Relegation meant Morais was going to be a goner – Ganaye

Posted Sunday, May 06, 2018 by PA

Barnsley chief executive Gauthier Ganaye admitted there was no way Jose Morais would keep his job following the club’s relegation from the Sky Bet Championship.

The Tykes lost 4-1 at Derby and were relegated to League One, with news Morais’ contract had been terminated confirmed by the club soon after the game.

On the 52-year-old Portuguese, Ganaye admitted:. “His contract was written in a way that relegation would terminate it and we thought it was better to tell the news as quickly as possible.

“It’s a sad day but we can reassure everybody that we have been working hard for the last few weeks.

“We weren’t waiting for the end of the season to see how it was going to go, so we have been working hard on two scenarios.

“We all wanted the Championship but if it was going to be League One we are going to rebuild and come back stronger.”

Meanwhile, Derby boss Gary Rowett believes his players are in the mood to make the most of a “second chance” in the play-offs after this convincing victory.

Rowett’s team now face Fulham at Pride Park on Friday evening in the first leg of the semi-final after they sealed a top-six finish.

The Rams were always in control after Bradley Johnson robbed Connor Mahoney following a Barnsley corner and sent Cameron Jerome clear to beat Jack Walton with a rising drive in the 14th minute.

Jerome went through on the right to set up Matej Vydra for his 21st Championship goal in the 55th minute and Barnsley’s slender hopes were crushed in the space of five minutes.

David Nugent had only just replaced Jerome when he headed in Vydra’s cross in the 68th minute and Tom Lawrence steered Nugent’s cross past Walton to make it four.

George Moncur curled in from the edge of the box but it was no consolation for Barnsley, who return to League One after two seasons.

However, Derby are preparing for their third play-off campaign in five seasons and Rowett said: “If you had asked me about the play-offs about eight or nine games ago I would have said even if we get in we’re not going to have enough momentum or form to really challenge, although we know they are unpredictable.

“What I would say now is after the last four games we have performed really well in different ways in all of them. You can see with the players when they train there’s a bit of extra zip and a bit of extra belief.

“As we know sometimes, you can change the formation but it’s about affecting the players’ psychology and that’s what the last four games have done.

“They will be going into these next games full of determination and we’ve almost been given a second chance.

“All the sides in there are good sides and have good quality, us included, and are more then capable of winning the play-offs – and I don’t think form is going to have that much bearing on what happens now.”