The summer of 2010 saw Barnet appoint former player, Mark Stimson as manager. Stimson, who had previously been manage ofGillinghamwho had been relegated from League One the previous season with the unenviable record of not having won an away game all season. He brought with him his assistant, Scott Barrett and the club also appointed former Rushden & Diamonds’ assistant manager, Michael Stone as first team coach.
The summer also saw the arrival of a host of new players following the release of most of the previous season’s squad and the departure of players such as Albert Adomah and John O’Flynn. Only a handful of players remained from 2009/10; goalkeeper, Jake Cole, defenders Joe Devera, Clovis Kamdjo and Reece Yorke and midfield players, Mark Hughes and Danny Hart. During pre season, centre back Daniel Leach who had originally been released was signed by Stimson after impressing in friendlies.
New arrivals included highly rated former Gillingham loan centre back, Darren Dennehy, who had played under Stimson the previous season; Watford left back, Jordan Parkes who had had a loan spell at Underhill 2 years previously; experienced Dagenham & Redbridge defender, Anwar Uddin who had been the club captain when the Daggers were promoted to League One last season. He was duly appointed Bees’ skipper for the coming season.
In midfield, former Dagger, Glen Southam arrived after a spell withHerefordand ex Brentford man Glenn Poole along with spurs’ youngster, Sam Cox and formerLutonplayer, Rossi Jarvis. Mark Byrne, voted player of the year at Rushden while on loan there in 2009/10, arrived on a 6 month loan deal fromNottinghamForest. Winger, Mark Marshall arrived fromSwindon Town after impressing in pre-season.
Up front, Stimson signed Ricky Holmes, a free scoring player from Conference South club,ChelmsfordCity,Norwichyoungster, Danny Kelly and the manager’s son, Charlie fromGillingham. After hugely impressing in pre season friendlies, former Sheffield United and Watford striker, Steve Kabba arrived to add huge experience to the squad.
The Bees’ kicked off the league season with a trip to one of the promotion favourites, Chesterfield where they suffered a double blow; losing the match 2-1 and losing new striker, Steve Kabba after he was crudely fouled by Craig Davies. Glenn Poole opened his Barnet account with a stunning strike from more than 20 yards out.
The Bees went out predictably in the 1st round of the Carling Cup to Championship promotion contenders,SwanseaCity going down 3-0. With Kabba out, Barnet strike options looked rather limited and signed striker, Phil Walsh on a month’s loan from Dagenham & Redbridge. Walsh maid his debut as a substitute in a very poor goalless draw at home to Burton but at least it gave the Bees their first league point of the season.
The following Saturday saw the Bees suffer probably their greatest humiliation since returning to the football league in 2005 when they were thrashed 7-0 by Crewe. That result placed the Bees firmly at the bottom of the table. However, things picked up after that. The following Saturday, a Mark Marshall goal gained the Bees a very acceptable point at home to highly fancied, Bury and the following week, two Phil Walsh goals paved the way for a fine 3-1 home win over Cheltenham Town, Marshall scoring the other Bees’ goal. The win took Barnet up to 17th in the table. However, it was not without a cost as Darren Dennehy picked up an injury that was to keep him out for the rest of the season.
The rest of September was bleak for the Bees. A 1-0 defeat atLincolnCitywas followed by a rather harsh 4-1 home defeat by Rotherham United where the Bees had held their own until the loss of Daniel Leach and then folded. Mark Byrne scored for the Bees. The Bees’ fortunes looked to be turning the following Saturday away at Morecambe when Barnet took a 2-0 lead courtesy of goals from Glen Southam and Steve Kabba but late goals from the home side saw the game end as 2-2 draw; the Bees missing out on the chance of moving out of the bottom two.
September ended with Wycombe recording a convincing 4-2 win over the Bees that entrenched Barnet in the bottom two of the table. Phil Walsh and Steve Kabba were the Bees goalscorers.
In the next part of the series, Barnet Mad looks at Bees’ fortunes during October and November as Mark Stimson tries to pull the club out of the bottom two.