The Reds welcome the Tangerines to Oakwell on Tuesday night, as life as an already-relegated side begins.
It's all about pride for the next couple of weeks, in terms of this challenging 21/22 Sky Bet Championship campaign for Barnsley.
Pride in the shirt. Professional pride. Making the fanbase proud.
A failure of a season was finally capped off last Friday evening, live on TV away at a local rival. Another insipid Reds display ending in defeat.
We barely laid a glove on Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium. An opponent who are going to take part in the promotion play-offs were rarely out of second gear, coasting against a Barnsley side who have sadly capitulated since a promising February and March that had us wondering if yet another escape act was on the cards.
That 2-1 defeat in Kirklees was our 25th reverse of a sorry season. Just six wins from 43 fixtures. One of the worst campaigns in our illustrious and proud 135-year history. Off the back of one of our very best, makes it harder to stomach.
Two head coaches failed to get a tune out of a squad that - by and large - was very similar to the one which last term finished 5th, a whopping 48 points better off than we are at present.
But the time for reviewing a difficult season and plotting a revival is to come. For now, we have three games remaining and pride restoration on the agenda.
The second head coach has now followed the first, with Poya Asbaghi and the Club mutually ending that particular tenure. The Swede departed after Friday night's loss against the high-flying Terriers.
In this interim period, a man synonymous with Barnsley FC has been given an opportunity to help out during this period of transition.
A stand-out player for the Reds between 2005 and 2011, and a coach at Oakwell in the Academy setup for the last seven years, Martin Devaney will lead out the Reds on Tuesday night, ably assisted by Barnsley man Tom Harban, the Under 18s head coach.
Devaney has promised that he'll send out the team against Blackpool full of running, enthusiasm and endeavour. The aim - to restore pride, to give the fanbase a proper Barnsley team and performance.
Standing in the way is a Blackpool outfit who've impressed this season on their return to the second tier under the highly-rated Neil Critchley.
Blackpool won another famous play-off final at Wembley last term, with former Reds midfielder Kenny Dougall the most unlikely of heroes, scoring twice at the home of football to help them earn promotion back to the Championship.
Their re-emergence didn’t finish there, however. They sit comfortable in mid-table coming into this evening’s fixture. They’re some 26 points above Barnsley, and saw off the Reds at Bloomfield Road in the two club’s earlier meeting, on a day where our own struggles were a sign of things to come.
Recent form has been somewhat troubling, though. Before destroying Birmingham City 6-1 recently, they’d lost three of four fixtures and slipped out of any optimistic shout for a play-off place. They did, however grab a good point away at Luton Town last time out.
It’s nearly eight years ago to the day since we last met Blackpool here at Oakwell in a Championship encounter. The Reds went on to be relegated that season, but won that particular fixture 2-0, with Chris O’Grady scoring a brace.
The man in the middle on Tuesday evening will be John Busby. This will be his third Reds fixture of the season, having overseen our 1-0 win over Coventry City and then a 0-0 draw away at Peterborough United.
Tuesday night’s game against the Seasiders will be broadcast live in the UK by both Sky Sports (red button) and iFollow Barnsley.
You can buy a match pass to watch the game for £10 in the UK, just click the link below for more information.