Nicke Kabamba

A place on the list of goal scoring legends

Image: Barnet FC

Nicke Kabamba. It hasn’t been often players get a little tribute coming their way. We’ve spent so long as Barnet fans in the last few years prior to the fortunes changing around seeing players come and go in high turnovers and very few making impressions to be talked about.

Harry Pritchard earlier this season was the real first, a player we didn’t expect to lose through injury for good. Nicke wouldn’t have been the first name on lips to move on during this transfer window were we expecting to lose any player.

That’s no disrespect to the man; his age wasn’t priming him for a move when you look at the likes of Danny Collinge or Idris Kanu. We had the speculation a couple of years ago when Chesterfield came calling, the offer promptly rejected and days after Kabamba showed them what they couldn’t have with a stunning hat-trick.

I had some warning middle of last week something might be on the go, very out the blue for a number of reasons. First of course being his age, teams don’t tend to offer a fee for those the wrong side of 30, there is no resale value. Second, a year into a 3 and half year contract which of course was an improvement on his original signing for the Bees. And the third being that point earlier of expecting others to be on the move rather than the goal scoring talisman.

But once more talk develops you know it has legs and it wasn’t a surprise to see it confirmed on Friday, especially after the club had lured Lee Ndlovu from Boreham Wood for a fee.

His record in black and amber speaks for itself. I wasn’t worried about what fans of his ex-clubs had said, we heard the same about a few and some don’t seem to understand some players just fit and others don’t work out, doesn’t make them bad footballers. And I actually enjoy seeing them thrive, makes me realise how many people really don’t understand football.

A time as well where Dean Brennan was surrounding himself with players who had done it for him in the past and could trust, I mean why wouldn’t you after the crap he had to endure taking over from Harry Kewell? Nicke was one of those, with previous at Hemel, but coming with a less than outstanding or even decent scoring record.

The message was simple, play between the posts and don’t move. It thoroughly baffles me how managers and coaches sign strikers and then think they can be a winger, reduces their output, and moan they aren’t scoring enough! Remember Tomi Adeloye? Yep, same thing happened with him at Swindon, just plain stupid in my opinion.

Anyway, no surprise to the sensible within the game Kabamba hit the net, regularly. The Harry Smith experiment didn’t work, nor did David Moyo, it did seem to throw Nicke well out of his stride. 19 goals wasn’t a bad return for a player who hadn’t hit double figures in a while, but a feeling he could have had more.

Going into a second season as the only striker at the club, he excelled further and even with a spell out injured, more than likely due to overuse, scoring 25 goals to back up his opening spell and in the process earning himself a long term contract, slightly unheard of for his age and the length.

This season has been a strange one in my eyes. Still the one and only proper striker at the club, the first view for me was at Ebbsfleet, a game where he looked to be snatching at chances and not as clean as he should have been.

Then injury struck and for me, this is my opinion and mine only, I don’t feel he’s been anywhere close to sharp or on the boil since his return. Sure, his numbers look good, or very good (10 in 13), but for me he’s been on the edge of games instead of in the thick and performances to remember.

Yes, the penalties against Dagenham were ice cold, but was there anything else to remember that afternoon? Cast your mind back to others, not holding up play, not bullying defenders as he had for two years previous, no assists.

This hasn’t been a case of downing tools, but more less effective and when we’ve got the option of one striker only at the club it has to be better. That is why I believe he wasn’t starting and when he did enter the action there wasn’t the energy for me to show that DB was wrong to leave him out, the problem was we had no alternative and is where TK’s insistence of the one striker bites us on the arse.

Sure, we could point to signing ten defenders in the summer and not enough room in the budget, no basis to that. Strikers cost a wage, a very good wage if you want a decent one. Otherwise, there’s no point signing one on the same wage or less, he isn’t going to be any better!

As I mentioned Nicke’s record is excellent. I feel he should be leaving The Hive with around 20 more to his credit, from chances missed we create game after game. That to me is the goal scoring standard he set within my mind, one on one’s that should have made the net bulge. He’s not alone in that either, but his primary job was being the ultimate bagsman.

Now I expect a few pelter’s, go for it. I see everything from all angles, not just the simple and my opinion is not yours so feel free to challenge it, but what for the future then?

The reported fee is at least six figures (100K) but belief it’s more than that. It’s an incredible amount to shell out for a 32 year old, in effect a great deal for Barnet FC, a great deal for Nicke Kabamba who no doubt will be paid more than his wage on Wednesday and a final shot at the EFL, a great deal if it means Barnet FC have two strikers fighting for places for the promotion push.

Do I think Nicke does well in the EFL? Well, we know he won’t be replacing Michael Cheek as a starter, different class. Having spoken to a Bromley fan or three they expect him to be the similar to Cheek, but I thought if you sign extra strikers you want to be a little different surely? Makes you too predictable otherwise?

Chances in front of goal will be less, if now for example Nicke is converting 2 from 6 likelihood is he needs to convert 1 from 1 or 1 from 2, the creation level I expect to be lower than ours. Their striker signings in the last 12-18 months I think have been awful, this one needs to work out for them.

I hope he’s a huge success; he deserves another shot at league football and that might not have been guaranteed if he stayed, time isn’t on his side for sure. A great character and as many have said Nicke ‘got it’, go well King Kabamba, you’re assured of a Barnet memory not forgotten.