Barnsley FC made big call in 2020 and it almost paid off in a big way | OneFootball

Valerien Ismael was brought in by the Tykes in October 2020 and he nearly wrote himself into the history books.

Barnsley entered the 2020/21 campaign after narrowly avoiding relegation the season prior, and work needed to be done to ensure that they did not have the same issues two years in a row.

Gerhard Struber had managed to keep the Tykes in the Championship during his first term in charge, and with stability needed he was hoping that a strong summer transfer window would help take the team further up the table.

However, they continued to struggle and early in October 2020, the Austrian was poached by New York Red Bulls in the MLS with the South Yorkshire outfit struggling to maintain the form that had seen them survive the year prior.

Barnsley needed to get the next appointment right as the club had to stay in the second tier after years of bouncing between League One and the Championship. Their decision to hire a relatively unknown Frenchman proved genius.

Valerien Ismael had an instant impact at Barnsley

Valerien Ismael joined the Tykes while they were 21st in the table, and he quickly got to work in making them hard to beat and grinding out results.

Four wins in his first five games followed, with two most importantly coming against early relegation contenders Derby County and Nottingham Forest as his side started to climb the standings into mid-table.

Back-to-back defeats followed, however, the current Blackburn Rovers boss kept faith in his players and six wins in eight saw Barnsley climb up to eighth as 2020 came to an end.

January 2021 proved to be an incredibly tough and testing month for Ismael and his team, failing to win a single match in the Championship and there were some worries that they could slip back into the form that saw them struggle in 2019/20.

However, they recovered once again and won their next seven games before a 0-0 draw at home to Derby halted a perfect run. A 3-2 win away to high-flying AFC Bournemouth was further proof that the Tykes could push themselves into the top six as supporters watched on from home with stadiums empty across the country.

Ismael could not quite give Barnsley their fairytale ending

It had been a remarkable season for Barnsley and with 10 games left, they knew they had to stay strong and stick together to put the club into a position it had not been in for 20 years.

The Tykes won 17 points in those matches, ending the campaign in 5th place and booking themselves a date with Swansea City in the Championship play-offs.

It was Barnsley's highest league finish since 2000, and they knew that a return to the Premier League was staring them in the face.

However, the Swans proved too strong over the course of two legs, with the 1-0 advantage that they took away from Oakwell unable to be overturned as the sides drew 1-1 in South Wales, sending Steve Cooper's side to Wembley.

Despite missing out on promotion, Ismael had given supporters a season they were never going to forget, and came ever so close to writing one of the Championship's greatest underdog stories.