Daniel Stendel is confident that Barnsley’s promotion squad will stay together for next season after being surprised but thrilled that a place in League One’s top two was secured with a game to spare. 

The Reds won promotion to the Championship at the first attempt on Tuesday when third-placed Portsmouth and fourth-placed Sunderland were beaten by Peterborough United and Fleetwood Town respectively. 

They visit Bristol Rovers tomorrow from 5.30pm to complete an historic season in which they have broken club records for points totals and clean sheets while going undefeated at home throughout a campaign for the first time since 1968.

Head coach Stendel said: “I hope the big part of our team stays in Barnsley. We have started a journey and it is not over yet. I think we have a good team to stay in the Championship. The biggest point when you are promoted is to stay in the league. We will need a good season to achieve that but I think we can do it. The planning starts now. We are enjoying the promotion but we are starting to look at what we can do for next season. We are looking forward to being in the Championship.”

When asked by the Chronicle if he saw his long-term future at Barnsley, Stendel said: “We will see. It’s a good time for us all. We will celebrate it and then see.”

Stendel was watching the Champions League semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax at Wembley on Tuesday night when the news came through that his side would not need to visit the national stadium in the play-offs. He then went out with his team. 

Stendel said: “I didn’t expect us to be promoted on Tuesday. I told the players that morning that I thought we would have to win on Saturday. “I enjoyed the feeling. I am very satisfied. For me, it doesn’t matter that we celebrated on the sofa. It was a hard season for us and we deserve to be promoted automatically.  

“I watched the Champions League game at my house with my old assistant Andreas (Winkler). I had my phone in my hand and I watched the score in Portsmouth and Fleetwood. It was a nice feeling at the end. 

“I got a lot of text messages and calls then we all went out together. I don’t know how many places we went to but it was a nice night. You can feel the great feeling around the town and the fans that we have come back to the Championship. I have felt in every game that they like what we do and every game felt like a celebration. In Oakwell and in all away games we have so much support so we needed to get promoted for our town and our  supporters.”

Stendel is delighted that his first season in English football has ended in promotion following the club’s relegation a year ago.

He said: “It is a big success for me as a manager that we can do it in one year.  We changed the style and we improved all through the season.  “Our big goal was to get back to the Championship so I am very happy. I hoped, at the start, that we would get promoted but I was not sure because we changed so much so fast. But the players made it very easy to do this.

“Over the season the best two teams have been promoted automatically.  Luton (league leaders) and us had long unbeaten runs. A lot of teams, like Sunderland, Portsmouth and Charlton, all had good seasons but they weren’t as consistent as Barnsley and Luton.” 

Barnsley are expected to release their ‘retained list’ later this month. Out of contract at the end of this current season are Adam Davies, Adam Jackson and Ryan Hedges as well as several youth team players.  Centre-back Jackson and winger Hedges both turned down new deals last year but have started just five league games each this season. 

Captain and goalkeeper Davies – who was not offered a new deal at the start of the season but has been one of the star performers – has said he will discuss his future with the club after the season ends while head coach Daniel Stendel says there will be an extension offered to him.

The Reds also need to decide whether to take up their option of a third year on the contract of Dimitri Cavare. The Frenchman had been first choice right-back for the majority of the season and was named in the PFA Team of the Year but has been dropped for the last four games. 

Winger Lloyd Isgrove is also out of contract in the summer but is highly likely to be released having made just two substitute appearances in the league this season before being loaned in January to promotion rivals Portsmouth who have not played him at all.