League One club sack manager after defeats to Charlton Athletic, Blackpool and Huddersfield Town

Charlton Athletics’ League One rivals Barnsley have sacked manager Darrell Clarke after back-to-back defeats against the Addicks and Blackpool. The Tykes had won their previous three games as they defeated Rotherham United and Northampton Town before beating Lincoln City 4-3 at Oakwell.

However, that run of three-straight wins had ended a period of six games without a victory, as they went on a run between mid-January and mid-February picking up just one point from a possible 18 points.

They lost to Huddersfield Town - who recently sacked Michael Duff and replaced him with Jon Worthington until the end of the season - before going on their three-game win streak but were beaten in their last two League One outings as they lost 1-0 to Charlton last Tuesday (March 4) before a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Blackpool.

Barnsley confirm Clarke departure

With the Tykes eight points adrift of the play-offs, Barnsley released a statement on Wednesday afternoon confirming the decision to relieve Clarke of his duties at the club.

Chairman, Neerav Parekh said: “We would like to thank Darrell for his efforts in a season which has been difficult for various reasons. Darrell has worked extremely hard to try and get the team competitive and pushing for promotion, unfortunately, we find ourselves eight points away from the play-offs and feel that a change is needed.”

Sporting Director, Mladen Sormaz added: "Darrell is someone I respect and have enjoyed working with and I’d like to thank him for his efforts this season. Whilst a list of replacements has been identified, we will take some time to ensure the next appointment is the right one with a focus on playing identity, returning to high pressing and attacking football. We believe that Conor can help to create enough bounce to keep us fighting for the top six until the end of the season. We will also be working in parallel to have a new head coach in place over the summer.”

Who is in charge now?

Former Aston Villa midfielder Conor Hourihane has been placed in interim charge and will be assisted by Jon Stead and Martin Devaney alongside Tom Harban. Charlton’s win over Barnsley last weekend kept the Addicks well in the hunt for a play-off spot. Charlton followed that victory up with another 1-0 win as they now sit on 63 points in fourth. It puts them five clear of Huddersfield in seventh.

Leyton Orient come up against Barnsley in mid-April but their hopes of reaching the play-offs are fading after five-straight defeats. After a big win at Wrexham in mid-February, Orient have lost to Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Charlton, Rotherham and Northampton. They are seven points adrift of sixth place and sit ninth in the table, just one point above Barnsley.

In other EFL news, QPR risk being without key man Ilias Chair for upcoming Championship fixtures against Leeds United and Stoke City.