Barnsley are facing a crucial next few weeks now as they begin their search for a new manager and also look to continue their preparations for next season.

It has been a summer of change for the Tykes and they will enter next season a different animal to the one that managed to reach the play-offs against the odds under Valerien Ismael.

The 45-year-old has taken over at West Brom now and Barnsley find themselves needing to identify the right candidate to take over and continue his good work.

The Tykes could also be needing to find a replacement for the influential Alex Mowatt and that is going to be no easy task as well.

Having said that, the Tykes have been excellent in the transfer market in recent times and that is the bedrock of their success. So, they have every chance of replacing him in the right way.

On the subject of potential former Barnsley players, here we have compiled a list of ten ex-Tykes players and taken a look to see where they are now and what they are getting up to…

Scott Wiseman was a largely reliable performer during his time at Oakwell after he arrived at the club in June 2011 from Rochdale.

The right-back went on to make over 100 appearances for the Tykes in all competitions in his two-and-a-half campaigns with them in the Championship.

However, his time with Barnsley ended prematurely with the Tykes deciding to release him midway through the 2013/14 season.

Shortly after that he signed an 18-month deal with Preston North End and he managed to make 18 appearances in the second half of the campaign for the Lilywhites.

The next season he made 30 appearances and played a key role in helping Preston earn promotion back to the Championship before leaving at the end of the 2014/15 season.

Since then, Wiseman spent two seasons with Scunthorpe United before short-term spells with the likes of Chesterfield and Rochdale. He then made the move to Salford City who he helped earn promotion to the Football League for the first time in 2019.

He is currently playing for Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar and is still a key part of the national team of Gibraltar as well.

Next on this list is the well-traveled Ricardo Vaz Tê who managed to enjoy an impressive short-term spell with the Tykes during the first half of the 2011/12 campaign in which he fired in ten Championship goals to catch the attention of promotion-chasing West Ham.

The Hammers made the move to sign him in the January window in 2012 just a few months after Barnsley had brought him in from Hibernian.

During his spell at West Ham he scored the winning goal in the Championship play-off final and also scored ten league goals in that 2011/12 campaign for them.

Vaz Tê spent another two-and-a-half more seasons as more of a bit-part player for West Ham in the Premier League, before his contract was terminated in January 2015.

His next move was to Turkey where he joined Akhisar Belediyespor on a short-term deal scoring five times in 14 games.

He briefly returned to England with Charlton Athletic in November 2015, but was released just 12 goalless games later in February 2016. He made the move back to Akhisar Belediyespor where he spent the next two years.

The forward is currently playing in his native Portugal for Portimonense where he has been since 2020 after having a spell in China with both Henan Jianye and Qingdao Huanghai.

Defender Jean-Yves Mvoto is the next player to make this list and he is currently playing out in Norway for Nybergsund who operate in the third tier of Norweigan football and he has been playing there since April 2019.

Mvoto joined Barnsley from Oldham Athletic in July 2013 and the defender made 28 Championship appearances in his first season for the club and scored twice in the progress.

However, he was at times guilty of making key mistakes at the back which cost the Tykes and he was unable to help them survive the drop to League One.

The defender managed to make just 16 appearances the following campaign for Barnsley in League One in what was a frustrating 2014/15 season for them.

He left the club that summer and signed a short-term deal with Leyton Orient that only lasted eight appearances and was canceled after just two months.

Since then, Mvoto has spent his time playing outside England and he has had spells in Poland with Zawisza Bydgoszcz, Scotland with Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic before eventually moving to his current club Nybergsund in 2019.

It is very sad to see how the career of Dale Jennings has progressed over the last few years and that has led to him currently playing in the North West Counties league with Runcorn Town.

That has seen him go from the heights of playing for one of the world’s most iconic sides in Bayern Munich to playing in lower reaches of non-league football.

Jennings was signed by Barnsley from Bayern Munich in June 2013 and there would have been high hopes that he could get his career going at Oakwell.

However, the winger never really managed to hit the heights that were expected of him for the Tykes and he managed to score just six goals in 51 appearances during both the 2013/14 and 2014/15 campaigns.

After leaving Barnsley on a permanent deal to MK Dons in the summer of 2015 he managed to make just one appearance for them in the Championship.

A period out of the game followed for the winger before he eventually returned to sign for Runcorn Town in September 2018. That is where he has spent the last few years apart from a brief stint with Prestatyn Town.

Another winger that makes it onto this list is Adam Hammill who was a popular figure at Oakwell during his two separate spells with the club and is now currently playing in Ireland with Derry City.

Hammill first spent time with Barnsley on loan during the 2008/09 campaign where he managed to make 14 appearances in the Championship before making his switch a permanent one the following summer. He managed to fire in four goals in the 2009/10 season and then a further eight in 25 league matches the following year.

That saw Wolves make a move for him in January 2011. However, he did not force his way into their side and eventually signed for Huddersfield Town where he spent two full seasons before returning to Barnsley in November 2015.

In his second spell with the club, Hammill managed to make over 100 appearances and helped them secure the Football League Trophy and promotion to the Championship in 2015/16. He then left the club for the final time in at the end of the 2017/18 season.

Hammill moved to St Mirren in Scotland where he spent a few months before moving to Scunthorpe United.

After just a year with the League Two outfit, he made the move to Derry City where he remains at the moment and made 11 appearances for them last season.

The next player on this list is midfielder Jacob Mellis and he is currently playing for Southend United and was unable to help them survive the drop-down to the National League last season.

Mellis is a player that showed flashes of real class during his time with Barnsley but he was never able to deliver his best form on a consistent enough basis and that has continued with his career after he left Oakwell.

He initially joined on loan from Chelsea during the 2010/11 campaign before making the move permanent in 2012.

The midfielder enjoyed a strong 2012/13 campaign scoring six goals in 36 league matches for the Tykes, but that was as good as it got for him and the following year he dropped off with just two goals in 30 appearances.

Blackpool still made the move for him in the summer of 2014 but he underperformed with the Tangerines and was shipped out on loan to Charlton Athletic and then allowed to leave permanently after just 14 appearances.

Spells with the likes of Bury, Mansfield Town, Bolton Wanderers and Gillingham have followed over the last few years and during those times he has shown bits and pieces of his quality.

He joined Southend in February this year and he remains with them following their relegation from the Football League.

Attacking midfielder Tomasz Cywka makes the list next and he is currently playing in his native Poland for second-tier outfit Chrobry Głogów.

Cywka joined Barnsley in the summer of 2012 and he managed to enjoy a decent enough first season with the Tykes scoring five times in 29 Championship appearances.

The following year he chipped in with another four goals in 30 appearances in the league but that was not enough to help them survive the drop down to League One.

Blackpool made the move for Cwyka the following summer and gave him the chance to remain in the Championship, but the move did not really work out for the attacking midfielder

He made just seven appearances for them in all competitions scoring just once against Blackburn Rovers before leaving in the summer of 2015.

A move back to Poland followed and he joined Wisła Kraków where he got his career back on track over the next three years making 85 appearances before a two-year spell with Lech Poznań.

Last summer he joined Chrobry Głogów where he is still a key part of their squad.

One of the most memorable players on this list is forward Sam Winnall who is currently playing in league One with Oxford United who he joined in September 2020 on a two-year contract.

Winnall was an excellent performer for Barnsley during his time at Oakwell and he proved to be an astute signing by the Tykes after they picked him up from Scunthorpe United in the summer of 2014 after he had fired in 23 league goals in League Two.

In his first full season for Barnsley, Winnall managed to fire in 13 goals in all competitions before reaching over 20 strikes in the league the following year to help the Tykes secure promotion from League One.

In the first half of the 2016/17 campaign he scored 11 goals and that prompted Sheffield Wednesday to sign him in January 2017.

However, the move to the Owls did not really pay off for him and he managed to score just six goals in his 43 appearances over the course of his four-season stay. Although he was largely a bit-part player and did take in an unsuccessful loan spell with Derby County in 2017/18.

Last summer window he joined Oxford looking to get his career back on track and he managed to score six times in 29 appearances last term for the Us. He will hope for more goals next season.

Another one of the more memorable players on this list and someone that has arguably enjoyed the most success since leaving the Tykes out of these ten players is midfielder Jacob Butterfield.

Butterfield was a really strong performer for Barnsley during his time with the club and he managed to make 100 appearances during his five seasons in and around the first-team squad. During that time he scored eight goals before Norwich City purchased him 2012.

The midfielder only managed to make three appearances at Norwich in his single season with the club and was allowed to leave for Middlesbrough in the summer of 2013, but again he would last just one year with his latest club where he scored three times in 31 league matches.

A move to Huddersfield Town followed and he managed to enjoy an impressive season with them in 2014/15 that persuaded Derby County to make a big-money move for him in the summer of 2015. He scored nine times in three seasons with the Rams before leaving for Luton Town.

After spending the 2019/20 campaign with the Hatters in the Championship, Butterfield made the move to Melbourne Victory in Australia and he is currently still playing there.

Rounding off this list is former long-serving Barnsley defender Antony Kay and he is currently still playing at the age of 38 with Welsh side Bala Town where he has been since August 2020.

Kay came through Barnsley’s youth academy and he managed to spend around sevens seasons in and around the first-team squad at Oakwell. The defender racked up 197 appearances for the club and scored 12 goals in the process.

In his penultimate season with Barnsley in 2005/06 he managed to make 36 appearances and played an integral part in helping the Tykes earn promotion to the Championship.

Kay left Barnsley in the summer of 2007 and joined Tranmere Rovers where he spent two successful campaigns where he displayed impressive form in the English third tier.

That led to Huddersfield Town making a move for him and with the Terriers, he spent three seasons making over 100 appearances for them before leaving for MK Dons in 2012.

A four-year spell with MK Dons saw him help them secure promotion to the Championship for the first time in 2014/15 and he racked up more than 160 appearances.

Shorter spells followed with the likes of Bury, Port Vale and then Chorley before he moved to Bala Town where he is still playing and made 28 appearances last term.