Next Barnsley Manager Odds: Who Could Replace Conor Hourihane As Tykes Boss?
Barnsley are looking for a new manager after it was announced Conor Hourihane will leave the club at the end of the season.
The former Tykes midfielder was appointed permanent head coach a year ago after a brief interim spell, but the two parties have decided to go their separate ways after a disappointing League One campaign.
The South Yorkshire side were inside the top three in mid-September, but a run of just three wins in their next 14 games saw them drop out of promotion contention.
The sale of top scorer Davis Keillor-Dunn to Wrexham during the January transfer window did not help their cause and Barnsley have been stuck in mid-table ever since.
The search for a new manager is well under way and an announcement is expected to be made in the near future, possibly before the final game of the season against Stockport.
Watford first-team coach Charlie Daniels and former Tykes player Darren Moore have been linked with the vacancy on one of the betting sites, but who could it be?
Here, we take a look at some of the candidates that could be in the running and the latest next Barnsley manager odds.
Barnsley Football Club and Conor Hourihane will mutually part ways at the end of the 2025/26 season.
— Barnsley FC (@BarnsleyFC) April 18, 2026
Following discussions between both parties, it was concluded that a change would be beneficial for both parties ahead of the 2026/27 campaign.
Read more: https://t.co/2OOFvKwl61 pic.twitter.com/3hYcI9MSCP
Rowett Could Be Available Soon
Gary Rowett’s appointment as Leicester manager failed to save them from relegation to League One and he is likely to leave the club at the end of the season.
Rowett replaced Marti Cifuentes at the King Power Stadium in February just two months after he was sacked by Oxford, but was unable to keep the Foxes in the Championship.
Although his CV has taken a battering in recent months, he worked wonders in a four-year spell at Millwall and was unfairly dismissed by Birmingham’s new owners at the end of 2016 when the club were seventh in the Championship.
Rowett is likely to be looking for a new job in the summer and Barnsley could be his next destination for which he is priced at Evens.
Barnsley Next Manager Odds
Manager | Odds | Probability |
Gary Rowett | Evens | 50% |
Martin Paterson | 6/4 | 40% |
Lee Grant | 5/2 | 28.6% |
Darren Ferguson | 3/1 | 25% |
David Artell | 4/1 | 20% |
Shaun Maloney | 5/1 | 16.7% |
Charlie Daniels | 6/1 | 14.3% |
Darren Moore | 8/1 | 11.1% |
Paterson In The Mix
Martin Paterson is in the infancy of his managerial career, but he is close to leading Notts County to promotion from League Two.
The board will know all about Paterson, who was assistant coach to Michael Duff in the 2022/23 season when Barnsley reached the play-off final, only to suffer extra-time heartache against Sheffield Wednesday.
Paterson followed Duff to Swansea in the following season and finally landed a managerial position at Burton in January 2024, but left the club at the end of a disappointing campaign.
After spending a year on the backroom staff at Huddersfield, Paterson joined the Magpies, who have a realistic chance of automatic promotion with two games remaining.
The former Northern Ireland and Burnley striker is being considered as a candidate, according to Football Insider reporter Pete O'Rourke, and is 6/4 to land the job.
Next Barnsley Manager Odds: Grant Deserves Another Chance
Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield parted company with Lee Grant in January after just eight months in charge in what was his first managerial role.
The 42-year-old former Sheffield Wednesday, Burnley and Derby goalkeeper was snapped up by the Terriers from Ipswich where he spent three years as a first-team coach under Kieran McKenna in the Championship and Premier League.
When he left Portman Road for Huddersfield, McKenna said: "Lee has been a big part of our success in recent seasons and has developed fantastically as a coach during his time here. He deserves this managerial opportunity at Huddersfield."
Grant has not become a bad coach overnight and the fact he played a major part in Ipswich’s back-to-back promotions will not be lost on the Barnsley board. He is 5/2 to replace Hourihane at Oakwell.
Ferguson Has Top CV
One man who knows plenty about promotion is Darren Ferguson, whose fourth spell as Peterborough manager ended in October.
The son of Manchester United’s legendary manager Alex oversaw four promotions between 2008-21 and he also won the EFL Trophy three times – most recently last year for the second consecutive season.
In between his spells with Posh, Ferguson also steered Barnsley’s South Yorkshire rivals Doncaster into League One with a third-place finish, so he knows how to get the job done.
The way Peterborough struggled under his tenure this season may be a slight concern, bearing in mind how they picked up dramatically under Luke Williams, but no-one can argue with his CV and he is in the running at 3/1.
Artell Reputation Flourishing
Dave Artell cut his managerial teeth at Crewe where he spent more than five years and he is 4/1 to land the Barnsley job.
The highlight of his spell at Gresty Road came in the 2019/20 season when the Railwaymen secured automatic promotion with a second-place finish which they followed with a mid-table finish in League One.
Since leaving Crewe, Artell, who has a degree in forensic biology, has been making waves at Grimsby, who famously beat Manchester United in the Carabao Cup in August.
The Mariners are back in the League Two play-off spots after a last-gasp win at promotion hopefuls Cambridge, but if they fail to get out of the division, there are plenty of clubs who will be looking at one of the Football League’s most intelligent managers.
Maloney Could Head Back To England
Shaun Maloney is back at Celtic as Martin O’Neill’s assistant, but could the former Wigan manager be back south of the border in the summer?
The former Scotland winger has international managerial experience with Belgium at the delayed European Championship in 2020, after which he returned to his former club Wigan as head coach in 2023.
Maloney could not prevent the club from being relegated from the Championship but kept the club in the third tier in the following season, despite an eight-point deduction.
Should Maloney leave Celtic at the end of the campaign, he could be attracted by a move to Barnsley which is priced at 5/1.
Daniel And Moore Unlikely Candidates
GiveMeSport’s senior football correspondent Ben Jacobs believes former Bournemouth defender Charlie Daniels is on the shortlist, but that idea has been dismissed by Barnsley Chronicle’s sports editor Doug O’Kane.
Currently a first-team coach at Watford where he had stepped up earlier as caretaker manager in February following the resignation of Javi Gracia, Daniels is in the running with one of the betting apps, but he is 6/1 in our list of contenders.
Although O’Kane agrees with Jacobs that the recruitment process is well under way, he also believes former Tykes player Darren Moore is not under consideration to replace Hourihane.
Moore recently led Sheffield Wednesday and Port Vale to promotion, yet is not thought to be in the plans of the Barnsley board and is 8/1 to fill the position at Oakwell.
* Reminder: These are hypothetical odds provided by industry experts.
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