Jon Brady admits he does not know what to expect from Barnsley after change of manager

Jon Brady admits he does not know what to expect from Barnsley in Saturday’s final game of the season after head coach Neill Collins was dramatically sacked by the Tykes this week.

Barnsley’s play-off place has looked increasingly perilous over the last month. They have won just two of their last 11 games, including four defeats in the last five, and Collins paid the price this week, with first-team coach Martin Devaney stepping up to take caretaker charge.

The Tykes must beat Northampton at Saturday lunchtime to guarantee a play-off place. Fail to win and Oxford United, Lincoln City and Blackpool will all have the opportunity to overtake them.

"Nothing in football surprises you anymore but you never want to see a fellow manager lose his job,” said Brady. “I feel some managers are discarded too easily but it’s not for me to say.

"Obviously it changes things and you can’t be sure what type of shape they might play and what personnel they’ll put out because the new manager could bring new ideas and put his own stamp on it.

"They’ve definitely had an identity and a clear way of playing since the start of the season and it really hasn’t changed that much apart from a few tweaks here or there but on Saturday it could be a totally different system. We’ll only know at 12.30 when we kick-off.

"We feel we’ve had a very successful season because we’ve achieved our goal and we’ve hit our targets but that’s not to say we don’t want to go to Barnsley and play at our best. We know it’ll be a big challenge because they want to cement their play-off place but we want to finish our season as strongly as we can.”