I'm hoping Duff is a good fit for Barnsley. He grew up in Bedale (so Yorkshire connection), he had a long playing career, played for Burnley and managed Burnley reserves, experience of lower league management with Cheltenham. Hungry for success? Can he get us back to the Championship and stay around for a couple of seasons?
Come on, as a coach/manager you want someone you can trust and fall back on. He's had a trusted backroom team for 4 years so you would think and hope he wants to bring them with him In my view it's what's needed down here, new broom and all that
It'll be interesting to see the set-up around Duff - at Cheltenham he operates with a Director of Football, an Assistant Manager/Number 2 and a First Team Coach. You could see the latter, Wade Elliott, coming with him but the Director of Football and his Assistant Manager seem to be two who are intrinsically wedded into the Cheltenham club.
The coaching structure is one reason I fully expected a delay on agreeing a deal with Duff. We've guaranteed Disco a job working with the First Team, and because we've not let many of the previous Head Coaches bring in their own staff, it isn't a case of a clean sweep when we sacked (or released) Poya. All speculation, but I can imagine discussions with Wade Elliot could have been around joining Duff at Barnsley or stepping up to replace him at Cheltenham. Those kind of discussions could take days, especially when you're talking compensation to Cheltenham or appetite from Barnsley around how many people he can bring with him. There must be so many factors involved in agreeing to a deal that you're in a position to announce. Many we could think of on here, but then loads in the background we're completely unaware of as we don't work in football. I'm just delighted that we appear to have got one of our #1 targets. We went about it the right way, with an official approach, two interviews, and a job offer that was accepted. From who was available I think this is a tremendous appointment.
As one of the Cheltenham fans says, appointing a new manager is a "crapshoot" and agree we've gone down the right lines appointing someone who could be up and coming, having served an apprenticeship in the lower leagues. Nobody knows if he;s the next Steve Parkin or the next Klopp but he's worth a go and if he's worth a go, he's worth some patience as well. I'm right behind him. I'm hoping our squad will be a lot better than Cheltenham's (without being all wednesday about it) and he can turn a mid table finish into a top six finish
Khaled has ruled out a Director of Football before, on a couple of separate occasions (from us in the Q&A but also from Leon at the YP). I don't think a DOF is a natural fit anymore for someone who's retired. It suits a more modern approach and is based around scouting and recruitment, from someone who knows their football but doesn't have the skillset to be a manager or head coach. The notion that as you get old you move in to the 'office' is a bit 1990's for me.
under the circumstances. probably the best we could have got in. personally would have preferred Colin, but pleased at this. he's young, he's British, he knows the football league, he's got huge experience as a player, already 200+ games as a manager, >40% win rate, play-offs and a promotion under his belt. he ticks pretty much every box for me, as far as credentials go. it's everything people were demanding after poya. will be interested to see what his coaching staff looks like, and the squad he starts the season with.
When all of the names started circling, Duff was the one I wanted so pleased with this. Let’s have a good summer of transfer dealings and hit the ground running.
Why is everyone talking as though it’s a done deal…….? Mmmmmm Or is it just me that doesn’t believe in tempting fate