5 ex-Barnsley players who only ever made one appearance for the club – Do you remember them? | OneFootball

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Football League World

·18 November 2021

5 ex-Barnsley players who only ever made one appearance for the club – Do you remember them?

Article image:5 ex-Barnsley players who only ever made one appearance for the club – Do you remember them?

Things aren’t going so well for Barnsley right now in the Championship and it has been a major come-down from last season where they reached the play-offs under Valerien Ismael.

Former Austria international Markus Schopp wasn’t able to build on or maintain the previous campaign’s form and after just 15 league games in charge, the 47-year-old was sacked just four months into the job.


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And with time ticking down until the Tykes’ next match – which could be an incredibly tough one against Fulham – the club have moved to appointed Sweden under-21’s manager Poya Asbaghi as Schopp’s replacement.

Quiz: Have Barnsley ever won an away game at each of these 20 stadiums?

He’s set for a real baptism of fire when he takes his side to Craven Cottage on Saturday but instead of looking towards the future, let’s look at the past.

Barnsley have had a few one-appearance wonders in their history – do you remember anything about these more recent ones?

Simon Heslop

Heslop came through the Tykes academy, signing a professional deal in 2004, and for the most part of his time at Oakwell he spent it out on loan in non-league.

The likes of Kidderminster, Tamworth and Halifax benefitted from Heslop’s talents and his one and only Barnsley game came on the final day of the 2006-07 season and it was one to forget as the Yorkshire side were trounced 7-0 by West Brom.

The midfielder entered the pitch for the last half an hour and that would be his final time playing for the club – he left in 2010 and then went on to feature for Oxford United, Stevenage and York City amongst other teams.

Kyle Letheren

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Letheren was released by Swansea City at an early age and then headed way up north to Barnsley in 2006, but again was part of the one-game wonder crew.

It wasn’t even a league encounter either as Letheren was given his chance in January 2008 in an FA Cup round three clash with Blackpool – a team he would go on to feature for in 2015.

Letheren came on at half time for Heinz Muller and kept a clean sheet as the Tykes came from a goal behind to win 2-1 – he would depart the club a year later and play for the likes of Dundee, York City and Plymouth Argyle and he’s now currently at Morecambe.

Toni Silva

Having passed through the academies of Benfica, Chelsea and Liverpool, Toni Silva should have really delivered a lot more than he did in his career.

At 28 he still plays in the Kazakhstani top tier for champions Tobol, but in 2012 he joined Barnsley from Anfield and then-manager Keith Hill believed that the club could make the winger a £3 million player.

That never happened though as after suffering a pre-season hamstring injury, Silva made just one appearance in the league off the bench in a defeat to Hull City and wasn’t seen again after that, eventually being released a year into his two-year deal.

Dylan Mottley-Henry

Soccer Football – FA Cup First Round Replay – Tranmere Rovers vs Peterborough United – Prenton Park, Birkenhead, Britain – November 15, 2017 Tranmere Rovers’ Dylan Mottley-Henry in action with Peterbrough United’s Andrew Hughes Action Images/Jason Cairnduff

It did seem like a strange move for Barnsley to take on Mottley-Henry in the summer of 2016 with Bradford City of all teams deciding to release him, and the wide player never proved good enough for the Tykes.

Somehow Mottley-Henry ended up spending nearly four years with the club, heading out on various loans before returning to Bradford in January 2020 with his only Barnsley came coming in January 2018 against Aston Villa in the Championship.

Mottley-Henry is still in Bradford but at the Vanarama North side of the city at Bradford Park Avenue – at the age of 24 though there’s still time for him to climb a few leagues.

Josh Kay

After racking up a few appearances for AFC Fylde as a teenager in non-league, Barnsley took a punt on Kay in 2016 and before the end of the year he had made his debut for the Tykes.

That came in a October draw against Bristol City where Kay played 88 minutes in midfield, but unfortunately for him it would be his last for the club.

Kay never really broke through and after loan spells at Fylde and Tranmere, he joined Chesterfield briefly before ending up at Barrow in the summer of 2018.

It’s where he’s remained ever since and he’s done well in a variety of positions, racking up 14 league goals in 93 appearances for the League Two side.

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