Craig Hignett assesses Barnsley’s hiring of Daniel Stendel and their recruitment needs
Barnsley’s appointment of Daniel Stendel as head coach has been hailed by former Reds star Craig Hignett - but the club have warned they need to recruit well.
Stendel is back at the Oakwell helm as the club’s head coach, nearly seven years after his first reign was controversially brought to an end. The German had led the South Yorkshire club to promotion from League One, only to be shown the door after a slow start to life in the Championship.
The 52-year-old has now been tasked with breathing life back into a club that has spent recent years in a state of regression.
Craig Hignett has weighed in on his former club Barnsley's current position.placeholder image
Craig Hignett has weighed in on his former club Barnsley's current position. | Michael Steele/Allsport & Tony Johnson
Craig Hignett on Daniel Stendel return and need for recruitment
Hignett, a former midfielder who starred for Barnsley between 1998 and 2000, believes it was a “sensible” decision to get Stendel back on board. However, the 56-year-old has sent a recruitment message to his former employers.
“With Stendel coming in now, he knows the club, and he knows what the fans want,” Hignett told Pure Digital PR. “I think it's a sensible appointment.
“Hopefully this year they can have a good year, but they're going to need to recruit really well.”
“Losing your best player is always a tough one,” Hignett said. “Davis Keillor-Dunn going was a big blow to them. I had Davis as a kid at Middlesbrough, he was a great lad, a really good footballer.
Davis Keillor-Dunn made 78 appearances across all competitions for Barnsley, registering 35 goals.placeholder image
Davis Keillor-Dunn made 78 appearances across all competitions for Barnsley, registering 35 goals. | Jonathan Gawthorpe
“I've seen Reyes Cleary play at Hartlepool, and he looked better than the level. I covered the FA Cup game at Anfield when Barnsley played Liverpool, and he had a really good game. You need players like that if you're going to do anything in the league.
"McGoldrick, he's getting on, but he's still capable, and he's still experienced enough to plot his way around a football match, but they're going to need three or four players who are going to come in and hit the ground running.
"They need their first 11 to be around that standard, Championship-ready or top of the League One level; they're the standard that they're going to have to recruit."
Hoping for a Barnsley revival
Since Barnsley’s relegation from the Championship in 2022, they have endured a steady decline in League One. Across the last three seasons, the South Yorkshire club have finished fourth, sixth and 12th respectively.
Daniel Stendel is back in charge of Barnsley nearly seven years after being sacked by the Reds.placeholder image
Daniel Stendel is back in charge of Barnsley nearly seven years after being sacked by the Reds. | Jonathan Gawthorpe
"Barnsley's a club that I'm really fond of,” he said. “I had a great time there; the fans were always brilliant with me, they still are, too, so I always want to see them do well.
"They've had a couple of times in the past few years where they've looked like they're going to do well. They did under Michael Duff; they looked like they were going to kick on, but it didn't quite happen for them. They've been there or thereabouts for a couple of seasons and then tail off. I thought this season they might have got in and amongst it.
"It’s a club that won’t have the biggest budget, and I think when you look at some of the budgets in that league, some of them are massive, and you need to be able to compete. Competing for me is having a top 10 budget, but I don't know where they sit with that.”