Barnsley have given head coach Lee Johnson permission to speak to Bristol City about their vacant manager's position.

Less than 12 hours after leading the Reds to Wembley in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, Johnson will now discuss personal terms with the Championship club for whom he played 199 games across six years. 

Johnson, who has today been named League One's manager of the month with star striker Sam Winnall player of the month, has been with the Reds for less than a year and has led them on a six-match winning run after they spent two months in the relegation zone earlier this season. 

A club statement said: "When Lee Johnson was appointed to the role of head coach at Barnsley Football Club, it was intended to confine and focus his activities on the development, organisation and recruitment of players for the first team. The limitation of this role was to allow other management staff to have similar remits relating to the academy, under 18 and under 21 teams.

"Partly, the purpose in designating the head coach role in this way was to limit the impact in the event of a change and to encourage succession planning.

"This morning we gave permission to Lee Johnson to speak to Bristol City concerning their managerial vacancy. We gave this permission because we believe that the structures that we now have in place must be the key to our future success rather than dependence on a single individual.

"If Lee decides to stay with Barnsley Football Club we will be delighted, but if he chooses to move on, we will continue unabated with the plan we have in place for the progression of our club.

"We will provide further information in due course."