It was a sobering occasion which didn’t go the way he wanted, quite the opposite in fact.
A long trip to Plymouth Argyle was first up for Duff’s Reds at the start of 2022-23 and it was a long old afternoon in Devon.
The visitors lost by a single goal, but it was a 1-0 “beating” in the view of Duff. Relegated from the Championship at the end of the previous campaign – just like his new club – Barnsley and Duff’s players were handed a quick-fire reality check and unedifying “Welcome to League One” lesson at Home Park.
After smelling the coffee, Barnsley got their act together over time and stepped up to such an extent that they made the play-off final.
It was a season when Barnsley’s early conquerors Plymouth, Ipswich Town – now in the Premier League no less – Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton Wanderers and Peterborough United all excelled.
The new campaign at this level promises to be just as hard-fought.
Duff, whose side kick off with a hard opening day trip to a promotion candidate in Peterborough, said: “It’s going to be a tough league and the beauty of my experience at this level is my first game at Barnsley. We went down to Plymouth, who had been in League Two a couple of years before.
“Our players thought ‘we were in the Championship last year, we’ll wipe the floor with these.’ We got absolutely murdered. It was a brilliant wake-up call.
“You need to turn up mentally and physically prepared to give everything to win a game because it is not easy to win a game.”
