Barnsley have endured an extremely disappointing campaign in the Championship, failing to capitalise on the momentum they built by finishing 5th last season by having their relegation confirmed with three games to play.

The Tykes' failed to replace Valerien Ismael adequately with Markus Schopp, who came from the Austrian Bundesliga as well, but had nowhere near the same impact.

Schopp departed with the club firmly inside the relegation zone and they have even slipped below Derby County, who have had 21 points deducted this season, since Poya Asbaghi took the reins.

Asbaghi too was dismissed of his duties after relegation was confirmed on Friday evening, giving the board a lot of decisions to make between now and the 2022/23 League One season beginning in late July.

Here, we have taken a look at how Barnsley's average attendance this season compares to recent seasons...

For obvious reasons, the 2020/21 season cannot be drawn into this comparison, although one would imagine that Oakwell would have been close to full for the majority of the second half of the season, had supporters been allowed in the ground, as the Tykes hunted down the play-offs under Ismael.

There has been an increase in average attendance, since Barnsley survived by the skin of their teeth in 2019/20, where they had an average attendance of 11,616, this season it has been 12,740, with the Tykes looking dead and buried particularly in the middle third of both campaigns.

 

 

The club have still not hit the heights in terms of ticket sales that they did in 2016/17 and 2017/18 as a Championship side, where they registered an average of 13,857 in 2016/17, finishing 14th, followed by 13,704 in 2017/18 when they were relegated on the final day in 22nd.

Barnsley finished second to Luton Town last time they were in League One, in 2018/19, and their average attendance that season was 12,527, less than this season.

A lot will depend on what transfer business the club are able to conduct this summer, looking to attract supporters to get behind a promotion push next term, rather than a continuation of their slide since the likes of Ismael, Alex Mowatt and Daryl Dike left the club.