Barnet FC: Recycling London’s Talent

On Saturday Barnet lost 2-1 to Oxford United in one of the two League Two games to survive the weather.

The result leaves them without an away win in any competition this season, and only Hereford United stand between them and the bottom of the Football League.

This is a familiar sight for Bees fans, who last term saw their side only retain their league status courtesy of a 1-0 win over a Rochdale side already in celebration mode after clinching their own promotion weeks earlier.

But it is fairly remarkable that Barnet are even playing at this high a level. Relying largely on non-league products and cast-offs from neighbouring Premier League and Championship teams, a succession of managers have found themselves forced to cobble together a team with limited resources.

And with numerous applications to develop or relocate from their Underhill ground with its notorious slope and minimal seating capacity, year upon year the Londoners have been forced to sell their brightest prospects on the cheap and replace them with free agents.

Plenty of ex-Barnet stars have gone on to excel at higher levels, leaving them with a current squad comprised of journeymen like strikers Kevin Gallen and Steve Kabba alongside players like Sam Cox and Anwar Uddin who failed to make the grade in the top flight.

Uddin was a member of West Ham’s all-conquering youth team, many of whom are frequently mentioned in oft-flawed analyses of how good the Hammers could be if they had kept all of their bright young prospects. But his current club could also put in a strong showing in the ‘what could have been’ league.

I have come up with a team of players who either made their professional debuts with Barnet or spent a significant part of their careers at Underhill, with the 3-4-3 formation reflecting the club’s penchant for bringing through young attacking talent.

Goalkeeper: Maik Taylor

It is difficult to imagine the Northern Ireland keeper as a twentysomething, but he was a relatively fresh-faced 23-year-old when he joined Barnet from non-league Farnborough Town in June 1995.

An impressive 70-match spell saw Premier League Southampton come calling, and their bid of £500,000 was too much for chairman Tony Kleanthous to turn down.

Further big-money moves to Fulham and then Birmingham City followed, as did 87 international caps, making the reliable shot-stopper the most-capped former Barnet player.

Centre-back: Fitz Hall

The QPR defender joined Barnet in his teens after being released by West Ham, but manager John Still allowed him to move on to Chesham before playing a single game in north London.

Hall is more an example of a missed opportunity, with Barnet letting him slip through their grasp rather than having him taken from them in the prime of his career.

Still, two seven-figure transfers and a handful of seasons in the Premier League might still have some fans scratching their heads at the decision to let him leave without a fight.

Centre-back: Mark Arber

The South African centre-back initially joined Barnet on loan from Tottenham, and his move was made permanent when it became clear he was not going to make the grade at White Hart Lane.

Hungry for a move back to the Football League after Barnet dropped down to the Conference in 2001, Arber moved to Peterborough United on a free one year later.

He went on to make 170 appearances for the Cambridgeshire side, before adding a further century of games at Dagenham and Redbridge under former Bees mentor John Still.

Centre-back: Linvoy Primus

Primus is the only member of my XI to have retired, but deserves his place on the basis of an illustrious career which might have been impossible were he not given his breakthrough by Barnet.

He had the misfortune of coming through the Charlton Athletic ranks at the same time as future club captain Richard Rufus, and was released by the south London outfit in 1994 but quickly snapped up by Ray Clemence during his brief tenure at Underhill.

Seven goals in 127 games with the Bees is actually prolific by his standards, and a hit-and-miss spell at Reading was followed by nine years at Portsmouth which have earned him hero status on the south coast.

Right-midfield: Albert Adomah

One of the Bees’ stars since their return to the Football League in 2005, Adomah was spotted playing for neighbouring non-league side Harrow Borough before Paul Fairclough gave the winger his first professional contract.

A goal on his league debut set the tone for three fruitful years during which time Adomah amassed 112 appearances and 19 goals, and it was unsurprising that teams from higher up the league ladder started sniffing around.

Chairman Tony Kleanthous offered his prize asset the opportunity to become Barnet’s highest-paid player ever, but the temptation of Championship football was too much and Adomah moved to Bristol City on a free this summer.

Central midfield: Nicky Bailey

Another player brought to Underhill from the non-league system, Bailey joined off the back of an impressive spell with Sutton United in the Isthmian League.

Bailey gained a reputation for his dominant performances from midfield and his spectacular strikes, leading to a £175,000 move to Southend in 2007.

Few Barnet fans will be surprised by his progress since moving to Roots Hall, with a series of impressive displays earning him further moves to Charlton and then Middlesbrough, where he is just beginning to find his feet after a difficult start.

Central midfield: Mark Gower

Like Arber, Mark Gower joined Barnet after failing to break into Tottenham’s first team, and the £32,500 fee shelled out by player-manager Tony Cottee was among the highest paid by the club.

Unfortunately his undoubted talents failed to prevent the club’s relegation that season, and – after failing twice to help the club to promotion from the Conference – Gower moved on to Southend.

After five years with the Essex club he moved to Swansea under the Bosman ruling and remains an integral part of the Welsh outfit as they chase promotion to the Premier League.

Left-midfield: Jason Puncheon

Puncheon started out at Wimbledon, making a handful of appearances for the club as they made the transition to Milton Keynes and then breaking into the first team after the departure of Jobi McAnuff in 2004.

But after Danny Wilson released the diminutive winger in 2006 he struggled to find a new club, trying his luck with a couple of non-league outfits before Barnet took a chance on him in the summer.

He made 78 league appearances for the Bees and starred in their run to the FA Cup fourth round in 2007, earning him a move to Plymouth. After a miserable spell in Devon he has kick-started his career with Southampton and is currently enjoying a loan spell with Championship Millwall.

Striker: Junior Agogo

Unlike the majority of this team, Agogo took more of a scenic route to Barnet, spending time in Sheffield, Chester and Colorado before settling in north London.

After scoring only 22 goals in the first five years of his career, the hefty striker added 19 in one season at Underhill, earning him a move to Bristol Rovers where he continued to display a new-found goalscoring touch.

The Ghanaian FA were alerted to his talents, and an impressive 12 goals in 27 internationals – including a memorable winner in an African Cup of Nations quarter final against Nigeria – will see his name live long in Black Stars folklore.

Striker: Scott McGleish

One of the best natural finishers to set foot on the Underhill pitch, McGleish enjoyed five fruitful years at Barnet after several short spells with clubs from the south of England in the mid-1990s.

37 goals in 134 games (as well as a cameo in a beat-the-goalie competition at my primary school’s summer fair) were enough to tempt Colchester United boss Steve Whitton to part with a five-figure sum to bring him to Layer Road.

McGleish has continued to bang in the goals wherever he has played, netting over 20 times for current club Leyton Orient and still going strong at the age of 36.

Striker: Marlon King

Yes, believe it or not, Marlon King began his career at Barnet. He made his debut for the club as a hungry 18-year-old, scoring 14 goals in 53 league games before Gillingham stepped in with an offer of over a quarter of a million.

As with a number of former stars, Barnet found the carrot of a six-figure fee too much to refuse, and another future Premier League striker slipped through their grasp.

And just like Agogo, King has gone from running up and down that famous Underhill slope to enjoying an impressive goalscoring record at international level, with 10 in 18 games for Jamaica.

Now, with the club retaining their knack for bringing through talents neglected by their rivals, it could well only be a matter of time before some of the current crop stake a claim to be included in this line-up.

A more pressing concern for Barnet, however, is retaining their league status for another year. To this end there are plenty of players looking to become heroes of the here and now.

Tom Victor is a freelance journalist and new contributor to Just Football. Find him at Pele Confidential.

(photo via Bill Batchelor on Flickr)

Barnet, English League Two, Football League