83 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.
Danny Collinge 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idris Kanu 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robert Wilson after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Charlie Hardy's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harry Smith trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
119 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.
1‑4 against Swindon Town, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Idris Kanu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJosh Andrews asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Joe Wright's mistake
Barnet offered $2.8M; Fulham 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.
The offer went to Wolverhampton 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.
Everything agreed with Crystal Palace, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Fulham is saying, and nobody at Barnet is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Idris Kanu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
$2.8M was the most the club would pay and Fulham 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.
$65.0K on the table at Wigan Athletic. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Idris Kanu 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Barnet has been clear about where Nnamdi Ofoborh stands, which is more than many ever get.
The phone has started ringing about Jake Waters again, and this time the name on the line is Crewe Alexandra. Barnet are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with Crystal Palace is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Barnet had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sunderland, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AFC Wimbledon have kept their man, and Barnet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Idris Kanu 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.
Nicolás Ramírez 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.
Middlesbrough 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.
Something was said to Tom Barkhuizen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Barnet have gone to Sunderland with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Reading wanted more than $100.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Idris Kanu 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.
Britt Assombalonga 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.
Barnet have made the call to AFC Wimbledon. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad22 May 2028
Idris Kanu 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.
Daniel Manolev 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nnamdi Ofoborh signs something — a contract at Barnet or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tom Barkhuizen has written the date down.
Britt Assombalonga 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.
A mark of 7.56, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nicholas Lawrence chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Idris Kanu 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.
At 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adam Senior commits to Barnet for another 4 years.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idris Kanu 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.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Barnet had all but put away. Exeter City will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“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 Harry Smith.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Port Vale kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Barnet will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Idris Kanu 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.
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.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Idris Kanu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Barnet can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
$2.2M on the table at West Bromwich Albion. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Barnet close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
$570.0K on the table at Fulham. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Barnet had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Liverpool, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Danny Collinge 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.
14 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.
“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.
The deal with Burnley is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.71, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barnet can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Barnet offered $1.1M; Watford 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.
Barnet have gone to Fulham with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Barnet asked and Brighton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idris Kanu 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Burnley; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$1.1M on the table at Watford. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$560.0K was the most the club would pay and Fulham 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.
Barnet asked and Aston Villa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idris Kanu 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ryan Glover
Barnet have gone to Fulham with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Barnet asked and Swansea City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Danny Collinge 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barnet can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicholas Lawrence after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anthony Hartigan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Josh Flint signs something — a contract at Barnet or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 22 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kabongo Tshimanga and Barnet agree another 3 years.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Idris Kanu 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kabongo Tshimanga, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Nicholas Lawrence left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicholas Lawrence after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Nicholas Michalski and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tom Barkhuizen’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.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Barnet will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Barnet can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Nicholas Lawrence left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Out, 0‑1 to Milton Keynes Dons, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Idris Kanu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicholas Lawrence after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.