Lincoln City’s League One rivals Barnsley are facing huge budget cuts next season, with their wage bill set to plummet to around £3.5m, according to Alan Nixon.
The Tykes were once seen as a powerhouse at this level, a side destined for promotion after dropping down, but it feels like a couple of years of mismanagement have cemented them as a League One also-ran. They’re a middling team this year, harbouring a slight chance of promotion, like I have a slight chance of winning Euromillions. I’m in it, so mathematically it’s possible, but in reality? Not so much.
Nixon reports that their budget will drop to £3.5m, which is around £1.5m less than the Imps. That would almost certainly put them bottom four, and manager Conor Hourihane is already at peace with that.
“There needs to be a mindset now of we aren’t pushing for top six,” he said in a recent interview. “It will be the same next year, by the way. We need to understand that, get our heads around it, and accept where we are.
“There is an expectation of top six, top six, top six, but it is really difficult to get there in terms of the financial power in the league, in terms of the squad depth.”
The Tykes dropped out of the Championship in 2022 and were widely expected to be a force at this level. After finishing 4th and 6th, losing out in the play-offs, they’ve dropped away, and last season were below the Imps in 12th, the first time in 49 years a season had concluded with us above them. This season, they’re 13th, 11 points outside the top six with three games in hand over Reading, but realistically, not in the hunt.
They sold top scorer Davis Keillor-Dunn on deadline day, and have been relying on the talent of 38-year-old David McGoldrick to keep them in touch with the top ten.
In 2024/25, Barnsley lost £6.8m, with a deficit driven mainly by a lack of player sales. Those losses may be smaller for 25/26, given that Keillor-Dunn’s move will be factored in, but football fortune hasn’t shone on them, and the owners are clearly not happy underwriting big losses.
With a manager now admitting defeat in next season’s play-off hunt, and a budget that would put them outside the top seven in League Two, according to Capology, these are troubling times for the Tykes.