Barnsley are set to appoint a German as manager for the first time in their history. Daniel Stendel is now the favourite to take over the hotseat at Oakwell which has laid vacant since the final game of the 2017-2018 season on the 6th May when a 4-1 defeat at Derby County sent the Reds into League One and saw Jose Morais axed immediately after.
44 year old Stendel has had only one managerial role previously, that as head coach of Hannover 96 in his native land where he was appointed on the 3rd April 2016 - promoted from his role with the Under 19 side - when the club had lost 13 of its previous 14 Bundesliga matches. Stendel did manage to win two of Hannover's final six matches but could not save them from relegation, finishing rock bottom with just 25 points and out of the top tier for the first time in 14 years.
Hannover had a good start to life in Bundesliga 2, winning 13 of 25 matches but Stendel and his assistant Markus Gellhaus were sacked in March 2017 with the club in fourth place - they would go on to finish second after Stendel's departure and gain immediate promotion back to the Bundesliga.
Stendel had a fairly nomadic playing career, spending the entirety of it in Germany as a striker, scoring 102 goals in 363 appearances for Hamburger SV, SV Meppen, FC Gütersloh, Hannover 96 and St. Pauli before retiring in 2008 and joining the coaching team at Hannover.
The club are yet to confirm the appointment but a photo of what appears to be Stendel holding a scarf up on the Oakwell pitch for photographers has been leaked on Twitter.
This would be only the second Daniel to ever manage Barnsley - the other, Danny Wilson, won promotion to the Premier League, it will also be the third foreign appointment in Barnsley's history after Gudjon Thordarson and Morais.