Marked for Michele Basile
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
$1.9M on the table at Coventry City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
$1.8M was the most the club would pay and West Ham United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Barnet
Anthony Hartigan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Alex Gríger falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Reading have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Michele Basile
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market16 Jul 2029
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Barnet money.
Market16 Jul 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Myles Hippolyte’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 May 2029
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Barnet lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 May 2029
Tempers go at Barnet
Anthony Hartigan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Barnet know it.
Squad28 May 2029
A row about effort at Barnet
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michał Milewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 May 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Barnet, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michele Basile, and the manager let it.
Market28 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Miller McDonald’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market28 May 2029
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Mackenzie Chapman arrives at Barnet with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Market28 May 2029
Barnet shop where it costs nothing
Giordan Gallardo signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 May 2029
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Barnet lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 May 2029
Words exchanged at Barnet
Kanye Bradshaw and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout21 May 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 May 2029
Michał Milewski falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market21 May 2029
The name of Kabongo Tshimanga keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Barnet say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 May 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Barnet. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Myles Kenlock
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Barnet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match21 Apr 2029
Nobody wants to play Barnet right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barnet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Apr 2029
A 2‑1 win over Cambridge United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Gríger is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nathan Phillips on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad23 Apr 2029
The division's best last weekend was a Barnet man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Josh Andrews was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Apr 2029
Myles Kenlock damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A fracture rules Simon Williams out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Barnet will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Myles Hippolyte has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Barnet is pretending otherwise.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Barnet may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barnet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Apr 2029
Cheltenham Town made Barnet work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Barnet
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michał Milewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Dec 2028
6 matches without a win for Barnet
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Barnet are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Barnet may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Barnet
Anthony Hartigan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Barnet
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alex Gríger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Kieron Morris
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The terraces18 Dec 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Nnamdi Ofoborh
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Sep 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Barnet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Myles Hippolyte, 33, rolls back the years — 8.11
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Barnet until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match2 Sep 2028
Barnet make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market4 Sep 2028
The shirt still fits. Courtney Baker-Richardson is back at Barnet, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barnet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The window shuts on the Michel Boni deal
Barnet ran out of time with Brentford. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The offer went to Watford this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The offer went to Crewe Alexandra this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Barnet
Anthony Hartigan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Jake Eastwood
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Barnet
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michał Milewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Kieron Morris knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kieron Morris trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Jun 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kabongo Tshimanga’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market26 Jun 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Kelsey Mooney may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Barnet will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
In brief
-
Squad
A season on the outside for Yelco
-
The dugout
Joe Rye has been promised minutes
-
Boardroom
The Barnet academy earns its keep
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jun 2028
The knee: Manu García out for 18 days
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Barnet lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Barnet people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Barnet have done the hard part with Leicester City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
No thanks: Leo Snowden rejects the move
Barnet had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Oxford United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Barnet offered $500.0K; Stockport County said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad19 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barnet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Andrea Riva, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Toni Hajdić and Barnet agree another 4 years.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michele Basile, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout29 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Barnet may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 May 2028
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad29 May 2028
Alex Gríger is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at Barnet
Anthony Hartigan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Jake Eastwood
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad29 May 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Barnet know it.
Market29 May 2028
He is 19, and nobody at Barnet signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market29 May 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Barnet signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jake Eastwood
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Barnet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 May 2028
A falling-out at Barnet
Seb Ferdinand and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josh Andrews, and the manager let it.
Squad15 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michele Basile commits to Barnet for another 3 years.
Market15 May 2028
The Josh Andrews talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Barnet know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout15 May 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jake Eastwood
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Barnet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout8 May 2028
Kieron Morris: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Barnet have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Britt Assombalonga and Barnet agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barnet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 May 2028
Josh Andrews asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Michele Basile
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market8 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Barnet know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market8 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Barnet, another week without a signature from Kelsey Mooney.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Apr 2028
Nowhere to hide for Barnet
0‑3 against Grimsby Town, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Barnet may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sam Hughes and Barnet agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Barnet
Seb Ferdinand was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Sam Hughes
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
No place for Jake Eastwood on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Barnet pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market3 Apr 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match30 Nov 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Myles Hippolyte. 2‑0 against Oldham Athletic, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match4 Dec 2027
Barnet keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” John Marquis and Barnet agree another 1 years.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Ryan Glover
7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Barnet had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Barnet
Michele Basile and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
92% of the income goes out in wages at Barnet
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A mark of 7.26, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
John Marquis falls out with a teammate over standards
-
The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Britt Assombalonga
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Barnet
Myles Hippolyte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michele Basile is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Josh Andrews. 1‑0 against Swindon Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 7.67 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Barnet had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nathan Phillips on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad22 Nov 2027
John Marquis falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Barnet lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Oct 2027
0‑2 to Cheltenham Town, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Jake Eastwood
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Nathan Phillips to a room that had heard them before.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Barnet
Michele Basile and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Ryan Glover beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Looking ahead18 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Myles Kenlock’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Barnet needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Barnet will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad18 Oct 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Barnet the difference is visible from the back of the stand.