According to sources who spoke to Football Insider, Jon Stead has consented to resign from his position as assistant manager of Barnsley in order to rejoin Darrell Clarke at Bristol Rovers.
After Bristol Rovers were relegated to League Two, Clarke was hired for a second stint as their manager on Tuesday after being fired by Barnsley in March.
Stead first moved to Oakwell to work alongside Neill Collins in the summer of 2023, having also been his number two at the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and remained in the position alongside Clarke during his 10-month spell at the helm.
However, sources have revealed to Football Insider that Stead will now join Clarke as number two at the Memorial Stadium.
Barnsley finished 12th in League One this season, with a poor second half of the campaign seeing them finish 17 points adrift of the play-off places.
Conor Hourihane took over the managerial role at Oakwell after Clarke’s departure, making the step-up from a player-coach position.
Bristol Rovers reappointed Clarke this week, in the hope that their former manager would repeat the job he did almost a decade ago.
The 47-year-old guided Rovers to back-to-back promotions, winning the Conference play-off final in 2014/15 before clinching automatic promotion from League Two a year later.
Clarke has brought in Stead to help The Gas try and secure an immediate return back to League One.
During his playing career, Stead spent three years at Rovers’ rivals Bristol City between 2010 and 2013, and also had spells at Notts County and Huddersfield Town.
Bristol Rovers set for League Two campaign
Clarke and Stead will be tasked with taking charge of Rovers’ first campaign in League Two since the 2021/22 season.
The Gas finished 22nd in League One this season, four points off survival after losing nine out of their last 10 games.
After finishing in the lower tiers of the table for the previous few years, they were eventually relegated this time.
Following the final-day loss to Blackpool, manager Inigo Calderon was fired right away, making room for club great Clarke to return.
Clarke helps both the Gas and Port Vale out of the division, making him somewhat of a League Two expert.
Rovers supporters will be hoping that he can lead them back into the third division and complete the hat-trick the following season.
