From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Barnet
0‑4 against Blackburn Rovers, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
Barnet are taken apart by Blackburn Rovers — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Barnet
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Barnet are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Barnet
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Barnet
Matthew Cox 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jonathan Hogg 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Notts County, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Mark Shelton
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Barnet
Jonathan Hogg 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nnamdi Ofoborh 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matthew Cox, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Shrewsbury Town left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
7 new faces, and Barnet 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Barnet
Matthew Cox 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
James Bolton 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danny Collinge, and the manager let it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market7 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 Nick Powell.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
Rohat Matyar hands in a written request
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Matthew Cox 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Hogg 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikola Tavares, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Barnet
Matthew Cox 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nnamdi Ofoborh 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Jonathan Hogg dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The afternoon belonged to Rhys Browne
A mark of 7.07, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matthew Cox 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Bolton 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ryan Glover. 2‑0 against Fleetwood Town, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Market17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Barnet 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
No investment in the facilities at Barnet
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
George Lloyd gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. George Lloyd has just signed for Barnet, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Matthew Cox 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” George Lloyd and Barnet agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Barnet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Hogg 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.
Market10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Nobody at Barnet has picked up the phone to Adam Senior
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Danny Collinge commits to Barnet for another 3 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
Tempers go at Barnet
Matthew Cox 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Nnamdi Ofoborh 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Harry Smith
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Barnet will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market3 Aug 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.