Barnet

Last Season at a glance

14th in League Two

Last season was certainly a good one for the Bees. They might not have threatened at the top half or suggested even the possibility of making a play off push, but they never looked remotely like going down.

We've often tended to be a bit dismissive about Paul Fairclough. Our natural bias against all things non league took advantage and we had him down as being one of these eternally bitter non leaguers who think that the Football League somehow owes him a living.

However, it has to be said his Barnet side were probably the best side that we came up against in the second half of the season so fair play to him for that. He had them playing attractive attacking football, and perhaps most importantly they played together as a team.

He's been in charge at Underhill for over three years now, having been previously boss at local rivals Stevenage Borough

Clearly on the basis of our game against the Bees on Easter Monday, Paul Fairclough is doing a very good job with the North London side and has it coming together. He's been in the game for a long time, and knows full well what is required.

Add to that, this will be the third season for Barnet back in the Football League, and at last they will feel that they have settled. The 2nd season can often be the most difficult as it doesn't have the momentum of the first

Well despite all the positive things we've put about Barnet, there's a down side. Much as Fairclough was putting together a decent outfit, as is often the case, he has found his better players leave from underneath him.

It was a blow to the Bees when Tresor Kandol decided relegating Leeds was a better option, but over the Summer they have lost Dean Sinclair to Charlton, whilst Nicky Bailey has left Underhill for Southend.

And you take a look at what is left, and it doesn't look very promising. Their top scorer last season got just six league goals

And if all that wasn't bad enough, they face the very real threat of being thrown out of the Football League at the end of the 2007-8 season. They have been given three years' grace to bring Underhill up to the minimum standard for the Football League, yet are still short of the minimum 2000 seats required.

On paper, Birchall doesn't look the most dangerous player, and certainly not one to base the season around, but he was a class above at Spotland last season.

His total of eight goals for the season isn't the most impressive, but his move to Mansfield didn't really work out, and whilst back in London, he started to show the sort of form he offered when he was highly rated at Arsenal as a trainee.

I'd expect a much better return for Birchall this next season. The Mansfield move is now very much behind him, and I can see him starting to attract interest from other clubs in the same way that Sinclair and Bailey did.

We don't like predicting bad things for Barnet, but we can't see at all how they'll do anything other than struggle this season. The departures of Sinclair and Bailey will be massive blows to their side, and whilst we maintain that Fairclough knows what he is doing with regards to keeping them up, we don't see how they can maintain the standards set last season.

But they have that fighting spirit. They will know exactly what is required from the first day of the season, and every point will be fought for. They are very much part of the "lets get to fifty points" brigade, which will give them an advantage over those who think they have a divine right to a good season. There's nothing big time charlie about Barnet and that in itself will stand them in good stead.

And as we alluded to above, on the pitch matters might be the least of their worries, if the Football League carry out their threat to have Barnet evicted from the League due to the state of Underhill. If it gets to Xmas, and they are facing a relegation battle, they might just feel its better to "allow" the relegation rather than spend a small fortune in an attempt to avoid something which might happen anyway.