Barnsley chairman Neerav Parekh warns players will be sold amid shortfall
- Published
Neerav Parekh has recently been installed as chairman after boardroom changes at Barnsley
Chairman Neerav Parekh has warned that Barnsley must sell players this summer to "bridge the shortfall" in funding caused by relegation to League One.
The managerless Tykes have had their financial situation eased slightly by £1m of investment from the board, to help pay salaries and fund recruitment.
Clubs lose an estimated £7m when dropping out of the Championship.
"There's a financial hit, we can't get away from that, there's no sugarcoat," Parekh told BBC Radio Sheffield.
"If there's a further need for capital, the board will make the call and see if we need to put it in.
"I also don't want to hide from the fact that we are really going to need to sell players to bridge the shortfall."
The reason behind the savage drop in funds from the league is based around payments received by clubs from broadcasters and sponsorship, which is staggered from the biggest sums for Championship teams to the lowest for League Two.
Boss search continues at Oakwell
In addition to recruiting and retaining players for a possible return to the second tier, Barnsley are also looking for a replacement for Poya Asbaghi, who was unable to retain their Championship status before departing.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Michael Duff are two names confirmed to have been in discussions about the vacancy at Oakwell.
"We're down to the final five candidates," chief executive Khaled El-Ahmad added.
"The process has been going on for some time because we wanted to make sure we did our due diligence.
"We want the person to be in place no later than 13 June, or in and around when pre-season starts.
"There's no real delay, it's just there's due diligence and contractual obligations."
No pressure to take first offer, says Parekh
What kind of squad remains for any new appointment will depend on what progress has been made in the transfer market by the time the manager is installed.
Much of the Tykes squad was either under contract or had been made an offer when the club released their retained list on 20 May.
Players such as Aaron Leya Iseka, Josh Benson and Will Hondermarck were only signed last season and could be among those attracting interest.
"Part of the reason we put that money in early on is to make sure we didn't have to sell the players at the first offer that came in," Parekh added.
"If we get a reasonable offer for the player that we think matches the valuation of the player we will sell, but equally if we don't get one we will run down the contract and have them go for free."
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