merse
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Post by merse on Jun 22, 2010 9:30:50 GMT
 As I understood he would be, Sam Cox was duly released by Spurs and has signed a one year contract for new manager Mark Stimson at Barnet FC ~ Cox's local club, and I'm sure the former Spurs Youth Coach will prove to be a very good manager for him to play under as he seeks to consolidate his career as a professional and member of a First Team squad. With his ability to play either at right back or as a holding midfielder, I think he would have been a great signing for us and will prove to be for Barnet; but then (if we did try and sign him) he hasn't had to uproot and move from his Burnt Oak home. Good luck to the boy...................a well schooled footballer and as fit as a butcher's dog. I'll be following his progress with interest. Barnet commence pre-season training tomorrow by the way, as they seek to assimilate a lot of new and youthful arrivals with good pedigree into the new regime under the manager who was sacked by Gillingham at the end of last season and has a great name in the game as a developer of young talent and one with fantastic links with the academies of all the major London and provincial clubs.
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Post by loyalgull on Jun 22, 2010 13:47:25 GMT
barnet could be a surprise package this season,stimson who has been berated by gillingham fans has as you say merse a lot of contacts and is an up and coming manager.He has made several good signings cox being one of them.It wouldnt surprise me in the least to see them land above gillingham in the league,who have not covered themselves in glory recently.they took hessenthaler from dover as manager,who in turn recommended ian hendon for the dover job,only to pinch him as well 18 days later,and of course he was barnet manager,out of stimson and hendon i would plum for stimson as manager every time
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Jun 22, 2010 13:50:13 GMT
I thought he was promising, as well. I'm sure it was left back he played for us, though?
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Post by capitalgull on Jun 22, 2010 14:01:41 GMT
I thought he was promising, as well. I'm sure it was left back he played for us, though? You are right Rob, he did play at left-back at Underhill, but he was very right footed! |
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merse
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Post by merse on Jun 22, 2010 14:05:28 GMT
That's right...................... Mark Stimson was a brilliant manager for both Stevenage and Grays Athletic and those I've spoken to who had dealings with him when he was on the Tottenham youth staff have nothing but the highest praise for the man; as did Mike Woodward his old chairman at Grays when we chatted about him. There he was pivotal in setting up their development stream with a college/youth development scheme that reaped them the benefits of selling on Aaron McLean, Freddie Eastwood and Michael Keightly almost before it had been running. Just the sort of manager a small club like Barnet (or Torquay for that matter) needs in my opinion and with Paul Fairclough overseeing the youth development programme they are no longer "Tin Pot Barnet" as I used to call them. Their training ground is so impressive and covers some 45 acres with two full sized 4G Astroturf pitches, a "stadium pitch" which they rent out to Wealdstone FC and an under cover dome playing area. The immediate problem they have is overcoming their old image and the fact that they had to dismantle their old scheme when they lost their Football League status plus the fact that many of their current coaches are working on a voluntary/expenses only basis. This doesn't help when they are competing against other more established rivals, but believe me (and I've been to see them) those facilities are awesome!
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Post by capitalgull on Jun 22, 2010 14:37:29 GMT
And, to an even worse extent than Torquay, they have had and always will have a struggle to get a decent crowd through the gates.
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merse
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Post by merse on Jun 22, 2010 15:06:26 GMT
When you think back only to when they were bombing at the top of the non league scene they were regularly attracting gates of 5,000 plus. Barry Fry and Stan Flashman epitomised that club and the spirit on and off the pitch was tremendous. Any visit to Underhill was daunting indeed. Then those two departed and the club became rather "genteel" again, those who used to travel out along the Great North Road from the less affluent parts of London seemed to get disillusioned and the club seemed more to reflect Barnet itself ~ a rather up market area with disdainful disinterest in it's little football club. Nowadays their gates are regularly down to just above or just below a couple of thousand and those that do go show little passion. The Arsenal reserve games staged at Underhill draw larger crowds and it's really swimming against the tide for the club these days so I feel the immense investment and effort they have put into their youth development and Football In the Community holds more relevance there to the future of the club than at any other.
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Post by lambethgull on Jun 22, 2010 21:21:39 GMT
Was impressed with the energy and touch he displayed away at Barnet last season, but he was totally outmuscled, outpositioned and outpaced at Hereford. It will be interesting to see how he gets on at Barnet.
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