DANIEL Stendel says he is glad he came back to Barnsley, despite a worse start than he expected, while saying chairman Neerav Parekh ‘gives us time’ and admits some mistakes have been made.

The Reds are 23rd in League One with eight points from 11 games, three points off safety.

They have lost nine of their last ten matches in all competitions, including the last six, while taking one point from their seven league games since September 1.

They lost 2-1 at Reading last weekend and now host third-placed Oxford United on Saturday.

Stendel told the Chronicle: “It’s a tough situation.

“But I said to my family, to my friends, I’ve not missed one day since I’m back.

“I like to be here.

“I like to work with these guys.

“I like to be back in Barnsley.

“It’s not what I expected and maybe a lot of other people expected, but I believe that it will change.

“It’s also for me tough days.”

Stendel says he is in regular contact with chairman and majority owner Parekh.

Stendel told the Chronicle: “He would like also that we have better results, but he gives me the feeling that he is behind us and he give us the time.

“He knows it’s a lot of change in summer and it’s maybe a little bit of a longer process than we all expected, but this is the way that the club decided in summer. I feel the support from him and this is the reason that we are a lot in touch in the last couple of weeks to bring the club forward.”

Stendel was asked if there was an acceptance at board level that mistakes had been made to leave the Reds with the youngest squad in England and a lack of proven firepower up front.

He told the Chronicle: “Sometimes the most you can learn is from bad experiences – and that doesn’t mean it has all been bad.

“I would defend every time the idea to work with a young squad, but maybe in some decisions we can do it better in the future.

“Young means maybe not so much experience, but it also can mean quality and sometimes that is the difference.

“The owners decided in the summer to bring the club back to the old identity.

“It’s a change and that we do some things not right or not like you expected can happen.

“It’s the same what I do. I can also say we try our best every day, we do also mistakes, the same with the players.

“This is part of the life, but we have to learn from the situation and, at the moment, I would like to learn really quick.”

Barnsley are currently looking for a new chief executive as Jon Flatman serves his notice. Stendel said: “Neerav lets me know the situation but at the moment there’s no new CEO in charge.

“So long as Jon is here, we talk every day and we look at what we can do to help in our situation, the team and the club, to switch some things.”

Asked what he wanted from the new CEO, Stendel said: “I hope he brings a lot of energy, he wants to help, to bring his experience in the club and with a lot of power and a lot of engagement.

“But at the moment, I can only say Jon and I try to do our best to help the team and to work to change, especially the results. I know this is the important thing in football. I can say a lot of things are good, but the results are the picture every week on Saturday.”

Stendel said he would prefer the new CEO to have a football background.

“It can help. In the most clubs where I worked, there was a CEO and sporting director. It’s different here.

“It can help when you have experience in football too, but it’s in the end the decision from the owners.”

Stendel said he was not looking to add to his coaching staff which currently includes Tom Harban and Dennis Gusmann, who came with the head coach from Hannover96.

Almost 500 fans travelled to Reading, with some calling for Parekh to leave.

A group of them stayed behind and sang Stendel’s name as he walked into the away end after the final whistle to briefly talk with them and shake hands.

The head coach said: “So many fans came away to Reading which is great.

“When the team performed and we are good in the game, we have a lot of support.

“I have the feeling in first half you can only hear our supporters in the big stadium. But again, nobody’s happy when you lose games and when you travel so far away. But this is the situation, and we can only be solid together.

“And I have also the feeling when I talk with the supporters, nobody’s happy, but they believe and this is important for me.”

After Oxford, Barnsley host non-league Aldershot Town in the FA Cup on November 7 then League Two Oldham Athletic in the EFL Trophy the following Wednesday.

They are due to visit Wigan Athletic on November 14 then host Sheffield Wednesday on the 20th before rounding off the month at Bradford City and AFC Wimbledon.

Their home match with MK Dons, which was postponed due to international call-ups from earlier this month, has been moved to December 15.

But, if both sides are knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round, the game will go ahead on December 5.