Barnet today announced that two of the club’s most popular players, Mark Hughes & Sam Deering had left the club and were no longer Barnet players. It had already been suggested on Barnet Mad that skipper Hughes may be going but many fans will have been surprised that Deering has not been awarded a new contract.
The feisty midfield player joined the club from Oxford United last year, initially on loan and was a key member of the side that kept Barnet up in 2011. His brace at home to Chesterfield, in Martin Allen’s first game back at Underhill, pulled Barnet back from 2-0 down, Deering having come on as a substitute at half time. Deering’s first goal was later voted goal of the season by the Barnet fans. For a lot of Barnet fans, it was the first sign that perhaps relegation to the Blue Square Premier was not inevitable. At the end of the season, Deering was released by Oxford and was offered a contract at Underhill.
Last season, Deering seemed to be out of favour, initially, with Lawrie Sanchez and was relegated to the bench a number of times. However, as the season progressed, Deering regained his first team place and, again, played an important part in keeping Barnet in League Two. He scored the important second goal in the penultimate game at home to AFC Wimbledon. In all, Deering made 69 first team appearances for the Bees, scoring 5 goals.
Hughes was made team captain at the start of last season and scored a number of important goals including the only goal in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth in the Carling Cup and, of course, the winning goal at Burton Albion which assured Barnet’s League Two safety, a goal which will ensure that ‘Hughesy’ remains a popular player with the Barnet fans wherever he ends up. He scored 9 goals from 146 first team appearances and was Barnet’s longest serving player, a distinction that now falls to Clovis Kamdjo.
I’m sure that all Bees’ fans will wish both players every success in the future and be very thankful for their contribution to the club in recent seasons.