My fourth season as Barnsley manager has drawn to a close. Mixed bag of a season.
The average age of my squad is just 22, with the oldest player being 28 year old Callum Brittain, who was at the club in League One when I took over. Callum Styles is the only other Barnsley original left. Godwin-Malife joined from League One Forest Green after promotion to the Championship. The squad is smattered with some incredible regens and a few classic wonderkids who hadn't moved to bigger clubs.
We had a terrible run during December and January, losing 8-3 (Chelsea away) and 6-1 (Man City away), whilst also getting knocked out of the FA Cup by League One Plymouth. I was hanging on to my job through this spell, picking up 3 points from the 27 available.
However, we made it to the Carabao Cup semis, getting knocked out by Man City, 5-3 on aggregate after losing the first leg 4-0. Our away performance all season.
Let's take a look at the competition overview and see where we finished up.
Oh yes, Euro Cup Finalists! Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. What a run though.
We played and beat some absolute monsters of Europe, past and present. We just didn't turn up against West Ham in the final. After the Milan result I was confident we would pick up our first major piece of silverwear.
Squad overview from the end of the season. It's looking like a big summer of recruitment, whilst only signing players under 22, with only Kik Piere and Labrovic being exceptions. Omadiagbe is going to be my number 1 next season.
Alexander Velez had a breakout season and will become one of the best in the league if he keeps improving.
Andro Arrue will be my first choice CB this season as I phase out Kovacevic and use Dorrington and Scalvini in rotation.
The club has had several takeover rumours and we are in the process of expanding Oakwell to make the most of our recent success.