Marked for Harry Smith
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Barnet
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Barnet
3 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Walsall left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Barnet
Tyler Walker 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ryan Glover beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Adam Pearson to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Myles Kenlock
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Barnet told Nikola Tavares something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Swindon Town next, and one man in the Barnet dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Barnet
Harry Smith 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Britt Assombalonga, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ben Winterburn'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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Walsall next, and one man in the Barnet dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Myles Kenlock 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 Myles Kenlock trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Nov 2026
The small margins put Barnet out
Out, 0‑5 to Manchester City, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
0-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
He is 23 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Barnet dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Romoney Crichlow commits to Barnet for another 3 years.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Salford City, and it could have been more.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Nnamdi Ofoborh out for 25 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Damola Ajayi at 20 — 8.47
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Damola Ajayi did not need any: 8.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Ben Winterburn delivers — 5.92
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ben Winterburn scored, was marked 5.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match31 Oct 2026
Mauro Caballero scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Bromley, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ben Winterburn has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Harry Smith, and the manager let it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Idris Kanu beats them one at a time
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Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for Damola Ajayi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Nnamdi Ofoborh out for 32 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Tyler Walker scored in the 89th minute, Barrow AFC had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Barnet took the lot.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Damola Ajayi at 20 — 7.87
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Damola Ajayi did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Barnet, 1‑0 the final word against Barrow AFC in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Idris Kanu gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Harry Smith
Nobody at Barnet is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mark Shelton’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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
39 days out for Nnamdi Ofoborh after a fracture
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.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Cambridge United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Market19 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mark Shelton has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Barnet.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Matthew Cox
Nobody at Barnet is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The shirt belongs to Harry Smith now
At 31 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Barnet have a decision that made itself.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Matthew Cox
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match3 Oct 2026
Chesterfield left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 0‑1 Adam Pearson left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Danny Collinge has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Market5 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Callum Stead has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Barnet.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikola Tavares
“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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Idris Kanu
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
62 days out for Nnamdi Ofoborh after a fracture
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Damola Ajayi at 20 — 8.14
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Damola Ajayi did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match26 Sep 2026
Barnet leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Idris Kanu runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Barnet
Harry Smith 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.
Match22 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Ben Winterburn’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Barnet.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
69 days out for Nnamdi Ofoborh after a fracture
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.
Match16 Sep 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Tyler Walker obliged against Cardiff City. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Barnet.
Match16 Sep 2026
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Barnet rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Cardiff City had no answer to any of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Barnet
Harry Smith 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Barnet are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match19 Sep 2026
Notts County left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Dru Yearwood did the work nobody counts — 6.80
10 combined actions and 6.80. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
In brief
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Player ratings
Rhys Browne was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Dennis Adeniran
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
76 days out for Nnamdi Ofoborh after a fracture
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Shrewsbury Town left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Callum Stead
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Tom Lockyer.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Adam Pearson to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Tom Lockyer 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 Tom Lockyer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Barnet have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 2 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 targets7 Sep 2026
The paperwork begins on Joe Johnson
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Barnet have done the hard part with Luton Town, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cambridge United have kept their man, and Barnet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The formation has left Dru Yearwood behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Barnet will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Barnet
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 23 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Harry Smith gets it from the manager
“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.
Match18 Aug 2026
Three points for Barnet, 1‑0 the final word against Harrogate Town in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
West Ham United 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Adam Pearson was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Barnet dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Millwall 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sheffield United is saying, and nobody at Barnet is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Barnet
Harry Smith 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aston Villa have kept their man, and Barnet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paul Jones has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Paul James joins the Barnet first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Paul James is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Hill has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. James Watson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Barnet will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Danny Collinge and Barnet agree another 4 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
As if he never left: Harry Smith returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Harry Smith is a Barnet player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Harry Smith in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The formation has left Harry Smith behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Barnet will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Nnamdi Ofoborh’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Sheffield United 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Nottingham Forest 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Oli Hawkins is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Barnet has been clear about where Oli Hawkins stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Britt Assombalonga.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Birkirkara for Fletcher Holman was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Junior Hoilett and Swindon Town agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ryan Tafazolli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Junior Hoilett retires from international football
“65 caps. I have loved every one, and it is somebody else’s turn.” At 36 he has stepped away from his country and is going nowhere at Swindon Town.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Swindon Town are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Norwich City 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Sporting CP: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Connor Ripley's contract
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.