Who stays and who goes..?

It’s the biggest day of the close season, aside from the fixture release, for both players and fans alike – the day of the retained and released list. For Barnet though, it seemed a little strange, obviously still with no manager in place. The decision to oversee matters was left with Paul Fairclough. With no real news of note the last couple of weeks on the club’s official website, it was refreshing to finally see something of such importance. Like any other club, rumours circulated on Twitter, before the club announced who was staying and who was going. Prior to the story online, Sam Cox tweeted: “Just received a letter… didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that was coming!!!”, and later on today went on to say: “Unfortunately got the news that I won't be at Barnet FC next season...Firstly I want to just thank all the fans for always supporting me... & believing me throughout my 2 year period at the club...It's unfortunate I never really got a decent run in the side but I can say that... I gave 100% every time I stepped on the pitch/training field...I'm happy to say that during my time I made some gd friendships on and off” (@TheSamCox).

It wasn’t only Barnet players tweeting – the Gillingham players released only found out via Twitter that their services were no longer required. Former Bee, Simon King tweeted: “disappointed to find out on Twitter that I had been released, but I don’t want that to leave a sour not for me ‘cause I have had a quality time at the Gills and met some lifelong friends” as well as “obviously very disappointed to b leaving, felt I was over my injury nightmare and thought I still had a lot to give” (@s_kingy05). Injury or not, I’d love to see Kingy back at Underhill. Other than the defenders we’ve had on loan – the likes of Hector and Saville – I believe since his departure, the defence has really been lacking, and we need a player like him. I always thought he was a great defender that deserved to be playing higher, but the injuries have certainly hindered this. I say sign him up – everyone would welcome him back with open arms!

Now onto our retained and released list. Firstly it’s goodbye to the following: Dean Brill, Sam Cox, Darren Dennehy, Mark Marshall, Izale McLeod, Alassane N’Diaye, and Jordan Parkes.

A lot of the names on that list will come as no real surprise to some. Parkes, despite having a decent first season with the club (after a successful loan spell in 2008), barely featured last season, also having an unsuccessful loan spell at Farnborough Town. It is a shame it didn’t work out for him, because there was a lot of promise when he joined from Watford – over the two years he found himself drop in the pecking order, and when the loanees joined, it was obvious he would have no real future.

N’Diaye, too, didn’t feature an awful lot for the first team, despite coming off the bench on numerous occasions. I didn’t personally rate him; he didn’t really add much to the team, and the fact that fans from his previous clubs have said a similar thing, speaks volumes.

With the FA finally giving the verdict on the Mark Marshall drug case and banning him from all competitive football for two years, it was no surprise to anyone that the club have terminated his contract – not much else to say on that matter!

Dennehy, too, has seen most of last season from the sidelines with injury. He also missed most of the previous season, after retaining a foot injury, back in Septemeber 2010. He made his comeback against Colchester in the JPT, but was soon ruled out again. Injury aside, he was a decent defender, and Gillingham (where he spent a period on-loan) fans sing his praises. It will be interesting to see where he ends up, and hopefully can stay injury-free. Like a couple of the others, he took to Twitter, tweeting: “Would like to thank my boys at Barnet Fc for ther friendships the past couple seasons, thank the fans for there support even thou I was injured and couldn't perform every week, hopefully my boys will do well for ye next season..! Pre season at another club will feel strange but hopefully return to play against my friends soon.. :) #bees #friendship” (@DDennehy5)

Finally to McLeod – everyone knew he would be leaving at the end of the season. Fans from other clubs seem so shocked that we’ve let him go, what with being joint-top scorer for League Two, but it was plain to see his mind’s been elsewhere – ever since the January transfer window. He wasn’t the same player he was in the first half of the season, and after the speculation of “will he, won’t he” the goals dried up and his performances dramatically changed. Although it is plain to see he is a natural goal scorer, his ‘bigger than the club’ attitude and ego didn’t do much to win him over with fans. At the same time, wherever he ends up, he will continue to be a success. The club didn’t sell him in January, obviously because they wanted to retain his services for the rest of the season, but in the end, we didn’t really need him – with the likes of Holmes, May, Hughes etc…

I was shocked, however, to see Brill released. He wasn’t a bad keeper at all, and I’d have him as my first choice over the likes of O’Brien all day long. In my opinion the first job of the manager, when he is decided upon, is to find a first choice keeper – somebody with League experience at our level, and of a decent calibre.

Now onto the players we’ve managed to keep hold of: Mark Byrne, Ricky Holmes, Elliot Johnson, Steve Kabba, Clovis Kamdjo, Liam O’Brien, Mauro Vilhete and Andy Yiadom.

The pick of the bunch there, for me, obviously has to be Byrne and Holmes. I’m also oddly happy to see Kamdjo sign on for another year. For me, he has to be the most improved player of last season – his new role in the centre of midfield suits his own skills and attributes better. Kabba too, has clearly been a great influence on the younger squad members because of his experience, and despite not playing because of injury, he deserves to stay. Hopefully next season will see him back in an amber shirt, and he can remain injury free. The younger players constantly sing his praises; Sam Cox, in particular, never has a bad word to say about him.

Three players are still undergoing contract negotiations: Sam Deering, Mark Hughes and Jack Saville. The sooner all three can put pen to paper, the better. All three are big players that were crucial on survival last season. The official site states: “the future of Mark will lie in the hands of our new manager. The future of Sam is dependent on talks with Sam and his agent”.

With that first bit of news out of the way, I’m hoping the three that haven’t yet committed their futures to the club, do so. The next bit of news really needs to be the decision of the manager, as once that has cleared up we can get on signing new players ready for pre-season.

Where are they now? – Part five

There has been somewhat of a delay with the final part of ‘where are they now’ – with the season previews, the new season and everything else. But part five sees the team that managed to preserve League status for second consecutive season, after a 1-0 win at Underhill against Port Vale on the final day of the season. Of course, as is usually the case, we were relying on other results to go our way – and they did with Lincoln losing at home to Aldershot 3-0.

Sam Walker

Young goalkeeper Sam Walker joined Barnet on loan in March of last season, to cover the numerous injuries in that position. He made seven appearances before returning back to his parent club, Chelsea. He’s back on loan for the duration of this season – this time at fellow League 2 club, Northampton Town.

Clovis Kamdjo

Clovis spent his youth career at Reading, and joined the Bees in 2009 after a trial with the club. He made his professional debut in August of the same year, and featured regularly, whilst deputising in the centre of defence for the countless injuries we has during the 2009/10 season. At the end of that same season, he signed an extension on his contract and is still a regular in the heart of the defence.

Daniel Leach

Australian Daniel joined Barnet in 2009 after playing in American University football and moving to England for a trial – and impressing. He joined Non-League Dover Athletic on-loan for a month at the beginning of 2010. When Ian Hendon was sacked at the end of the 2009/10 season, he was released; however, he impressed Mark Stimson whilst on trial and secured himself a new deal. Unfortunately, appearances have been few and far between with long-term injuries; Daniel is still on the club’s books.

Joe Devera

Joe joined the Bees first team squad after being a member of the Protec Youth system. He quickly cemented his place in the squad and over six seasons with the Bees racked up just under 200 appearances. He also won the Player of the Year title for two seasons, firstly in 2007/08 and most recently in 2010/11. He rejected a contract at the end of the season and consequently joined recently relegated, Swindon Town.

Jordan Parkes

Jordan spent most of his career at Watford, but playing on-loan at other clubs including Brentford and Barnet, where he made 10 appearances in 2008. After being released by the Hornets in 2010, he joined the Bees again and has definitely cemented his position in the back four, ever since.

Mark Marshall

Marshall joined Barnet last season, after being released by Swindon Town. Coming through the ranks at non-league Carshalton Athletic, he also played for non-league outfits Grays Athletic and Eastleigh. Since joining the Bees, Marshall has become a popular face in the side and has well warranted his place on the wing – his tricky runs and distribution from crosses being a personal highlight.

Sam Deering

‘Little Sammy Deering’ joined Barnet on loan from fellow League 2 side, Oxford United where he spent the majority of his career; joining them as a youth player in 2006. A loan spell in 2010 and a release from Oxford at the end of the season forced him into a permanent move with the Bees at the end of last season. Like Marshall, LSD is a popular player with fans and his domination of defenders is something to look forward come match time.

Mark Hughes

Mark Hughes joined Barnet in 2009, from Chester City, where he was a regular starter with the club. He’s managed to continue that feat with the Bees and is now, an integral member of the midfield. As well as appearances for the Northern Ireland under 19 team, he has also two full international caps to his name. He is still with the Bees and was the first member of the squad to put his name to paper and commit his future to the club last month.

Mark Byrne

Mark Byrne spent two spells on loan with the Bees last season – joining from parent club Nottingham Forest. He first joined at the start of the season and became a regular face in the midfield line – scoring five times in all competitions (making him the club’s top scorer at the time). Unfortunately his time was cut short, due to injury and he was sent back to the Tricky Trees. However, once fit again he rejoined the club, in March of this year and remained on-loan until the end of the season. After being released by Forest at the end of the season, he joined a two-year deal with Barnet.

Izale McLeod

Probably most well known for his time at MK Dons, where he managed a goal ratio of one every two games – as well as a player of the year award and golden boot award in League 2 for the 2006/07 campaign – Izale McLeod is Barnet’s 23. A million pound move to Charlton in 2007 but countless injuries plagued his time in South London – despite loan spells with Colchester, Millwall and Peterborough. His contract was consequently cancelled in 2010 and unsuccessful trials at the beginning of last season led him to Underhill. He signed a new one-year deal in order to say thanks to the club for getting him back into the game – and it’s safe to say, he could well be back to his best!

Jack Midson

Another loanee from last season was Jack Midson, who like Sam, joined from Oxford United. Only with the club for the last month or so of the season, Jack only made five appearances – the majority of these off the substitutes’ bench. He now plays for newly promoted to the Football League AFC Wimbledon, where he’s made a flying start netting three goals in four games.