The National League is an unforgiving division, as clubs relegated from the Football League often struggle to return to the fourth tier. One club that has found it difficult to return to the Football League is Barnet.
On the verge of a return to the fourth tier
The Bees may have struggled for promotion in recent seasons, but they are currently at the top of the National League table, eight points clear of second-place York City. With five games remaining in the regular season campaign, things look good for Dean Brennan’s team in terms of a return to League Two next season.
What is even more encouraging for Barnet is that they do not face any of their promotion rivals for the remainder of the season. Favourable fixtures give the capital outfit a massive opportunity to seal a return to the Football League.
A shock 2-1 defeat at Braintree Town last time out in the National League ended an incredible nine-game winning run for Barnet in the fifth tier. The recent stellar run of form had been built on solid defensive displays, as they have kept clean sheets in six of their last eight games in the National League.
The Bees will be hoping that the defeat last time out was only a blip, as they are in the driving seat for the one automatic position from the National League.
Barnet have been up and down in recent decades
The club from the English capital have been in and out of the Football League in recent decades. They first won promotion to the Football League in season 1990/91, finishing as champions of the then-Conference.
The team reached its pinnacle in season 1993/94 when they won promotion to the third tier of the English game. However, the following season, the Bees struggled in the league and finished rock-bottom of the table.
Barnet then spent seven seasons in the fourth tier, with their highest finish being sixth place in season 1999/00. Strangely, the team finished 24th the following season and suffered relegation to the Conference.
The Bees played in the fifth tier for four straight seasons. They finished in the league’s top-five in three of those four campaigns, finally securing promotion back to the Football League in season 2004/05 by topping the table.
This time around, the capital club spent eight seasons in the fourth tier. For most of that period, Barnet were struggling to stay out of the relegation spots. In back-to-back seasons, 2010/11 and 2011/12, they finished 22nd place in the table.
The following season, their luck ran out, as the Bees finished 23rd place and suffered relegation back to the fifth tier. Barnet’s stay in the Conference was slightly shorter, as they took just two seasons to win promotion back to the Football League.
They finished eighth place in their first season back in League Two but won the league title in season 2014/15. Once again, Barnet struggled to make their mark in League Two, with two 15th-place finishes before suffering relegation in season 2017/18, after finishing 23rd place in the league table.
Looking to end the long wait for a Football League return
Barnet have not returned to the Football League since their 2018 relegation. The Bees have had mixed fortunes in the fifth tier since dropping down.
In fact, in season 2020/21, Barnet was lucky to retain their fifth-tier status, as they finished 22nd place in the table and could have dropped down to the sixth-tier.
Macclesfield United dropped out of the league due to folding, while Dover Athletic could not fulfil their fixtures due to Covid-19 issues, so their results were expunged from the records.
Despite finishing in the relegation zone, the Bees did not drop into the National League South due to the abandonment of the 2020/21 National League North and South mid-season related to Covid-19.
However, Barnet finished fifth place in season 2022/23 and came even closer to automatic promotion last season, finishing second place in the table. On both occasions, they suffered defeat in the play-offs.
It looks very promising for the Bees to return to the Football League this season, and some fans of the club will be saying that it is about time the club were back in the fourth tier.