In
2005-5 League Football returned to Underhill with Barnet playing some
of the most exhilarating football since the days of Barry Fry - this
time however it was overseen with superb efficiency and organisation
skills.
After
the heartache of the 2003/4 play off Semi Final defeat at the hands
of Shrewsbury Town Barnet Manager Paul Fairclough, whilst preparing
for another assault on the title, quickly introduced some fresh young
talent to his Underhill squad. Midfielders Dwane Lee from Exeter
City, Dean Sinclair from Norwich City and Nicky Bailey from Sutton
Utd were the new blood along with the highly rated winger Richard
Graham from old adversaries Kettering Town.
 |
| Dwane Lee |
 |
| Nicky Bailey |
 |
| Richard Graham |
 |
| Dean Sinclair |
To
set the scene – the queues outside the Odeon Barnet were for Troy
and Harry Potter 3 and the Government announced that smoking was to
be banned in all pubic enclosed areas. You Tube was launched, and
coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II attracted most “hits”.
August
1,300
turned out at Underhill for the comfortable opening 3-1 victory over
Forest Green. The following Tuesday, the team came back to earth from
Farnborough Town with a 0-0 draw. With the Bees fifth in the table
the long trip to Halifax Town looked wasted by half time at 0-2 down.
The Fairclough interval team talk was perfection as three second half
goals won the day. The pick? A wonderful controlled lob from ace
striker Giuliano Grazioli – a quite stunning finish!
 |
| Giuliano Grazioli |
Northwich
Victoria visited Underhill on Saturday 28th August bottom of the
league on minus 8 points having been deducted 10 points in all due to
the club going into administration. They travelled back to Cheshire
still on minus 8 as Barnet ran out comfortable 4-0 winners in front
of 1,422 fans.
The
Bank Holiday Monday visit to a wet and windy Canvey Island saw the
Bees take over top spot in the Conference table as the fans sung “We
are top of the league and that’s where we belong”. Dean Sinclair
flat footed two defenders before shooting past goalkeeper Potter for
the only goal of the game after 27 minutes. From that point in the
season we never really looked back. “We are a class act” said
Chairman Tony Kleanthous.
September
That
phrase was an understatement as the first visitors to Underhill in
September would agree. Morecambe were nonchalantly dispatched 5-1
with another two goals from Grazioli. The news that the popular
defender Chris Plummer had signed for Peterborough Utd fuelled
rumours that the Chairman and Manager were ready to sign more players
to bolster an already exciting squad. The same team grabbed a 2-0 win
at Tamworth the following week then a 4-1 at home to Gravesend &
Northfleet – Liam Hatch scoring twice against his former club.
 |
| Liam Hatch |
Six
wins on the trot had placed Barnet three points ahead of Aldershot
and Accrington Stanley in the table but the recent death of the
enigma that was Brian Clough was the talk of the football world and
obviously Brian’s son Nigel, player manager at Burton, next
visitors to Underhill would be in the spotlight of the media. The
Barnet 2 Burton 3 result on the night was probably the right result
for football but it also acted as a sharp reminder to Barnet that
even with their superb start to the season they were not to become
complacent.
The
following Saturday 25th September saw an unchanged line up help the
Bees travel back from Scarborough with a 1-1 draw safely tucked away.
The Bees sat proudly at the top of the Conference table on 23 points
and Giuliano Grazioli headed the goal charts with 9 goals.
October
Into
October and a 2-2 draw at home to Woking was followed by arguably the
best away performance of the campaign a brilliant 3-0 win at Exeter
City.
 |
| Bailey and Grazioli Celebrate |
The
Sky Cameras were at Underhill on Saturday 9th October to witness the
complete demolition of John Still’s Dagenham & Redbridge. Even
without top scorer Grazioli, five goals hit the back of the Daggers
net – the best? The eventual goal of the season from Nicky Bailey.
Its was also voted officially the finest goal to be scored in the
2004/5 Conference season.
Next
up was the eagerly awaited visit to Brunton Park the home of 13 match
unbeaten Carlisle Utd. The second best ever Conference attendance of
9,215 saw an Ian Hendon penalty, an own goal from Kevin Gray and a
Dwane Lee header secured the points in a 3-1 win and put the Bees six
points clear at the top of the table.
 |
| Ian Hendon |
Paul Fairclough said “I am
very proud of my young players.”
Newly
relegated York City struggling to find some form visited Underhill
next during a mini monsoon. Over 2,500 fans enjoyed four Barnet goals
without reply in a frankly one sided match. The day was also the day
the East Terrace was infiltrated by two nomad Sunderland fans who
sang a catchy little song changing the words slightly to fit the mood
of the moment and the Bees. It’s title? “We’re On Our Way”.
It was adopted immediately and became the Barnet fans anthem for the
remainder of the season.
November
An
announcement was made from Chairman Tony Kleanthous that he intended
to avoid cutting his “Barnet Fair” (that’s hair to those of you
who are unsure) until the Bees were toppled from the top of the
Conference table. His trademark crisp white shirts would all soon
have very dirty collars!
 |
| Tony Kleanthous |
A
1-1 draw at Hereford and two victories over Accrington at home and
Aldershot away were the tally for the month - Simon King the latest
hero with a stunning late winning goal at the Recreation Ground.
After
18 league games Barnet were clear by seven points from Carlisle and a
massive eleven from third placed Halifax Town having suffered just
one League defeat. The Conference were frightened!
December
The
three three goals in a game victories over Leigh RMI, Crawley Town,
which featured a Dean Sinclair volley of the highest quality, and
Gravesend was somewhat marred by a disastrous Christmas week. Defeats
at home to Tamworth (0-3) and horror of horrors away at rivals
Stevenage Borough (1-2) certainly spoilt the Turkey and trimmings.
Lee Roache saved the blushes scoring in the 1-0 win over Scarborough
to complete an eventful 2004 to say the least.
 |
| Lee Roache |
January
A
new year and Sky TV again paid Underhill a visit to catch the second
instalment of the Stevenage/Barnet debate. Grazioli's opener was
levelled but the drama was acted out to the very last. Ismail Yakubu
took the applause with a powerful winning goal header.
 |
| Yakubu Scores against Steveange |
Two
1-1 draws at Woking and Burton were split by a 1-0 home victory over
Exeter City to leave Barnet a massive 17 points ahead of Carlisle Utd
in the table who had two games in hand. Surely simply maintaining a
steady run of form was all that was required for the Bees to win the
title and regain their Football League status now?
February
and March
In
February and March however a few jitters started to appear as defeats
at Hereford, York City and a real shocker at Accrington (4-1) seemed
to affect the teams belief albeit temporarily. The boys redeemed
themselves by crashing in 13 goals goals in a little over a week with
3-0 victories over Leigh RMI and Crawley and a sensational 7-1
crushing of Farnborough. PF told press after the game “I felt sorry
for Farnborough. We just stepped up a gear after their goal” A
brilliant Grazioli hatrick was summed up - “He is an artist!”
A
2-0 victory at Forest Green Rovers witnessed by over 1,000 travelling
Bees fans and a 1-0 win over Canvey Island – in front of the best
Underhill league attendance so far 3,759 left the Bees just one win
away from the title.
 |
| Giuliano Grazioli |
April
Paul
Fairclough was awarded the Manager Of The Month Award for March and
folklore says that when any manager receives this award then his
teams next game will result in a defeat. Hordes of Bees fans
travelled up the M6 full of anticipation and excitement but that
folklore again raised its ugly head. The result was a 0-2 defeat at
Northwich Victoria’s borrowed home at Witton Albion.
 |
| Paul Fairclough |
The
day of Saturday 9th April 2005, arrived and 3,924 Underhill souls
eagerly awaited the start of the Halifax Town game. 0-1 down after 10
minutes, the Bees found their wings and with “We’re On Our Way”
echoing around the ground the lads eventually ran out comfortable 3-1
winners. The third goal signalling the unfurling of a massive
“Champions” banner behind the North Terrace and the party began.
As the final whistle sounded tears of joy were on the faces of some
of the most hardened supporters as the players soaked up the applause
on a lap of honour. We Are The Champions by Queen blasted from the
grounds PA system and indeed Barnet FC were the champions -
furthermore they had achieved their goal in style. “What a feeling,
people have no idea how much the boys wanted this. The club deserves
it purely for the hard work we have all put in” said Ben Strevens.
Giuliano Grazioli told reporters “The Manager told us today to go
out and enjoy ourselves and everything will take care of itself and
it did.”
That
really should be the end of the tale but there were the little matter
of three more fixtures to fulfil including the visit of Carlisle Utd
to Underhill when the trophy would be presented and it would become
official.
Firstly
a truly wonderfully cheerful weekend away in Morecambe was
experienced by the players and many supporters (cough cough!), the
1-1 result was purely superficial you understand.
Barnet’s
last home game of the season was against their aforementioned table
topping rivals. This was a game that two months earlier had been
thought to have been the great decider but the large attendance was
mostly there to see the official presentation of the trophy. It was
to be a night of sheer pantomime and high drama as Carlisle finished
the game with nine men as Barnet were piling forward at the death in
desperate search of an equalising goal. That man Grazioli obliged by
brilliantly hooking the ball over his head, beyond the groping
Glennon and into the far corner of the net, sheer Roy Of The Rovers
stuff! Captain Ian Hendon collected the fantastic piece of silverware
- the whole squad, backroom staff, Paul Fairclough and Tony
Kleanthous strolled around the pitch taking the applause and the
adulation, it was simply magical.
 |
| Ian Hendon with Trophy |
The
very last game of the season was to take place at Dagenham &
Redbridge and ex Bees Manager John Still presented the squad with
champagne before the game. A lacklustre game from a Barnet point of
view was inevitable. For the record It finished 0-2 to the Daggers.
There
we have it - Barnet had won the league by 12 points winning 26
games, drawing eight and loosing eight. They scored 90 goals
conceding 28. Simon King and Simon Clist both made 40 league
appearance for the club followed by Dean Sinclair with 39 and Richard
Graham with 38. Giuliano Grazioli was awarded the supporters Player
Of The Year and the League Golden Boot. In the National Game Awards
organised by the Non League Paper Paul Fairclough was named Manager
Of The Year. Nicky Bailey, Simon King, Dean Sinclair and Ismail
Yakubu had represented their country in the England Non League XI.
The
comparison between the Championship teams of 1991 and 2005 is a
subject that will always be fiercely argued by those who have been
lucky enough to experience both historic occasions. The facts are the
1990/1 victory was a much more tense affair as the trophy was
literally won on the very last day of the season, in a game that the
Bees were behind in twice, by a squad full of big names, playing the
style of gung ho all out attacking football that every club would
dearly love to be able to play steered by a Chairman and Manager with
massive egos and public personalities whereas the 2004/5 campaign was
basically the power, resilience and sheer professionalism shown by a
well disciplined unit to lead a league table from start to finish
steered by a utter gentleman of a Manager completely focused going
about his job with composure, calm and efficiency. Both squads will
go down in Barnet FC history for the same achievement but each in
totally different styles, however like works of art they both have
their skill, creativity and beauty.
GM VAUXHALL CONFERENCE RESULTS ATTENDANCE AND SCORERS 2004-05
| Forest Green Rovers | H | W 3-1 | 1,321 | Grazioli 2 Graham |
| Farnborough Town | A | D 0-0 | 1,069 | |
| Halifax Town | A | W 3-2 | 1,382 | Hatch Grazioli Own Goal |
| Northwich Victoria | H | W 4-0 | 1,422 | Hendon (pen) Sinclair Hatch Grazioli |
| Canvey Island | A | W 1-0 | 1,230 | Sinclair |
| Morecambe | H | W 5-1 | 1,787 | Grazioli 2 Hendon (pen) King Bailey |
| Tamworth | A | W2-0 | 1,199 | Sinclair Grazioli |
| Gravesend & Northfleet | H | W 4-1 | 2,235 | Hatch 2 Grazioli Sinclair |
| Burton Albion | H | L 2-3 | 1,919 | Sinclair Hatch |
| Scarborough | A | D 1-1 | 1,542 | Grazioli |
| Woking | H | D 2-2 | 2,106 | Grazioli 2 |
| Exeter City | A | W 3-0 | 3,589 | Lee Graham Sinclair |
| Dagenham & Red | H | W 5-0 | 1,894 | Hendon 2 (1 pen) Roache Strevens Bailey |
| Carlisle United | A | W 3-1 | 9,215 | Hendon (pen) Lee Own Goal |
| York City | H | W 4-0 | 2,501 | Bailey Lee Yakubu Sinclair |
| Hereford United | A | D 1-1 | 3,645 | Grazioli |
| Accrington Stanley | H | W 3-0 | 1,990 | King Graham Hatch |
| Aldershot Town | A | W 3-2 | 3,494 | Grazioli Graham King |
| Leigh RMI | H | W 3-2 | 1,961 | Grazioli Bailey Roche |
| Crawley Town | A | W 3-1 | 2,949 | Grazioli 2 Sinclair |
| Gravesend & Northfleet | A | W 3-1 | 1,707 | Hatch Bailey Sinclair |
| Tamworth | H | L 0-3 | 2,507 | |
| Stevenage Borough | A | L 1-2 | 4,307 | Grazioli |
| Scarborough | H | W 1-0 | 2,504 | Roache |
| Stevenage Borough | H | W 2-1 | 3,520 | Grazioli Yakubu |
| Woking | A | D 1-1 | 2,801 | Roache |
| Exeter City | H | W 1-0 | 3,489 | Grazioli |
| Burton Albion | A | D 1-1 | 1,685 | Roache |
| Hereford United | H | L 0-2 | 2,668 | |
| Accrington Stanley | A | L 1-4 | 1,841 | Grazioli |
| Aldershot Town | H | W 2-1 | 2,839 | Strevens Grazioli |
| York City | A | L 1-2 | 1,926 | Grazioli |
| Leigh RMI | A | W 3-0 | 402 | Grazioli 2 Hatch |
| Crawley Town | H | W 3-0 | 2,302 | Sinclair Hatch Lee |
| Farnborough Town | H | W 7-1 | 2,418 | Grazioli 3 Batt Roache Strevens Sinclair |
| Forest Green Rovers | A | W 2-0 | 1,665 | Strevens Hatch |
| Canvey Island | H | W 1-0 | 3,759 | Strevens |
| Northwich Victoria | A | L 0-2 | 1,552 | |
| Halifax Town | H | W 3-1 | 3,924 | Strevens King Grazioli |
| Morecambe | A | D 1-1 | 2,385 | Hatch |
| Carlisle United | H | D 1-1 | 3,687 | Grazioli |
| Dagenham & Red | A | L 0-2 | 1,923 |
No comments:
Post a Comment