JON FLATMAN was owner of York City Knights when they moved into the York Community Stadium, along with York City, in 2021 and is set to return there on Saturday as he continues another rebuilding mission as Barnsley FC chief executive.

Flatman, whose background is mainly in rugby league, bought the York club in 2016 when they were reportedly on the brink of closure and oversaw their rise from League One to the Championship – exactly what the Reds are trying to do now but in a different sport with the same league names. The council-owned ground was built from 2017 to 2020 and is shared by the rugby league and football clubs.

Flatman sold the Knights in 2022 and played a role in the Rugby League World Cup before joining the Reds, eventually becoming the Reds’ chief executive.

This summer, he re-appointed head coach Daniel Stendel – famous in Barnsley for the 2019 promotion from the third division – and the German also enjoyed success in York previously.

His side won 7-1 at the then National League North Minstermen’s old ground Bootham Crescent in a friendly in July 2018.

It is perhaps worth looking back at the team that day.

First half team: Jack Walton, Jason McCarthy, Liam Lindsay, Adam Jackson, Zeki Fryers, Lloyd Isgrove, Cameron McGeehan, Brad Potts, Ryan Hedges, Tom Bradshaw, Kieffer Moore.

Second half team: Jack Walton, Dimitri Cavare, Ethan Pinnock, Ben Williams, Dani Pinillos, Jared Bird, Alex Mowatt, George Moncur, Dylan Mottley-Henry, Victor Adeboyejo, Mamadou Thiam.

Other than a small group of signings who would arrive later in the window, the vast majority of the team that would win promotion were involved in that match.

Several of them would go on to be stalwarts in the Championship or Premier League.

It is probably fair to predict that there will be much more of a change from this Saturday’s game to the side that plays the majority of the campaign, with other clubs interested in their key men and plenty of signings needed.

This was always going to be a very different type of summer to Stendel’s first at Oakwell and he knew that when accepting the job.

The squad is no longer full of players who were signed at and played at Championship level while the club is now pursuing even more of a youth development policy.

Last week saw the arrival of several new players and the Reds are hoping to add more in the coming days. The deal for Australian winger Clayton Taylor in particular is one Barnsley are very pleased with.

There must be shrewd additions in the remaining seven weeks of the transfer window.

The scorers of two thirds of Barnsley’s league goals last season, when they finished 15th, are no longer at the club while there are doubts over the futures of Reyes Cleary and Luca Connell who netted the majority of the rest.

There has also been an exodus of experience and leadership, although the returning McGeehan does bring that as well as knowledge of Stendel’s style of play.

The team for the first friendly at Matlock on Saturday demonstrated how many gaps there are to fill.

Leo Farrell was the only available striker.

The 20-year-old scored and is expected to be involved more this season but needs more experienced players to arrive soon.

Stendel is nearly three weeks into a pre-season in which he is trying to coach his team his pressing style but does not have any senior strikers to lead that press.

They are yet to add a senior player to the back line – including goalkeeper and full-backs – which shipped 99 goals in all competitions last season and surely needed a serious revamp unless Stendel can perform some sort of alchemy with a group of defenders mainly unsuited to his high line.

Along with improved recruitment, the Reds will have to rely on Stendel making significant improvements collectively and individually through training.

That is despite working with a lesser and so far less complete squad than last time and apparently not with a new assistant.