Thank you Martin Allen and Good Luck

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barnetboy1
Posts: 1731
Joined: 21 Jan 2011, 18:18

Re: Thank you Martin Allen and Good Luck

Post: # 248257Post barnetboy1 »

Excellent post ape1968.
When he returned it just felt like Barnet again ,for me that feeling had been lacking for dangerously too long.
Tough act to follow but "The King is dead, long live the King"
tonbridgebee
Posts: 1012
Joined: 18 Jan 2014, 23:26

Re: Thank you Martin Allen and Good Luck

Post: # 248258Post tonbridgebee »

ape1968 wrote:There's been a whole lot of backlash about the Dog deciding not to stay with us. Judas, money grabber and all of that.

Let's just put a different perspective. I'd like to say - thank you Martin. Thanks for putting the pride back.

Every time Allen's been here he's put belief and momentum into the team and pride and energy into the support.

First time he was here way back in 2003/4 he took a team that was going absolutely nowhere and shook it up. With Peter Shreeves' team you knew that as soon as Junior Agogo went off we weren't going to do anything. Stagnant. Mid-table mediocrity for life. Allen built a squad that immediately made the play-offs and which was the foundation of Fairclough's championship winning side the following year.

When he came back in 2011 - yes we all know he dumped us for Notts County - but he did enough to revitalise the team so Graz was able to get them over the line. And anything he owed us for leaving us then, he more than paid back by keeping us up at Burton the next time. He wanted to stay after that but we decided we had better ideas. He went to Gillingham and took them to League 1. We went down to the Conference.

He led us out of the Conference in a season where we were able to celebrate from the first day 5-0 away victory at Chester to the 2-0 promotion game against Gateshead. And even if he couldn't save us this time - he did enough in the short time he was hear to breath life into a club that was at the lowest ebb I can remember. When you have life long supporters like Reckless and John Errol questioning why they bother then this club is in a very bad place. Lots of people were feeling that way - until Allen came back.

I don't by any means think he is faultless - I think he treated Mauro pretty shoddily and I suspect David Stephens too. Some of the games in League 2 were pretty dull to say the least. And obviously all of the people on here who call him out for following the money have never taken a pay rise or moved jobs for better money.

I have been fortunate enough to have seen the glory years of the Fry-Flashman era and the Fairclough promotion teams. But my 16 year old son - who started going to Barnet before he could walk - recently pointed out that all of the good times he has had as a Bees fan (home and away for at least a decade) have been down to Martin Allen. So for all of these reasons, and for having a real gift for inspiring belief in players and pride in supporters - I say Thank you Martin Allen. I wish you all the very best for next season (except the games against us) and for whatever you do in the future.
Best post I've seen for over a week! Well played sir :hi:
NorthFinchleyBee
Posts: 245
Joined: 17 Jan 2017, 13:53

Re: Thank you Martin Allen and Good Luck

Post: # 248260Post NorthFinchleyBee »

Mikel Bee wrote:Yep, thanks to MA for his efforts in keeping us up. He had a good crack at it and came very close. I'm not upset to see him leave though. While he'd have got us challenging next season the inevitable slide towards hoofball and Muggleton missiles would have made for tough watching. Plus it's also difficult to take what he says seriously after years #FakeNews injury updates, claiming not to know where we are in the table or who we play next. His comment in his post Chesterfield interview "This has been a great day" also jarred a bit. It was a pretty awful day from what I remember. I think at that point he already knew he was off and was going a bit too far with the goodbyes.

All the best to him but I hope as a club we can finally break out of the Allen cycle.
Well said Mikel Bee. I really do hope this is the last time.
b4life
Posts: 2359
Joined: 24 Jan 2011, 09:03

Re: Thank you Martin Allen and Good Luck

Post: # 248262Post b4life »

He’ll need some luck as it’s got to be 50/50 whether it all ends in tears sooner rather than later.
Mark Whitelegg
Chair - BFCSA1926
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