Sheffield United could be set to approach Barnsley about talking to manager Mark Robins as they hit complications in trying to secure Doncaster Rovers’ Sean O’Driscoll to replace Gary Speed who left to take over the Wales national side last week.
The Blades have been given permission to speak to O’Driscoll, who has taken Rovers from League One midtable to the edge of the Championship promotion race in just four years on a shoestring budget, by chairman John Ryan. But Ryan is demanding in excess of £500,000 compensation if O’Driscoll agrees to move across South Yorkshire. This could be too pricey for cash conscious United and they could move for Robins who has been at Oakwell just over a year. The 40 year old has the best wins per game ratio of any Barnsley manager since Dave Bassett led the club to within one game of the Premier League in 2000 and has currently led the club to a run of four wins from five games.
Ironically Speed’s last game as United manager was a 1-0 defeat at Oakwell a week and a half ago and United have now confirmed they will wait until the new year before deciding on a new boss. The respective festive results of both Barnsley and Doncaster could now have a major bearing on who they move for and with Robins only on a 12 month rolling contract at Oakwell, United would not require to pay much compensation.