Conor Hourihane RS interview

[ncRover]

Oxford have a wage bill of £21m and that gets you a Championship relegation scrap.

[Lesonthewest]

It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .

Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.

[mpc123]

He does make a fair point to where Barnsley currently are as a club but you shouldn't be coming out and saying that. We don't have half the budget they have yet our manager always says play-offs is the aim minimum.

Difficult isnt it for a manager. Create positivity even though a challenging budget compared and you cant quite achieve that, then it creates what we had earlier this season.

Everyone is rubbish according to the fans.

We do now have a sense of where we are I think.

He is just trying to accelerate and manage expectations and that is a difficult thing to get right in words to fans.

An impossible task really, individually

[Monkcaster_Rover]

It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .

Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.

I concur. Went on one of the lads leaving do’s who hails from Barnsley and was incredibly surprised at how nice it all was. One of the other lads has told me they’ve put millions into a youth centre as well. Really on the up.

[Spud]

Spud
We had a lovely weekend thank you very much. RTID

I had a feeling you were one of the Lincoln posters when you said 2 hour journey home.
Great call in, loved it :-)

[mrfrost82]

It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .

Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.

Barnsley Town centre looks nice, but there's nothing there. Much better choice of shops, bars, restaurants in Donny, even if it looks a little "rougher"

[DINGLE]

It was an interview that reminded me of the Butler, Wellens, Schofield era.
I’m not sure the Barnsley fans have realised their plight just yet, it was hard and slightly difficult hearing we couldn’t compete financially at this level then, having been in the championship and top end of league 1 for so long.
I imagine that reality is hitting home at Barnsley now, who let’s face it have had a higher league status than us for longer.

You still want to hear, whilst we’re not at that level, we will fight and give our all.

We probably have a number of fans who are struggling with today's reality mainly because they are younger or maybe feel more entitled for some reason .

However for us older fans and we have a very substantial older support amongst our fanbase i think it's different .

This isn't even the first time this century we've found it tough in league one , we fell in to administration in 2002 and had to win the last home game of the season to prevent dropping in to league two .


We found a way back then without throwing mega money at it and went out and found some players who got us back on the horse .

We've got a local authority that despite having a challenging local economy found a way to create a new town centre that's the envy of many in the north of England and absolutely bustling and booming when the consensus was that northern town centres are done for .

Wakefield , Rotherham and Huddersfield may have gone to the dogs but we found a way .

Go out this summer and amongst players released by other clubs there will be enough within budget to make us successful again i can guarantee it .

I don't see mega money at Lincoln City .

Picking up on your local authority bit tyke, what a fantastic town centre you now have, wife & I always go there now instead of our own, in football terms yours is Premiership, our sorry City centre is league 2 at best.

Barnsley Town centre looks nice, but there's nothing there. Much better choice of shops, bars, restaurants in Donny, even if it looks a little "rougher"

Over 30 pubs and upwards of 14 restaurants in the town centre, and at least 5 or 6 greasy spoons, the same again in tea and coffee shops, must be well over a dozen takeaways, that’s knocking on for 70 drinking and chewing places.(and that’s just of the top of my head) I’ll have missed some, How many more do you want.

Shops wise, yeah we’ve got the essentials, boots, Superdrug, JD, Sports Direct, USC, Lidl, Home Bargains, Iceland, and such like. With a fair few independents, and about 20 market stalls. And not much else apart from 5 betting shops.

But Barnsley is a Town not a City, we’ve got everything we need, and much much more. Comparing ours to Wakefield, Huddersfield, & Rotherham, they’ve got f**k all, and their town centres are providing for a population much bigger than ours.

Obviously the bigger City’s, Leeds, Doncaster, Shïtfield, have a far bigger population, so they need more places than ours, but for the size of Barnsley we’re short for nowt. Well we could do with a few more Homeless, Druggies, & Prostitutes because we’ve hardly any of them compared to the rest of Yorkshire. But shops, pubs, restaurants, wise we’ve a lot more than we need.

[Padge_DRFC]

Barnsley has had some money spent on it and spent well. Bern a while since I last went. Personally think it's overtook Donny.

[scawsby steve]

Barnsley was always a lovely town, with it's hilliness and Yorkshire Stone everywhere.

Now the town centre's been done up, it's even better.

Donny's a shithole in comparison; but it's my shithole, and the Rovers are my team.

Saturday was a great day out.

[Chris Black come back]

Leaving at end of season. 

[Usher wide.]

Leaving at end of season.

All the best then Chris.

[karldew]

Barnsley to be next seasons Rotherham!

[tyke1962]

Barnsley to be next seasons Rotherham!

Hourihane was part of the problem and very few are going to be losing any sleep over him leaving .

The comments he made on Radio Sheffield following the defeat to Rovers didn't land well , the ability to pyss off the owners and the fanbase in a 10 minute interview takes a bit of doing and probably sealed his fate .

We aren't party to the stuff behind the scenes but clearly the cutting of the budget next season by over half to £4.5m probably wasn't what he wanted to hear .

Personally speaking getting our finances in better shape is the right move as far as I'm concerned , the principle owner having to write a cheque out every month for £500k to pay the bills was never going to be sustainable for ever .

As far as next season is concerned then who knows , we've been on our ass before and the following season we've bounced back in surprising fashion .

It could also go the other way too as you've alluded to but it's a bit early to be that pessimistic just yet .

Something Mr Hourihane might want to reflect on .

Sithi Connor .

[Colemans Left Hook]

glad to see you back Tyke after your family problems

again another co-incidence for me today. I clicked on a random link just now and thought of you when i saw the name

- I remember you going on about him - was his father his agent


https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/match/2025-2026/national-league-north/south-shields/bedford-town/539423

[Padge_DRFC]

Barnsley mate says Darren Moore done deal

[karldew]

Barnsley mate says Darren Moore done deal

Ouch!

[The Dav]

Let’s hope so……hapless Darren Moore !

[tyke1962]

Barnsley mate says Darren Moore done deal

Well Moore has had a mixed career , did alright for a while at WBA and got Wednesday and Port Vale promoted along with some fails .

I'm not in the know so it could well be Moore but I reckon if we were going for that type of experience in management we'd probably go for Nigel Clough .

[ChrisBx]

Barnsley mate says Darren Moore done deal

Well Moore has had a mixed career , did alright for a while at WBA and got Wednesday and Port Vale promoted along with some fails .

I'm not in the know so it could well be Moore but I reckon if we were going for that type of experience in management we'd probably go for Nigel Clough .

He did get them promoted, but only after overseeing their respective relegations the season before.

Personally, I think there's much better out there. I certainly wouldn't swap McCann for Moore.

[Chris Black come back]

Was it just us, or is his entire MO to loan youth lads from Premier League sides? If it is his MO, then he must leave every squad in tatters. Certainly we had bones at the end of the season he left. Nothing left.

[tyke1962]

glad to see you back Tyke after your family problems

again another co-incidence for me today. I clicked on a random link just now and thought of you when i saw the name

- I remember you going on about him - was his father his agent


https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/match/2025-2026/national-league-north/south-shields/bedford-town/539423

George Moncur , not sure if his dad John  was his agent but he rocked up at Oakwell and demanded his lad was in the team .

So we sent him to Peterborough on loan for the rest of the season and he couldn't hold a first team spot there either .

He came back under Daniel Stendel in league one and was in and out of the team before we sold him to Luton , ironically he scored the goal for Luton that denied us the League One championship .

A bit of a luxury player , all the ability in the world when the game was going his way , not too grand when the chips were down .

[tyke1962]

Barnsley mate says Darren Moore done deal

Well Moore has had a mixed career , did alright for a while at WBA and got Wednesday and Port Vale promoted along with some fails .

I'm not in the know so it could well be Moore but I reckon if we were going for that type of experience in management we'd probably go for Nigel Clough .

He did get them promoted, but only after overseeing their respective relegations the season before.

Personally, I think there's much better out there. I certainly wouldn't swap McCann for Moore.

There is most certainly better out there but getting them to take the gig at Oakwell is another thing altogether .

We've a bit of pull still remaining but nothing like we had a few season's ago at this level .

Stendel and Michael Duff were really solid appointments with very good track records behind them .

As I said I'd go for Nigel Clough whose done a decent job where ever he's been and might fancy a crack at it .

[Padge_DRFC]

If you're slashing the budget it makes sense with his like for loaning unknown prem youngsters