substantial multi-million bids.