Football Season Review

Barnsley have failed to return to the Championship at the first time of asking, as they endured a difficult campaign which saw them only looking like having a chance of making the play-offs during a brief spell late in the season. They started their season following a summer of wholesale changes and, despite showing occasional signs of promise, were never never able to show the consistency required to break into the top six. Their job was made even more difficult by the injury suffered by their then-top scorer Sam Winnall, who got injured in November and missed more than three months of action as a consequence. Danny Wilson has received a lot of criticism for the physical manner in which the Tykes had played their football under him, and a combination of this and Barnsley's disappointing league form has caused the board to part ways with him in February. The Tykes responded to the managerial change with a six-match winning run and even broke into the top six for a brief period, but were ultimately unable to maintain that sort of form and ended up falling short in the race for sixth. Their new manager Lee Johnson is completely different to Wilson, as he has a progressive footballing philosophy and wants his teams to keep the ball on the ground. His goal next season will certainly be to guide the Tykes to promotion, and we can therefore expect Barnsley to have a busy summer, as they are expected to undergo major squad changes and also spend a lot of time adapting to Johnson's footballing philosophy.

Player of the Season: Conor Hourihane