Barnsley are set to announce Darrell Clarke as their new head coach.
The 46-year-old is expected to move from Cheltenham Town, having been part of the recruitment process for weeks.
Clarke was a midfielder for his hometown club Mansfield Town then Hartlepool United and non-league Salisbury City where he started his managerial career. He moved on to Bristol Rovers in 2013 and, after they were relegated to non-league, secured back-to-back promotions to League One – reportedly turning down a move to Leeds United after meeting with Massimo Cellino.
He left Rovers in December 2018 then spent two years at Walsall before moving to Port Vale in 2021. He took Vale to promotion in 2022 via the League Two play-off final and dedicated the victory to his daughter Ellie who had died the previous February.
He was sacked near the end of last season then took over at Cheltenham in September after they had taken one point and not scored in the first ten games. He took them to within contention of safety but they were relegated on the final day of the season last month, losing to Stevenage in the last minute when a win would have kept them up. He has managed in 485 games.
