Duff linked with return to management at Barnsley

Just about twelve months ago Michael Duff was Barnsley manager and looking forward to a play off final at Wembley against Sheffield Wednesday.   A late winner for the Owls condemned Barnsley to another season in League One but the work of Duff drew the attention of the Swans who, of course, appointed him as a replacement for Russell Martin.

Duff’s tenure here in SA1 has been well documented as short and a poor fit for the Swans and when he departed the club at the start of December it was probably not a huge surprise as it was pretty evident that things were never going to work out.

Meanwhile at Barnsley they were competing at the top end of League One again under Duff’s replacement in Neil Collins who was appointed in July.    However, despite pushing at the top end of the table Collins was sacked before the season ended after the Tykes had a string of defeats that damaged their automatic promotion hopes.

Caretaker manager Martin Devaney led the side into the play offs but a 5-4 aggregate play off defeat to Bolton ended their hopes of promotion back to the Championship and effectively started the search for the replacement for Collins.

Journalist Alan Nixon has now reported that they could turn to Duff for a return to Oakwell ad task him with winning them promotion next season.   Nixon claims that the chance would be of interest to Duff which is probably no surprise given he has been out of work since being sacked from the Swans.

Whether it would be quite as well welcomed by Barnsley fans could be more open up for debate but a quick glance around Twitter yesterday evening suggested more people were for the idea than against it.

Successive play off defeats will surely see Barnsley start next season as one of the promotion favourites from League One and that will add a level of pressure onto any return that Duff may agree to.

There will also be a strong belief that Duff will have a point to prove given the disastrous nature of his spell here at Swansea and that could drive him on to take over again at his former club.

What odds the Swans and Barnsley being drawn together in the League Cup if it happens…