One game at a time

Building for the future, not what we did yesterday

I know it’s only been a few days since the last one so I apologise now for putting you all to sleep but felt right to pen another piece. Every game in the National League gives you a test in one way or another, there are no easy games whether you are top or bottom, you have to earn the right to get three points.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes weeks at a time, sometimes the longest barren spell you’ll ever encounter. And all in the National League not the Premier League.

Clubs rarely have a plan, it’s short term brought on by the aforementioned league above of my saying ‘football is built for the success of yesterday, not the foundations of tomorrow’. It’s the truth, its what money has done to the game and left everyone chasing the dream that rarely materialises.

Not many can hold their hands up and say they’re deviating from that norm ever searching for that bit of success but at what cost? Wrong appointments, wrong players signed, money squandered, the depths of despair pulling you down.

I’ve already mentioned twelve months ago in the last blog Barnet FC began what looked like on the outside a slide into non-league oblivion inside the top division, a long way from regaining a Football League place as Dean Brennan oversaw clubs seeing the Bees as an easy three points and scoring goals for fun against them.

Understandably there was anger from the terraces, no one likes to see that happen to their side once a season let alone about 4 or 5 times in the space of a few months, hands tied with signings that aren’t your own in the main, no one wanting to come given the clubs reputation over previous years and some of those there not even wanting to play, a right shambles the best way to put it.

On the surface it was tough, what was my tag line, oh yeah ‘Trust The Process’. Boy, that was hard at times to keep that the focus amidst what was happening on the pitch, under the surface it was bubbling away to repair the football club. Now you know I’m privy to more than the average fan and of course I don’t expect everyone to be able to have that information, I’m lucky but having been around some great people for a number of years in the game from all levels and know when something feels different or isn’t going to come off, sometimes it still surprises me.

Now we could have gone at the end of last season and decided Dean wasn’t the man and either put him back upstairs or got rid altogether which then begs the question did you really want to go back to the same cycle of a year or two years earlier, even prior to that revolving door of managers, isn’t that why we’re in this position down in the National League because we don’t give anyone a chance to build something?

Maybe hitting the front raised expectations in early August too high, sensibly was it going to last with so many big hitters in this division that can outmuscle us for players and fees etc?

Did we go overboard in late September/early October when we could score but couldn’t stop them going in? Absolutely. The solution, sack the manager of course and re-start the cycle, ‘success for yesterday, no foundation for tomorrow’ ringing in my ears. Now I’m not saying everyone isn’t entitled to their own opinion, but the mess we’ve been stuck in for a few years now is borne out of that very scenario, goes wrong, get a new man, goes wrong, refresh and repeat.

I’ll liken it to the green shoots being planted over the summer and growing in early August, then we stopped looking after them for a few weeks, before we realised they need some more TLC to grow again and now they’re blooming in a wonderful looking garden.

That brings me to Scunthorpe on a Friday night. I love a bit of Friday night football, makes a change every now and then. But from a week ago we knew this was going to be a bit different.

Not many of you I’m sure have heard of the Irons new manager Jimmy Dean. I followed a bit of Peterborough Sports knowing Michael Gash was there and also Jordan Nicholson and looked up their history. On the Premier Non League Podcast which I am a part of we had Jimmy on one of our summer specials, great guy, speaks well and deserves his chance, I want him to do well.

New owner, new manager, new players and a huge crowd, what could go wrong? A few Bees were concerned before the game, me still confident that we would win and I’ll tell you why.

The bounce was all off the pitch which is what they needed. Jimmy probably had three days training at best this week and a raft of new players arriving the day before the game, that bounce on the pitch wasn’t going to happen that quickly for me.

All we needed to do to silence the crowd bounce was either an early goal, keep from conceding or frustrate them and temper the atmosphere. It was gritty early on, and although it wasn’t an early goal and there were a couple of very good half chances for them, the performance was solid and what I would call professional.

Had we conceded and early at that, tails up and much harder to get back into it, but when you get Idris Kanu playing as he did in the second half, unstoppable.

We did everything right to win that game and now given the performances in the last seven days we are no longer under the radar, some teams are getting a bit jittery about us I can tell you.

Many for sure thought it was a blip Barnet being in the play-off positions, a fluke this isn’t, it’s been building on the pitch and it’s been building off the pitch, togetherness.

We’re all in it together, that’s me, that’s you, that’s Dan Martin, that’s Jade the physio, that’s Downhill Second Half returning to The Hive, that’s BeesPod securing top interviews, that’s the Supporters Association tirelessly working hard as volunteers to create a better club, it’s not just Dean, Kirk, Tumble, Kingy and the players, it’s not just Tony, Alex or Natasha, its everyone.

I’m gonna finish by adding this picture I found when I woke up this morning on Twitter, courtesy of @DagenhamGeeza who was there at Glandford Park, to me it encapsulates that togetherness we find once more.

I’m not here to tell you I told you so, no satisfaction in that for me whatsoever, I’m here to tell you when everyone pulls in the same direction the smiles return the place is happy and you enjoy your week looking forward to football, whats that tagline, oh yeah TRUST THE PROCESS……….