We reach the end

[tonbridgebee]

The season ending blog is up this evening, later than I wanted due to watching other play-off action, but please pop along to the link below and have a read and let me know what you think.

Thanks all who have read all, some or anything this season, it's greatly appreciated! No stopping for the summer, plenty to write about and plenty to keep you entertained:

https://open.substack.com/pub/trevorkne ... medium=web

[thebeekeeper]

The season ending blog is up this evening, later than I wanted due to watching other play-off action, but please pop along to the link below and have a read and let me know what you think.

Thanks all who have read all, some or anything this season, it's greatly appreciated! No stopping for the summer, plenty to write about and plenty to keep you entertained:

https://open.substack.com/pub/trevorkne ... medium=web

I agree that we need to have a sense of perspective here.

The progress we've seen under DB has been phenomenal and his recruitment has been remarkably successful (especially when you consider the budget he's working with).

That gives me some confidence that we can mount a title challenge next season - building on what we've got, while some of the division's 'bigger' teams start from a lower base.

I don't feel like he's taken Barnet as far as he can - in fact, I'd be happy to see him in the dugout long-term, to maintain continuity (after all, we all know what TK's record when it comes to managerial appointments is like!).

However, I do have some concerns. I'm not sure how good DB is tactically, both in terms of setting up against the division's better sides and making in-game adjustments. Our record in big matches is worrying too, so I'm unlikely to be full of confidence if we make the playoffs again, rather than go straight up. I hope the players who remain won't also share that scepticism.

But let's be honest, if Brennan was the complete package then he wouldn't still be with Barnet, he'd have moved up the food chain. On balance, he's as good a manager as we're going to get, if we're going to have someone in situ for multiple seasons.

I'm still pretty bullish that we're heading for the EFL within the next couple of years on his watch, so there's certainly no need to be despondent... even though Saturday was obviously terribly underwhelming!

[northantsbee]

Looking at where we were when Kewell got the boot and where we are now is all down to DBs appointments and his footballing philosophy.

Over the past two seasons we've seen that scoring goals is not a problem. The main issue DB has to address how to play in a way that ensures we still manage to out score the opposition without over stretching our defence and leaving our GK exposed with a simple ball over the top to a pacy striker.

If he can sort that out we'll piss this tin pot league next season

[dawat]

I would of course love to see DB remain with us for the foreseeable future. My real concern is that we have been exposed at times to Sunday League level counter attacks by fast forwards and needs to be addressed. We also seem to have found ourselves in one on one situations far too often. Going forward, other astute managers will have spotted these weaknesses and exploit them while other less astute managers will simply adopt copy cat tactics with a degree of success. I hope that BD will actually learn from this, as during this past season he seemed a little stubborn at times and paid for it with the better teams.

[tonbridgebee]

The season ending blog is up this evening, later than I wanted due to watching other play-off action, but please pop along to the link below and have a read and let me know what you think.

Thanks all who have read all, some or anything this season, it's greatly appreciated! No stopping for the summer, plenty to write about and plenty to keep you entertained:

https://open.substack.com/pub/trevorkne ... medium=web

I agree that we need to have a sense of perspective here.

The progress we've seen under DB has been phenomenal and his recruitment has been remarkably successful (especially when you consider the budget he's working with).

That gives me some confidence that we can mount a title challenge next season - building on what we've got, while some of the division's 'bigger' teams start from a lower base.

I don't feel like he's taken Barnet as far as he can - in fact, I'd be happy to see him in the dugout long-term, to maintain continuity (after all, we all know what TK's record when it comes to managerial appointments is like!).

However, I do have some concerns. I'm not sure how good DB is tactically, both in terms of setting up against the division's better sides and making in-game adjustments. Our record in big matches is worrying too, so I'm unlikely to be full of confidence if we make the playoffs again, rather than go straight up. I hope the players who remain won't also share that scepticism.

But let's be honest, if Brennan was the complete package then he wouldn't still be with Barnet, he'd have moved up the food chain. On balance, he's as good a manager as we're going to get, if we're going to have someone in situ for multiple seasons.

I'm still pretty bullish that we're heading for the EFL within the next couple of years on his watch, so there's certainly no need to be despondent... even though Saturday was obviously terribly underwhelming!

Spot on!

[southgate bee]

For me, I would much better have slower progress and have a solid team in the EFL, than a team that goes up and a year later, returns to the National League.
But we do need to look with a critical eye as to what was missing this time around and each and every one of the team and staff needs to be honest about their shortcomings and work on those during pre-season.
As supporters we also have to play our part. Some of the things I have heard or seen are just not helpful. Constructive criticism is good but when I see fans taking out their frustrations on players, I do despair.
We have been going in the right direction for the last couple of years so I do have optimism for the next season and frankly, I am happy that we have had one manager for the last few years and the stability that has brought to the club.

[Jimbokav1971]

If this was a different club and a different owner then there might be a reason to suggest that maybe getting rid of DB and appointing a replacement to get the job done and get us promoted might be a reasonable idea, but this isn't a different club and this isn't a different owner and based on experience the chances of TK appointing someone better than DB are tiny. They are miniscule!

It is much more likely that he would appoint someone who would be sacked by Christmas. Much much much much much much more likely.

We crave stability and Christ Almighty we're all frustrated.... (it's more than that), but even if you choose not to ignore the injuries, (or blame DB for the injuries), the suggestion that we should get rid and appoint someone else is absolute madness based on TK's history of managerial recruitment.

I don't think there have been many owners with such a poor recruitment record over the years.

Even if we give some managers for whom the jury was still out on, the benefit of the doubt, we have still had very few successful managers during TK's tenure at the club. To get rid of 1 of the more successful managers we've had would honestly be ridiculous.

The big thing for us now is recruitment. So far that's been a real strength and most of the signings DB has made have been a success, (with just a few exceptions). Unfortunately though, our success on the pitch means that recruitment gets harder and harder because we're looking for better and better players, but consider that change from when he took over where we had basically been a shambles for 24 months, (Bassey period aside).

It's tough to work with a small budget, (in comparison to others in the league), but I think that DB has shown that he can bring players in who want to be here for the right reasons, and they're often not as expensive to bring in as the type of player we signed in the period before his arrival.

This league is an absolute *swearword* of a league, and with only 1 automatic promotion it's always going to be tough to get out of. As good as Still, PF and Mad Dog did to get us out of here previously, this league is different beast altogether now and if it takes us a few years of continued growth to get us out then so be it.

Wrexham paid £6.9M to win this league, (recording losses of £5M+ for that single season), but that's only the year they won it. They also paid ridiculous wages the previous 2 seasons and would have made similar losses each season. While we can't compete with that, (and nor would I want us to), the money that we have received, (and will receive in the future), for the sales and clauses of our "Golden Generation" of Jack, Ronnie & EMC must surely give TK at least some optimism that any money invested might not be completely wasted.

[becbee]

Dean Brennan replaced Kewell as manager on 20th September 2021. If you look at the list of EFL and Premier League Managers ( there isn't such a list for non-league), there are only 12 of the 92 managers listed there who have been in post longer than Deano. 51 of the 92 ( i.e. over half) have changed manager in the last 12 months. Which suggests that change is not always the answer.

No club gets recruitment 100% right - look at the top Prem clubs who've made huge losses on some signings. At least under Deano, his signings have mostly been very good. I'd say that even the ones who failed were better than the majority in the pre Deano eras.

[Sam_BFC]

After two successive play off campaigns and as current runners up in the division, I would say that it would be unreasonable for *any* club to bin the manager at this moment in time.

[jerroll]

Lets get rid and appoint another Nugent,Robson,Stimson,Beadle or Flowers!! How can a manager who finish 2nd in the league be up for the chop! Deano isn't without flaws but he has earned the chance to iron those out.

[MCB]

I have to admit feeling very unconfident/uncomfortable with DB, but absolutely he should be taking us through next season.

After all we've got the whole 'play off semi final when the year ends in 4, automatic promotion the year after when the year ends in 5' thing to go through....

I do need to see him 'do a Fairclough', identify where we fell short and be absolutely brutal in bringing in the changes we need to drag us over the line. We'll be amongst the favourites next season too.

[CrawleyBee]

Lets get rid and appoint another Nugent,Robson,Stimson,Beadle or Flowers!! How can a manager who finish 2nd in the league be up for the chop! Deano isn't without flaws but he has earned the chance to iron those out.

This Deano is the best we’re going to get, he is a great national league manager and is the man to take us up.

[becbee]

Lets get rid and appoint another Nugent,Robson,Stimson,Beadle or Flowers!! How can a manager who finish 2nd in the league be up for the chop! Deano isn't without flaws but he has earned the chance to iron those out.

This Deano is the best we’re going to get, he is a great national league manager and is the man to take us up.

Also, based on his previous loyalty towards Wealdstone, I think that Deano is more likely to show us loyalty than we can expect to get from other successful managers who might well be off at the first sign of interest from a bigger club. I'd not be surprised if he was approached by Notts Co before they then looked to Stuart Maynard at Wealdstone.