Two former Barnsley players have released two different podcasts in the last month with their experiences at Oakwell being mentioned regularly.

Jon Parkin, who is from Ardsley and lives in Darfield, is part of the Undr The Cosh podcast along with former Doncaster Rovers striker Chris Brown while ex Reds stopper David Preece has launched goalkeeping-based The Number One Podcast. They are both hoping to break into a growing market with the number of football podcasts increasing significantly in recent years.

Parkin, who is also working on an autobiography, said: "Chris Brown got in touch with me and asked if I fancied doing it. It's fortnightly and the first episode was introducing ourselves, now every episode will be an interview with a different former footballer.

"It's to give people an insight into what it's like to be a footballer – what problems they have had and what the different managers and players they worked with were like. It's no holds barred and it's not for under 18s but hopefully people will find it interesting."

Barnsley fan Parkin was released by the Reds in 2002 after making just 13 appearances for his hometown club, mainly at centre-back, before forging an impressive career as a striker in the Championship with the likes of Hull City, Stoke City and Preston North End. He talks in the first episode of his podcast about a failed move back to Oakwell from Preston when Mark Robins was in charge of the Reds. He told the Chronicle: "I nearly signed. Barnsley offered £300,000 but Preston wanted a bit more and it didn't happen. Then I went to Cardiff a bit later for £100,000. It's probably the biggest regret of my career that I didn't go back to my hometown club at that point. I feel I could have offered a lot more than I did in my first spell there when I didn't get much of a chance which was really disappointing."

Parkin, 36, is still playing for National League North club York City and sometimes attends Barnsley matches.He knows Paul Heckingbottom, who left the Reds for Leeds last month, as well as his former Macclesfield Town colleague Paul Harsley who then took over for one game before Portuguese Jose Morais was appointed head coach.

"It was probably the right time for Hecky to go. If it had not been Leeds, most fans would have sent him on his way with best wishes. It's left a bitter taste with the fans, but he had a lot to put up with at Barnsley. I remember seeing him at Rimmo's funeral (Reds legend Norman Rimmington) and he got a phonecall, went outside and then came back in to say that Sam Winnall had been sold, which started the break up of a great team.

"Paul Harsley is a good lad and I would have loved to have seen him get more than one game but the club decided to go with the foreign guy. I don't really know much about him (Morais) but I hope he keeps them up.

"Barnsley are scrapping for their lives this season but I think they might just get away with it because there are probably three worse clubs. They have a goal-scorer now (Oliver McBurnie) and that is massive. If they had had him all season they might have had eight to ten extra points."

While this is Parkin's first podcast, Preece has plenty of experience after appearing on various shows as he is forging a media career as a goalkeeping expert which has seen him write for the likes of The Times and appear regularly on TalkSport radio. The 41-year-old will be joined by comedian and Soccer AM presenter Lloyd Griffith to focus on goalkeeping issues each week.

Preece said: "We think there is a gap in the market in media in general for goalkeeper analysis and hopefully this can fill it. We analyse the Premier League games every week and have guests on. I'll refer back to my own career including my time at Barnsley which is a club I still have an affection for even though I would have liked to have played more there. I had a spell back at Barnsley as the under 23s goalkeeping coach last season but it was taking me away from my media work and I decided to focus on that instead."

Preece played eight games in three seasons at Oakwell, where he was mainly a back-up for close friend Luke Steele. After leaving Barnsley, he was a player and coach at Lincoln City where he worked with current Reds goalkeeper Nick Townsend who spent a loan spell with the Imps from Birmingham City.Townsend was dropped on Tuesday after some recent errors but Preece has backed him to come good.

"Nick was absolutely phenomenal at Lincoln, both in games and training. He barely conceded a goal. Obviously there is a big difference between the Conference and the Championship, but I think he can make the step up.People probably think his size is a disadvantage but it doesn't have to be. He came in because Adam Davies has made mistakes but then Nick's made some mistakes himself which hasn't helped his case. You just need a longer run in the team."

Preece is also friends with Heckingbottom after being a club-mate of his at both Sunderland and Darlington. He said: "It was difficult for him because he loves the club and turned down a lot of chances to leave, but you can only do that for so long. He had a very high turnover of players which was one of the things that made it difficult for him. I can definitely understand why the fans aren't happy with him but Leeds is a club that, if you get it right, there is no telling how well they can do."