Jaybee's Column

Following the exit of Barnet from the FA Cup at Rochdale and, less importantly, the Herts Senior Cup at St. Albans, many Bees fans will feel that the season is essentially over in so much as there doesn't appear to be any chance that Barnet will be able to achieve anything this season with our league form being so poor.

On top of this the club's messageboard has been full of complaints about how negative and boring this season's home games have been and many fans feel that they simply do not want to go to the games unless there is a big improvement in the standard, and the style, of football that Barnet display in their matches at Underhill. Even some fans who are season ticket holders are thinking of not coming to games at the moment. Many fans think that it this season's home games have been the dullest and most disappointing since Barnet returned to the football league in 2005 following their promotion from the Nationwide Conference as champions in 2004/05.

With 16 matches played so far this season, 8 of them at Underhill, comparisons can be made, I think, with the 2005/06 season. The difference being that in that season Barnet made a terrific start to the season, taking 10 points from their first 4 matches and going top of the table. Following that bright start however, the club failed to win a single league match in their next eleven league matches, taking only 5 points as they plummeted down the table. There were also a lot of quite dull matches particularly in the first half of the season, such as the 0-0 draw at home to Oxford United. However, unlike this season when the club has gone out of every competition in the first round, there was the distraction and excitement of the Carling Cup run with victories over League One, Bristol City and Championship club, Plymouth Argyle as well as the excitement of the 3^rd round trip to Old Trafford. Nothing this season remotely comes close to that. It's true that there have been exciting away games at Rotherham, Bradford City, Shrewsbury and Rochdale in the FA Cup replay but do they compare with wins that season at Carlisle, Northampton, Bristol City and the magic of that game against Manchester United?

In spite of how disappointing that season developed, amongst the team there still were some fine players such as Dean Sinclair, Nicky Bailey, Simon King, Ben Strevens and Liam Hatch. Players who have gone on to bigger clubs or, in the case of Strevens, have proved to be successful at this level with another club. Hatch received a lot of criticism at the time, but he would be welcomed back now by many fans. His recent injury scare at Darlington seemed to bring out a wave of concern and hopes for a full recovery from lots of Barnet fans. How many current Barnet players could one seriously se moving up to a higher level. Albert Adomah of course and probably Kenny Gillet. Neal Bishop and Joe Devera maybe.

The Carling Cup run that season seemed to be a distraction for the team, particularly once the 3^rd round draw was made and things did pick up after we went out at Old Trafford with 2 wins and 7 points from the following 3 matches. After 18 games we had 22 points on the board. This season we have 13 points from 16 games. It's true that we were not safe from relegation that season until the last match but Oxford United went down with 49 points which would normally have been enough to make them safe. 50 points is normally reckoned to be the safety mark, yet we had 51 points on the morning of the Rushden game and could still have been relegated if things had not gone our way. This season, with Bournemouth and Luton still not having clawed back their points deductions, the two teams who are relegated will go down with a lot less than 50 points. Barnet are only out of the drop zone courtesy of those points deductions, including those suffered by Rotherham.

In the summer, the club offered cheap season tickets with the promise that 'WERE GOING UP'. Many fans who took advantage of the offer now wished that they hadn't as they feel obliged to go to matches that they have already paid for when they feel that the standard of entertainment on offer would otherwise have meant they wouldn't have gone. The 1782 gate for the FA Cup match against Rochdale seemed to bear this out as season tickets do not cover cup matches and many season ticket holders chose to stay away. Unless things pick up this season, and fast, or there is a change in management that attendance figure might seem high by the end of the season. It will be interesting to see if the gate for today's match at home to Macclesfield will be as high as for the Rochdale match even if it is a league game. The fact that many fans have already paid for their tickets and are still thinking about not going to games would seem to bear out the fact that this season has been the most forgettable in many a long year at Underhill.