Last season, the Bees, under Lawrie Sanchez, used a lot of loan players, though not at the beginning of the season as Sanchez felt the side was strong enough. Two short term contract players began the season; Jason Price, a former Welsh international striker who had been released by Carlisle United and full back Ryan Watts from non-league, Harrow Borough. Watts was unlucky with injuries and didn’t make a first team start and ended up at St Albans, but Price started the season in the first team at Morecambe alongside Izale McLeod and ended up making 7 starts for Barnet, scoring 1 goal against Port Vale, before being released and joining, ironically, Morecambe.
With Darren Dennehy missing the early part of the season, former Rotherham United centre back, Exodus Geohaghon was signed as cover, but made just one start, against Colchester in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Other than that he made just 3 substitute appearances before heading off to Darlington.
In September, Lloyd Owusu arrived from a spell in Greek football, but the once prolific, Brentford striker, didn’t really make an impact at Underhill, making just 6 substitute appearances before heading off to Hayes & Yeading.
With Jordan Parkes struggling for form at left back, Sanchez brought in experienced former Crystal Palace left back, Gary Borrowdale in October and he settled in to a regular spot at left back without ever looking totally convincing. Borrowdale though stayed until the end of the year making 15 starts for the Bees before returning to parent club, QPR.
The heavy 6-3 home defeat by Burton Albion at the end of October sparked off a number of loan signings to try and stem the tide of goals being conceded by the Bees’ defence. Michael Hector, a very accomplished looking player, arrived from Reading along with two more strong young central defenders; Jack Saville from Southampton and Paul Downing from WBA.
The three defenders quickly formed the backbone of the Bees’ defence for the rest of the season, Saville eventually ending his contract with Southampton to sign for the Bees. All three played in the two legs against Swindon Town in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Southern Area Final. Saville made 20 first team appearances, Downing made 32 appearances and Hector made 31 appearances and scored two goals against Crewe and Oxford. Hector was ultimately voted Barnet Young Player of the Year for his fine contribution to the Bees’ season.
Soon after the ‘magnificent Three’ arrived, a number of players arrived on loan or on short term contracts. Striker, Cedric Baseya, like Hector from Reading, arrived on loan at the end of November but only made three appearances as a substitute before returning to his parent club. Another short term loanee was Gavin McCallum, another striker, who arrived from Lincoln City at the same time as Baseya. McCallum made just two substitute appearances before return to Lincoln.
Another player who joined Barnet at this time was Alassane N’Diaye who joined from Crystal Palace, initially on a short term contract, but who remained for the rest of the season. A midfield player, who had made 38 first team appearances for the Glaziers, but it was hard to see how as he seemed to be as out of his depth at League Two level as any player Barnet have had in recent seasons. He made his first start away at Dagenham & Redbridge on Boxing Day when the Bees lost 3-0 with a woeful performance and N’Diaye was not a success. Perhaps it was no surprise that he made just one more start and three substitute appearances before he was released in the summer.
In January, Barnet signed Arsenal full back, Saed Hajrovic, a Swiss player of Bosnian descent. He seemed capable enough but was nothing special making 10 appearances, 7 of them starts.
In February, another player arrived on loan from Reading, this time, winger, Jordan Obita. A skilful winger who seemed to be a good replacement for the banned, Mark Marshall, he was inexplicably under used by Sanchez and returned to Reading after making just three starts and three sub appearances. Obita later went on loan to Gillingham and scored for the Gills against Barnet in early March when the Gills won 3-1 at the Priestfield Stadium.
A much more effective signing at this time was left back, Jordan Mustoe who arrived from Wigan Athletic in February. He made his debut as a substitute at Swindon in the 2nd leg of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Southern Section Final. Though looking rather shaky in his first few games he soon settled and ended up as one of Barnet’s best signings of the season finally settling that awkward left back position. Mustoe made 19 appearances for the Bees before returning to the Premier League club to try and fight for a first team place.
In March, Ben May arrived from Stevenage with a poor scoring record with Borough. May, a striker, had scored just 1 goal from 27 appearances for Bees’ old Conference rivals, but he was quite the success at Underhill, scoring a crucial goal on his debut in the 2-1 win at Port Vale. He followed this up with a last minute equaliser at Dagenham & Redbridge - which was later voted Barnet goal of the season - and came on as a substitute to grab a vital goal and point at home to Hereford United. Another appearance as a substitute saw a second half goal in the 4-0 win over AFC Wimbledon and May was given a start in the relegation decider at Burton. Many fans would like to see May return to Underhill after his release in the summer by Stevenage, but it doesn’t appear likely. However, May’s return of 4 goals in 11 matches proved critical in helping the Bees stay up last season and I’m sure that he has much heartfelt thanks from Bees’ fans for his contribution.
The last loan signing of the season saw the return of former Underhill hero, Scott McGleish from Bristol Rovers. McGleish was sold by Barnet villain, Tony Cottee in 2001, to Colchester United after scoring over 40 goals in 3 ½ years at Barnet which included two play off places in 1998 and 2000. However, McGleish never really got going in his second spell at Barnet failing to score in 9 appearances. His last Barnet was at Burton when he was substituted at half time for Izale McLeod. Scotty was released by Bristol Rovers and has now joined non-league, Whitehawk.
It will be interesting to see how Mark Robson uses the loan market in this coming season but maybe he won’t sign quite so many players on loan as Sanchez did.
