Daniel Stendel is ‘disappointed’ by the exit of assistant Andreas Winkler to Huddersfield Town but believes it will not damage his side’s promotion chances.
Dale Tonge will step up from his role in the academy to be assistant for the games against Rochdale tomorrow, at Oxford United on Tuesday and then at home to Scunthorpe United on February 2. Depending on how well that works, the Reds may recruit a German assistant to be the long-term replacement and join Stendel and coach Christopher Stern.
Stendel said: “It was not our plan that Andreas left the coaching staff, but that is football and we will carry on with our work and believe we will reach our goal. Andreas was very sad to leave because he liked to work here and he liked the fans. The people in Barnsley liked his personality. We will miss him.
“Andy told me about the offer and I wanted him to stay but it was a big chance for him to work in the Premier League. I am disappointed that he left the club because we have worked very well together for seven months.”
Winkler, 49, was sporting director at Rot-Weiss Essen in 2015 when new Terriers boss Jan Siewert was appointed manager of the German fourth-tier club. Siewert, who replaced fellow German David Wagner at Huddersfield this week, has now returned the favour for Winkler and brought him across Yorkshire to the Premier League’s bottom club.
Winkler has been a key part of Stendel’s success with the fifth-placed Reds since arriving in the summer. He has helped train the players, translating for the head coach – who could not speak English when he arrived – and doing the majority of press conferences.
Tonge, the 33-year-old from Thurnscoe, played 55 games for the Reds including in their 2005/06 promotion season from League One. Stendel said: “I told him he has to tell me the secret of getting promoted to the Championship with Barnsley. It was one of the reasons we chose him but the big point is that he is a good coach and a good man.
“Andreas and Dale spoke about the tasks the assistant has. It is clear that he cannot work the same immediately but all the other staff like John Vaughan (goalkeeper coach) will work together to close the gap that Andreas has left.
“We spoke with all the coaches from the academy and and compared what we wanted. Dale’s mentality fits with us and with our squad. In this time, the supporters think all have left the club, but Tongey stands for the identity of Barnsley – he is from Barnsley and played for Barnsley.
“I speak English but still not so good and sometimes I need a translator. Maybe in the future I will think about a coach from Germany. It might be better for me if we have a coach who speaks German and English. We will see how it works with Dale for the next three games. I have someone in mind from Germany but I cannot say he will come tomorrow or next week. Maybe he will not come at all.”
There could be more Oakwell departures in the coming weeks as chief executive Gauthier Ganaye is understood to be a target for Nice, the French top flight club owned by Barnsley’s owners. With the transfer window due to shut on Thursday, the Reds are hoping to keep hold of star players.
They include 15-goal top-scorer Kieffer Moore – incorrectly linked with Sunderland – as well as in-form winger Mamadou Thiam and centre-back Ethan Pinnock who has been linked with Championship club Brentford but there have been no bids. It is understood that only multi-million bids will take players away from Oakwell while the Reds are not close to bringing anyone in.
Stendel said: “We hope we can keep all the players who have played in the last month. I have the impression that we have enough players and enough quality in our squad.”
Lloyd Isgrove, who is out of contract in the summer and has barely played this season, is fit and has an option to leave on loan. Left-back Zeki Fryers is third choice behind Ben Williams and Dani Pinillos while winger Ryan Hedges is out of contract in the summer and has played three league minutes in two months.
Central midfielders Jared Bird, 21, and Callum Styles, 18, could both be loaned out. Stendel said: “We have some players who have not played and I hope they get the chance to play, maybe at another club.”
