By Harry Jones
November 17 2025

Conor Hourihane was permanently appointed Barnsley head coach on April 18, 2025, signing a two-year contract. He had previously been named interim head coach on March 12, 2025, after the sacking of Darrell Clarke.

Clarke was sacked following a 3-0 defeat at home to Blackpool and the Reds had lost 7 of their last 11 matches and had dropped down to 10^th place.

Neill Collins was also sacked after a 3-2 defeat away at Blackpool on April 20, 2024, so Hourihane may have January 17, 2026, when Barnsley host Blackpool at Oakwell, circled in his calendar as a so-called judgement day.

Anyway, to look at Hourihane's reign so far, it may be logical to split his time as Barnsley boss into 3 parts- Last season, the summer and this season so far. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Last season

When Conor Hourihane became interim head coach in March, he inherited a squad that had a dismal home record, a great away record and seemed to have streaks of three or four wins in a row put together in the mix of draws and losses that just about kept them with the smallest possibility of reaching the League One playoffs for a third season in a row.

When the Irishman was appointed, it was clear he had his own philosophy and ideas he wanted to implement. He had 10 games to show the Barnsley board why he should be given the permanent role and why the Reds shouldn't appoint a more experienced boss.

His time in charge didn't get off to the best start however, failing to win in his first five games. However, too much couldn't be read into last season under Hourihane as it was clear the season was basically over as the Reds where trending downwards in the league with a playoff place finish requiring an unlikely revival and upturn in form.

The Irishman showed his willingness to experiment, including starting Josh Benson- a natural midfielder- at right wingback in his first game in charge away at Mansfield. Benson scored however the Reds lost but it showed that Hourihane clearly had different tactics he wanted to try, which he perhaps couldn't have done whilst working under Darrell Clarke.

Another thing Hourihane wanted to bring in was stricter discipline into a team that he had alluded had been let off the hook under previous manager Darrell Clarke. This was seen when Hourihane benched key players Luca Connell and Adam Phillips for the game away at Wigan on March 29^th.

Phillips had turned up late to a team meeting, while Hourihane stated that both players had not been "up to scratch" in general performance. Connell came off the bench during the match, while Phillips remained an unused substitute.

This was a bold move from Hourihane and showed that he wanted the standards to be like when he was a Barnsley player a decade earlier.

Hourihane would acquire his first win in an impressive 4-1 victory over Bolton at Oakwell on April 12, 2025. This was particularly impressive as Bolton were still in the chase for a playoff place whilst the Reds had little to play for.

The match was particularly special as it was one of the few times Portuguese youngster Fábio Jaló had shown his quality for the first team. He grabbed a spectacular double including a great second goal where he drove into the Bolton box twisting and turning before rifling a strong shot into the roof of the net.

Unfortunately, the youngster would get injured in a home game against Peterborough on Easter Monday, and is yet to return in the current campaign.

Hourihane also showed his willingness to trust the youth. Academy players Jonathan Bland and Kieren Flavell were given first team opportunities to develop as Hourihane wanted to show a clear path from the academy to the first team.

After being permanently appointed Barnsley head coach on April 18, 2025, Hourihane won 1 of the last 4 games of the season. A noticeable difference under the Irishman was that Barnsley were scoring lots of goals, with 23 goals scored in his first 10 games in charge. However, defensive issues still plagued the Reds as no clean sheet was kept in those 10 games.

On the final day of the season, Hourihane gained an impressive 4-2 win away at Reading, a game where the Royals had an impressive attendance celebrating the riddance of horrible previous ownership combined with the fact that Reading could still finish in the playoffs if results went their way. To go there and win was surprising and allowed the Reds to leave a sour season on a slightly sweeter note.

So, after the worst league finish in over two decades, lots of work was needed to be done by Hourihane and the recruitment team to get rid of the deadwood and build a competitive squad again.

The Summer

Hourihane went into the summer saying he wanted to play attacking and entertaining football with wingers and wanted to deploy a back four, which was moving away from the back 3 the Reds had operated for multiple seasons.

Every summer transfer window for Barnsley in League One could be described as a rebuild, and this summer was no different as Mladen Sormaz and Conor Hourihane looked to fix an unbalanced squad that lacked fullbacks and wingers for Hourihane's new system.

Barnsley started off by releasing 15 players including Josh Benson, Donovan Pines, Sam Cosgrove, Aiden Marsh and Conor McCarthy.

The most notable of those departures was Josh Benson, with the 25-year-old showing moments of quality when fit at League One level, the only problem being that Benson was hardly ever fit. Reportedly being on high wages, releasing him was probably in Barnsley's best interest.

Loan players Joe Gauci, Dexter Lembikisa and Clement Rodrigues also returned to their parent clubs. The less said about Rodrigues, the better in my opinion.

Max Watters and Barry Cotter where both also loaned out and with the pair being in their last year of their respective contracts, it looks unlikely both may wear a Barnsley shirt again.

Barry Cotter was a great personality however no longer fit into Hourihane's new system, with him not really fitting into either a right wing or right back role. As for Max Watters, the striker showed promise at times however not enough on a consistent basis to be a clinical striker, and it gets to a point where you can no longer keep a player around in the hope they may hit form at some point, with it being argued Watters was given enough chances to become Barnsley's main striker.

The Reds also frustratingly lost Stephen Humphrys, who favoured a move to Bradford over a new Barnsley contract. This was particularly frustrating as the winger had ended the season with five goals in five games and looked a great fit for Hourihane in a left-wing role.

In terms of arrivals, Barnsley brought in Murphy Cooper, Nathanael Ogbeta, Caylan Vickers and Jake Rooney on loan deals. On permanent deals Barnsley brought in Reyes Cleary, Patrick Kelly, David McGoldrick and Tennai Watson.

The Reds also had Vimal Yoganathan and Jack Shepherd to return from promising promotion winning campaigns with Oldham and Bradford respectively.

Overall, the summer transfer was seen as almost perfect from many Reds fans. Hourihane had a strict recruitment policy which included deep background checks on each player and their personality to see if they would fit in with the current group. Wingers and fullbacks had been brought in to help aid Hourihane's new system and a lot of deadwood had been removed. The only annoying part was the Reds failure to bring in another striker/attacking player, leaving just Davis Keillor-Dunn and David McGoldrick as out-and-out strikers with a deadline day deal for John McAtee from Bolton not being sorted and falling through.

Interestingly, Mladen Sormaz left his role as Sporting Director in late September. This was unsurprising as some of the summer signings such as David McGoldrick may not have joined if not for Conor Hourihane being Barnsley head coach, and Sormaz had been responsible for many failures in terms of recruitment including bringing in Clement Rodrigues when the Reds were crying out for a proven goalscorer.

Sormaz can be credited with bringing in Davis Keillor-Dunn. And that's about it really.

It looks like Hourihane will take a bigger role in recruitment going forward. This isn't necessarily a bad thing and Hourihane was already given more control over signings the many of his predecessors where in the summer, so Hourihane taking full control over signings may have come sooner rather than later anyway.

Current season so far

After a decent pre-season, Barnsley where a bit of an unknown quantity going into the 2025/26 League One season.

The Reds are unsurprisingly no longer the force they were when they dropped out of the second tier in 2022, with the quality of the squad naturally regressing as each season in the third tier goes on. This is why many so-called bigger clubs than Barnsley have found themselves trapped in the third tier at points such as Ipswich and Sunderland.

More in Ipswich's case, what got them back into the Championship was the appointment of a young coach who played an attractive brand of football, as well as some smart recruitment.

Could this be something Barnsley are trying to replicate?

Not entirely if we are being truthful, however there is a clear plan that both Hourihane and the board are aligned on.

Bring in young players who fit the system Hourihane wants to play, play said young players who either stay and help the Reds gain promotion or leave for big money that the Reds should hopefully reinvest to improve the quality of the squad, also aiding a promotion push.

It sounds easy. And it is straightforward to bring in youngsters and sell them on. This is how clubs such as Barnsley have survived throughout their history.

It's just a shame that League One promotion requires more than this. Managers must have the tactical brain to navigate the different tactical systems they come up against. Can you go away to Bradford in front of 20,000+ and gain a positive result before next week getting the better of a low block at home. Another key is having different profiles that suit these different tests. A strong defence and a clinical attack are also needed. Have these and you may have an automatic promotion push on your hands. Or at least a playoff finish.

Do Barnsley have these features? Well, after August it appeared so. The Reds had a tough opening day at fixture away at Plymouth at Home Park. Home Park was a particularly tough place to go at League One level before this season, with the Pilgrims amassing 61 points at home in their title-winning 2022/23 season.

The Reds went there and won 3-1. Particularly impressive considering Jack Shephard received a red card at 2-1. Another key victory for Hourihane which showed his system at work.

The rest of August proved fruitful for the Reds. A comeback win at home to Burton followed by a win at home to Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup showed signs of a much-needed improvement on the home form. A draw at home to Bolton, was followed by a win away at Peterborough, where the Reds kept their first and only clean sheet under Conor Hourihane so far. There was a loss away at Wimbledon, which was then followed by a win against Rotherham in the Carabao Cup and then a very impressive win at home to Huddersfield, tipped by many to be challenging right at the very top of the table.

As we moved into September, the Reds gained a victory at home to Reading and sat in a very good position, however it was still too early to make any promotion assumptions, however there was an understandable excitement amongst the Reds fan base.

Hourihane's system seemed to be in full flow. There was Davis Keillor-Dunn in and around the box with David McGoldrick on the left however tucking inside into more of a left ten leaving space on the left wing. This was occupied by attacking full back Nathanael Ogbeta who essentially operated as a left winger in possession, causing chaos for the opposition. There was Adam Phillips who started centrally but found himself on the right wing linking up with Caylan Vickers who never seemed to lose the ball, with the Brighton coaching showing on the youngster with his excellent ball retention. Then there was the backline with Tennai Watson tucking in to form more of a back three with Jack Shephard and Josh Earl.

There was also the brilliant Murphy Cooper who seemed to make at least one wonder save every game. He had mistakes in him which were seen against Burton and Reading, but for the most part the QPR loanee was great and has continued to perform at a high level.

That was the opening stage of the campaign which started very well for Conor Hourihane’s Barnsley. However, the honeymoon period would seem to end after this.

There was a trip to Bloomfield Road where Barnsley travelled to play an out-of-form Blackpool. The Reds played some good football in the first half however couldn't create too many clear-cut chances. Hourihane clearly thought something had to be changed at half-time, so the Reds began to play more of a long ball style.

This was massively ineffective as the Reds lacked a big physical presence up top to keep the ball and win headers on a consistent basis. It was frustrating to watch McGoldrick and Keillor-Dunn be asked to do target man roles which don't particularly suit them. Although, they were probably better at the target man role than Sam Cosgrove. Anyways, this tactic continued for the rest of the second half and culminated into Blackpool getting on top before scoring a 98^th minute winner. This was probably the first key tactical fault Hourihane had displayed all season.

Next up was Port Vale, and in particular a low block the Reds were asked to break down at home. This is not a Hourihane-specific issue of not being able to break down a compact defensive block as the Reds have been struggling against them for seasons, however it was a stark reminder that to get out of this league, there needs to be a way of winning against these systems, and that's something the Reds don't have. The Reds lost 2-0 and it also highlighted the defensive issues and subsequent lack of clean sheets which are also going to affect a promotion push.

Sandwiched in between those two games was a heavy loss against Brighton in the Carabao Cup which can't be looked at too deeply considering the stark contrast in quality between the two sides.

Following on from that, the Reds didn't win for another three games in all competitions, and they had a very frustrating late collapse away at Wycombe where two late goals saw the Reds throw away two points.

That seems to be another issue that Hourihane must fix, as the Reds have conceded loads of late goals over the past few seasons, which may be due to a concentration issue, mentality issue, lack of depth or a combination of all three.

A win in the EFL Trophy against Manchester United U21 brought some confidence, which was immediately wiped as the Reds lost at home to Rotherham, another low block with a counter attacking threat that has got the better of Barnsley at Oakwell.

That seems to be the blueprint for many sides to win when they visit Oakwell. Many sides also find it easy to create chances and score against Barnsley which may signify a lack of control, which is also interesting considering Barnsley like to dominate the ball, perhaps pointing to a problem dealing with transitions that Hourihane must fix.

A win against York City saw the Reds advance in the FA Cup, and they also advanced in the EFL Trophy despite losing at home to Lincoln.

In between that was a big win for Hourihane away at Doncaster. This was important for multiple reasons as it got Barnsley a much-needed win in the league, as well as winning a South Yorkshire derby which will always delight Barnsley fans.

But also, there seemed to be a new Hourihane system, with a few changes from the one we saw in August.

For starters, Reyes Cleary has come into the side as a left winger and excelled, constantly wanting to run at the opposition full back and always being high and wide. He is also an exceptional dribbler which could help provide the quality needed to break down a low block. This however means less room for Ogbeta to overlap so the full back hasn't been getting forward as often, however he has now started to make more underlapping runs and move more centrally with ball. On the other side, we saw Vimal Yoganathan start on the right wing. However, he drifted more centrally with the ball and provided a pressing threat with the youngster known for his tenacity and off- the -ball work. This is a position I feel Adam Phillips could do well in once he returns from his injury. Yoganathan has replaced an out-of-form Caylan Vickers who has dropped a few levels since the start of the season. In the number 10 position Hourihane has deployed Patrick Kelly, who recently deservedly got his first call-up for the Northern Ireland senior team. He is an expectational dribbler and ball-carrier which is something the Reds have lacked in recent seasons, someone who will pick up the ball and drive forward, allowing for quicker attacks and increased counter attacking threat for transitions, which is we what we saw for Barnsley's second goal at Doncaster. There is now space on the right wing which could be occupied by Tennai Watson, however he is more of a defensive full back so if we are to see this new variation of Hourihane's system going forward, a more attacking right back may be needed in January to give the Reds another different profile. I would also like to see Barnsley bring a target forward which would allow the Reds to play long if needed, which is something Hourihane clearly wanted to do in the second half at Blackpool however lacked the personnel to do it.

As for Barnsley under Hourihane, we are essentially where we were at the start of the season- an unknown quantity. We have seen good bits, but also bad bits too. Barnsley currently sit 13^th in League One, however have only played 13 games compared to sides around them who have played 15/16 games. If the Reds can build some form into January and the squad can be supplemented with a few new profiles, along with a few more clean sheets, Barnsley can 100% finish in the top 6. However, if the Reds continue to concede lots of goals whilst simultaneously being frustrated by low blocks, a mid-table season beckons.

The future however does look bright. There are lots of exciting young players in this Barnsley team that will only get better. Plus, Davis Keillor-Dunn, Adam Phillips and Luca Connell remain at the club. So, who knows where the Reds could be in May next year. For everyone associated with Barnsley, hopefully that's back in the Championship.