NEW CONTRACT SETS IN! As Darrell Clarke Confirms Conor Hourihane’s New Role…
NEW CONTRACT SETS IN! As Darrell Clarke Confirms Conor Hourihane’s New Role…
The Potters legend has joined Narcis Pelach’s backroom staff at Stoke where he made 160 appearances during his playing career. This has, however, left Barnsley in an unusual position of having one of their players a more hands-on role to be part of Clarke’s coaching staff.
Conor Hourihane to take on a bigger coaching role
Hourihane was brought back to Barnsley after becoming a free agent in the summer with his last game coming back in 2017 before he joined Aston Villa. He is 33 and looking towards a life beyond playing football, so became a player-coach at Oakwell.
The former Republic of Ireland international has played twice this season in League One for Barnsley so can still do a job when required. However, he now appears more than content with a life on the bench and helping out from a more tactical point of view.
Clarke has certainly moved quickly to replace Whitehead at Oakwell, despite admitting he rated the former midfielder very highly. The former Stoke man had only joined the Tykes in July this year, but seemingly could not say no to a return to the Potters.
Barnsley shake things up within their backroom staff
Barnsley will have hopes of promotion this season whether that be via automatic or in the play-offs and Hourihane’s experience could be valuable. The midfielder knows the club inside and out having racked up 136 appearances for the Tykes during his career, so having him available on and off the pitch will be a huge asset.
Clarke was certainly not worried about Hourihane stepping up into a bigger role in the coaching set-up as he said, “Conor can step up to the plate. He will be doing a lot more coaching. Conor has come in and wanted to be more of a coach than a player. He’s doing a terrific job at that.
“We’ve got me, Davvers (Martin Devaney), Steady (Jon Stead) and Conor and we will see how things develop there. We wish Dean all the best at Stoke and thank him for his efforts, but we move on quickly.”
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