Blackpool have made an approach for Duff..

All depends on the 'big sell'. Can you sell a three year plan at Barnsley, on a similar salary, to that of Blackpool? There's probably a bit of clout from the owners but the rest would need to be on the post-Conway vision. Not an easy job, but I don't think divisional status would decide it too much.

Being fair to Blackpool though, despite a limited budget they've been progressing well off the field too and really dialling in to the local community. They're also already in the Championship, unlike us, but I guess it depends where someone would see the ceiling for them vs. our own aspirations.

 

100% agree. Guess we'll never truly know if he was first choice unless he takes the Oakwell gig.

 

All professional footballers back themselves, as players and managers, that's why they make moves that most of us question. Critchley is a tough act to follow and I'm not sure how much credit Duff would get for taking a lower mid-table team to a 12th-16th finish for a couple of seasons or so. The chance to build something with us 'might' be seen as a better opportunity, but then to my initial point he'll back himself to do what we did with Val and what Luton did with Jones.

Bring on JFH or this young kid from United then!

 

seems like an overreaction, to say 'if it's not who I want I'm not going'. you spent most of last season trying to convince everyone to stick with poya. hasselbaink might not be the best choice we could have hoped for, but he'll definitely be better than poya.

 

JFH isn't my first choice by a country mile and doesn't inspire me massively, but he's a hugely respected figure in football and was an unreal striker. Many wanted League One experience, which he's got 4/5 seasons of, and has worked in England as a player or manager for something like 20 of the last 25 years. You'd assume he can command the respect of players in the dressing room given how aggressive he was as a player and the name he has - with something like 70 Premier League goals in 120 games for Chelski.

He won the League Two title with Burton Albion and then left for QPR when he had them TOP of League One. Failed at QPR but then a string of highly rated managers did during that time, which suggests all was not well at the club in general. The Northampton gig was a strange one, but then he's come back to Burton and kept them in League One when they looked certain for relegation, followed by stabilising them the season just gone on a shoestring budget.

With more and more younger managers/former teammates in the game he'll have contacts across Europe, which could help us with recruitment. I'll support him like I would 99.9% of head coaches at Oakwell if he gets the job, and I repeat he wouldn't be my choice, but his credentials aren't that bad when you lay out what a lot of people wanted from Poya's replacement.

Might not even be him to be fair.