Barnsley

The club

Barnsley were founded in 1887 and play at Oakwell, which holds 23,287. They are the Reds or the Tykes, and have worn red and white shirts since 1904.

Recent seasons

Barnsley finished fifth in the Championship in 2020/21 and reached the play-off semi-finals, their first appearance at that stage in 24 years. They were relegated the following season, 2021/22. In League One they finished fourth in 2022/23 with 86 points from 26 wins, eight draws and 12 defeats, and lost the play-off final 1-0 after extra time to Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley on 29 May 2023, Josh Windass scoring in the 123rd minute in front of 72,492. They were sixth in 2023/24 with 76 points and lost the play-off semi-final to Bolton Wanderers 5-4 on aggregate, then 12th in 2024/25 with 61 points.

The 2025/26 season under Conor Hourihane was a flat one: 15th in League One with 59 points from 46 games, a record of 15 wins, 14 draws and 17 defeats, 68 goals scored and 73 conceded. They went out of the FA Cup and the EFL Cup in the third round and the EFL Trophy in the round of 32. David McGoldrick was top scorer with 15 league goals and 18 in all competitions. Home league attendances averaged 11,144, the highest being 15,783 against Huddersfield Town.

Honours and landmarks

The FA Cup of 1911/12 is the club's one major trophy, won with a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion; they had been runners-up in 1909/10. The EFL Trophy was won in 2015/16, beating Oxford United 3-2. League titles are all from the Third Division North, in 1933/34, 1938/39 and 1954/55. Barnsley have also won two play-off finals, in 2006 and 2016.

The distinctive fact about Barnsley is longevity in the second tier: they have spent more seasons and played more games at the second level of English football than any other club.

The record attendance is 40,255 against Stoke City in the FA Cup on 15 February 1936. The record fee received is £5m from Swansea City for Alfie Mawson in 2017. The record fee paid is £1.5m, spent twice, on Georgi Hristov and on Mike Sheron.

Notable scorelines

The record victory is 9-0, achieved twice, against Loughborough in 1899 and against Accrington Stanley in 1934. The record defeat is 0-9 against Notts County on 19 January 1927. From last season, the best result was a 5-0 win over Luton Town at Oakwell on 22 November 2025 and the worst a 6-0 defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion in the EFL Cup on 23 September 2025.

Head-to-head notes

No published all-time head-to-head record was established for any of Barnsley's 2026/27 League One opponents, including the Yorkshire clubs. Barnsley do not publish such records on their own website and none were found elsewhere in the sources read. Sheffield Wednesday, who beat Barnsley in the 2023 play-off final, are in League One in 2026/27 after finishing bottom of the Championship in 2025/26 with a points total wiped out by deductions, so that fixture returns to the league calendar. Huddersfield Town, Doncaster Rovers and Bradford City are also in the division.

Right now (2026/27)

Daniel Stendel was appointed head coach on 12 May 2026 on a two-year deal, a second spell in charge at Oakwell.

The recruitment was almost entirely low-cost. Centre-back Calum Hudson joined from Scarborough Athletic on 30 June 2026. Cameron McGeehan arrived from Northampton Town on a free transfer on 1 July. Centre-back Isaac Smith came from Manchester City and the winger Clayton Taylor from Newcastle Jets on a free transfer, both on 2 July. Tyrese Noslin, a right wing-back, signed from Telstar on 14 July for £255,000, the only published fee of the window. Amani Richards, a forward, joined from Leicester City on 15 July, and Franklin Middleton from Doncaster Rovers on a free transfer on 29 July. Departures included Adam Phillips to Bradford City, Jackson Smith to Port Vale, Andrew Dallas to Walsall, Eoghan O'Connell to Stockport County and Jon Russell to Mansfield Town; dates and fees for those moves were not published in the sources read.

Pre-season was mixed: 2-0 at Matlock Town on 4 July, a 2-1 defeat at York City on 11 July, a 3-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers on 18 July and 2-0 at Scarborough Athletic on 25 July.

Barnsley were drawn against Wigan Athletic in the first round of the EFL Cup on 8 August 2026, the draw having been made on a regionalised basis on 25 June 2026. The League One season opens at home to Bromley, newly promoted as League Two champions, on Saturday 15 August 2026.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.