A look at Barnsley's friendly fixtures.
MATLOCK TOWN, A, TOMORROW
Barnsley are due to start their pre-season matches at the Northern Premier League club in Derbyshire.
The match was a late addition to the schedule and will come at the end of the first full week of training at Oakwell.
Daniel Stendel is expected to be in the dugout but the team is likely to be made up of under 21 players plus potentially a few first teamers.
The Gladiators finished second in Division One East, the eighth tier of English football, last season then lost to Bradford Park Avenue in the play-offs.
They are managed by Ryan Cresswell, who was dismissed after a temporary stint at the end of last season then rehired in the summer although a recent statement said he had joined an EFL club as coach and Matlock would assess the viability of him continuing in his job with them.
Former Barnsley youngster Ricky Ravenhill has been the assistant coach while they have Northern Ireland international Conor Washington.
YORK CITY, A, JULY 11
Stendel oversaw a 7-1 win over the Minstermen in a friendly at their former ground on July 10, 2018.
Nine of the players involved that day would be regular starters in the team which won automatic promotion the following season.
The Reds’ squad is likely to be far less complete when they give their first team their first proper run-out of Stendel’s second spell in charge.
It should be a decent test against a side who have just been promoted back into the EFL in the most dramatic circumstances, netting a 113th-minute winner on the final day at title rivals Rochdale whose fans had stormed the pitch minutes earlier to celebrate what they thought was the winner.
Jon Flatman, now Barnsley chief executive, played a role in the construction of the York Community Stadium which opened in 2021, when at York City Knights rugby league club.
The Reds visited last pre-season and drew 2-2 then the clubs were drawn together at Oakwell in the FA Cup first round in November with Barnsley winning 3-2.
SCARBOROUGH ATHLETIC, A, JULY 25
A fortnight after the trip to York, during which time they may play a behind-closed-doors friendly, the Reds are back in North Yorkshire to take on the Seadogs
The original Scarborough – who reached the Football League but only played Barnsley in a two-legged League Cup tie in the 1998/99 season – folded in 2007 and a new club started in the tenth tier.
They have since gained four promotions and came close to a fifth last season when they lost in the National League North play-offs to Buxton.
They return to their renovated Flamingo Land Stadium this summer after period ground-sharing in Bridlington.
Scarborough’s manager is Jonathan Greening who played six times for Barnsley on loan from Nottingham Forest in the 2012/13 season.
The Reds have signed teenage Calum Hudson defender from Scarborough, with this friendly thought to be part of the deal.
LINCOLN CITY, H, AUGUST 1
The Reds’ final friendly of the season will see them welcome the Championship Imps for a 7pm kick-off.
The match is in the evening because Lincoln play nearby at Doncaster Rovers from 3pm with a different team competing in both matches.
It will be the first time Oakwell has hosted a friendly for two years because, last summer, the pitch had been relaid later than usual due to Callum Simpson’s boxing match.
Lincoln are a club Barnsley are attempting to emulate after they won the League One title with a budget not thought to be anywhere near one of the biggest in the division.
Their manager Michael Skubala has since moved to Bristol City with coaches Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw promoted to joint managers.
Barnsley will then have a week before hosting Wigan Athletic in the EFL Cup.
