BARNSLEY first team coach Tom Harban is enjoying working under Daniel Stendel again and looking forward to a ‘really positive time’ for the club.

Harban, who is from Barnsley, was assistant under 18s coach last time Stendel was at Barnsley in 2018 and 2019.

The Reds are hoping the German will provide a change of fortunes following five successive seasons of finishing lower than the year before.

Harban told the Chronicle: “It filtered down to the youth teams last time, his style of play. I am pretty clear on what he wants his team to play like because we’ve done it in the past.

“Daniel coming back, for the supporters of Barnsley and the people of the town, it’s a really positive time.

“There is a lot of positivity coming back into the fanbase regarding his return. Hopefully with performances on the pitch, the fans can get right behind us and we can have a really good season.

“A lot of clubs go through periods where they don’t achieve everything they want then success comes around again which this club has seen more than a lot of clubs – promotions in 2006, 2016, 2019 with Daniel. We have had a lot of promotions and a lot of seasons when we don’t achieve what we want.

“Hopefully this will be a season when we do really well and we get where we want to be.

“He’s got a certain way of playing that everyone associated to Barnsley knows.

“The players are buying into the work ethic and what he wants in training.

“It’s just using this pre-season to iron out everything and hopefully by the first game against Wigan in the cup the lads are really nailing what he wants the team to look like.”

Harban is currently the main assistant coach to Stendel with no one else expected to arrive this summer.

“It’s not settled in terms of what everyone’s roles and responsibilities are within the staff. But before the lads came back, I spent time with Daniel to try to form a relationship with him which has been really positive on my behalf.

“Hopefully he sees what I can offer and we have a good working relationship for the rest of the season.”

Harban was brought into the first team coaching staff last season by Conor Hourihane who has since been replaced by Stendel.

“Both coaches are demanding in terms of what they want. The styles of play are different with and without the ball.

“They work in different ways. Daniel demands a lot of intensity in every training session whether it’s the day before the game or not. He wants the lads to train how they play. Conor did as well but with the fixtures we had last year it was tough to train with intensity.

“The players are enjoying what they are doing but working hard as well.”

Harban spoke after the 2-1 loss at York City in Saturday’s friendly.

“It’s more minutes in the legs for the players. We went with two 45s last week at Matlock. We wanted to go 60/30 at York for the more senior boys.

“They are a good team who have just been promoted to League Two and we know they like to play a certain style.

“It was a good test for us in terms of what the gaffer wants.”

With no senior strikers in the squad, various midfielders were tried in different positions.

“It’s an opportunity to have a look at certain players who have certain attributes for positions the gaffer thinks they can play in.

“We’re not tying them down to one set position at the minute.

“Obviously a few additions will help settle the squad down a bit.”