Barnsley academy manager Bobby Hassell insists the club's youth system will be largely unaffected by relegation and believes the young players can help the Reds in their League One promotion push.
The Oakwell academy, which has a budget of more than £1million per year, will continue to receive the same amount in funding from the Premier League as a category two youth system, despite the drop to League One.
Hassell told the Chronicle: "The relegation won't change anything for the academy, financially or otherwise. The only difference is that under 23s may be called up more at League One level to make the bench up or to start, and there are three or four who are good enough to do that in my opinion."
Hassell – who spent ten seasons at Oakwell as a player and made 299 appearances– was a guest summariser on the radio when the Reds were relegated from the Championship on May 6 with a 4-1 defeat at Derby County.
"It was quite emotional. It hurt for someone who has been at the club so long and knows the town and the fans who paid a lot of money to go. But we didn't deserve to stay up on 41 points. We would have taken it, but we wouldn't have deserved it. It was not a nice day for anyone connected with Barnsley Football Club."
Hassell has been high on the bookmakers' lists of candidates to replace head coach Jose Morais who was sacked at Derby. He said: "I keep getting told I am favourite for the job with the bookies. I have never had so many people stop me. When out and about in the town centre, people are approaching me about it.
"People think, because I am academy manager, I played 300 games for the club and I have been here a long time that I will be the next manager. There's no truth in it whatsoever. The club have not approached me about it and I have not put myself forward for it. I don't think it would be right for me.
"Patrick (Cryne, the former owner) offered it to me on an interim basis a few years ago but I didn't want it and he understood that. I am more interested in being a sporting director and I am currently completing a masters degree towards that."
While it will not be him, Hassell knows the choice of head coach will be crucial not just for the first team but the academy as well. He said: "The academy is only as good as the first team manager and I look forward to working with whomever that may be. John Stones (Manchester City and England defender) was nowhere near our first team until Keith Hill came in with a philosophy of developing young players.
"I know we have lads who can play in the first team in League One, like Jared Bird, Victor Adeboyejo and Jack Walton as well as some others, but it's up to the head coach. I can't force him to play any of our young players but I can make sure that players are first-team ready in the event of a call-up. It's a big opportunity for someone to come in and coach this bunch, because it's a massive club at League One level. I tell everyone it's an unbelievable club to take on."
Hassell is pleased with the progress made since taking over as academy manager in late 2016 following a spell as head of academy recruitment. He said: "The academy has improved no end in the last couple of years, in terms of the infrastructure and organisation. It runs very smoothly. There has been a big emphasis on recruitment and we are a lot stronger in each age group.
"We have had a really favourable audit. We were rated fourth out of the 21 category two academies. We were ranked first on education in the 92, joint with a few other clubs, and fifth best for productivity which is based on how many players you bring through to first team level. John Stones makes up a lot of that with us but there have been others as well."
Both the under 18s and under 23s finished bottom of their leagues in 2017/18, but Hassell is not concerned. He said: "We will always finish near the bottom because the emphasis is placed on development. Our under 16s played a lot of games in the under 18s this year and the 18s played a lot for the under 23s.
"We did that from Christmas onwards and you can tell from the results that we dropped away at that point after being third or fourth at Christmas. But it's all about developing the lads, and other clubs are starting to follow that same model."
