Lee Johnson says his replacement Paul Heckingbottom should be given the head coach role at Barnsley on a long-term basis and believes the Reds have an excellent chance of promotion.
Johnson left Barnsley for Bristol City seven weeks ago after taking them to the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final and to 12th in League One with a six-game winning streak, having led them to the bottom of the division in December. He has been replaced on a caretaker basis by his former coach Heckingbottom and assistant Tommy Wright who have bridged the five-point gap to the play-off places.
"Hecky is definitely the right choice for Barnsley in the long-term," Johnson told the Chronicle this week.
"He is Barnsley through and through and a very knowledgeable coach. I am not surprised at all that he is doing so well. I am sure Tommy's experience and guidance has been a big help to him and they are two very good friends of mine so I am very happy for them.
"The test will be when Hecky has difficult times and if he can come through them because it is very difficult to manage a football club. But he's doing a great job at the moment and long may it continue."
Barnsley have picked up almost double the amount of points in the second half of the season as they achieved in the first half. Johnson puts the slow start down to the club's recruitment in pre-season.
"I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had acted swifter and better in the summer," said Johnson, who will attend the final as a club guest.
"Our recruitment was average and that was a massive factor behind the low position in the table. We ended up with a team that took a long time to gel. Usually you have to really coach five or six players every day and the others just get on with it. But, with that team, we had to coach 20 or more very closely.
"Later on we brought in players like Adam Hammill, Kevin Long, Lloyd Isgrove and Aidy White and got rid of a few loan players who weren't producing. That helped us a lot."
Johnson believes the Reds could get promotion this season and potentially join his new club who are 19th in the Championship, six points clear of the drop zone, after a 6-0 thrashing of bottom club Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
"Barnsley have the momentum and the players to go up this season and, if not, then they can be a force next season. When we started to hit form I looked at the Barnsley team sheet and thought: 'we have got enough to go up now.'"
