Luke Moore: Barnet looking good thanks to a man named Edgar

Barnet's knight in shining armour Edgar Davids

Life in the football league has never been easy for Barnet, but with a high profile player manager jointly in charge the future is looking bright for the League Two outfit says Luke Moore...

Delighted to say that we had a massive 5.24/1 winner last week as Robin van Persie took less than three minutes to oblige and indulge in that most weathered of football truisms, namely that a high-profile signing will always score against his old club. My Arsenal-supporting friend and colleague Jim Campbell remarked that it was actually quite nice to get it out of the way so early in the game, showing that gallows humour is alive and well in north London.

It's a bit further down the football pyramid I want to venture this week though, to Underhill, home of Barnet. Underhill is the destination for Arsenal's reserve and NextGen games due to its locality but that's just about where the similarities end. But Barnet are, in the words of a fan I spoke to at length recently, an 'indestructible' club.

The north Londoners have survived the threat of relegation out of the football league on the very last day of the season for the last three years in a row, knowing that demotion would very likely put them out of business. Their attendances are consistently among the lowest in the football league, largely due to the amount of other, bigger clubs in the locale and, including caretakers, they've had seven managers in the last two years or so. Over the last three years, it certainly feels like they've survived against all odds time and again. Arsenal fans, I hope this puts your current 'crisis' into some sort of perspective.

Relegation would be disastrous for Barnet for a number of reasons, namely because it would mean a cut in their already threadbare budget but also because even if they did manage to stay afloat the Blue Square Premier is an almost entirely full time professional league now and fiercely competitive, so there's no automatic guarantee that they could bounce straight back up.

So, in summary, things have been hairy up in EN5.

Barnet's knight in shining armour among all this chaos and doom-mongering has appeared in the shape of superstar Dutchman Edgar Davids.

A man who has been dining at the top table for as long as anyone can remember (save a recent stint at Crystal Palace), Davids seems to have assumed the role of player, captain, co-manager alongside ex-West Ham and Charlton midfield player Mark Robins and coach at Underhill, and after a little wobble in his first game in joint charge has steered the Bees to a four game (and counting) unbeaten run in the league since mid-October, the most recent result a creditable win against Torquay on Tuesday night.

From nine points adrift when Davids took charge, Barnet are now off the bottom of the table. He's as close to a literal knight on a white charger as football gets.

Now I realise that four games unbeaten may not sound like a lot, but this is a side that went their first 12 games of this season without recording a single win, scoring only eight goals and conceding a sickening 26 at the other end. They also ended the last term winning just two of their last 11, two games which happened to be the final two of the calendar and were obviously pivotal in keeping them in the league.

It's great to see a player of Davids' stature happy to learn the ropes of management at a lower league side while simultaneously putting a bit back into a level of football that is all too regularly ignored in these times of super-rich tournaments like the Champions League. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine the amount of young fans and players he's inspiring just by being at the club, and in return he gets a bit of management experience at the sharp end which will stand him in good stead. It's a mutually beneficial relationship that I'm surprised more players don't take advantage of.

Before I go too over the top about how rosy things are becoming in Barnet's garden however, it's clear that what the Bees really need is some stability. Seven managers in two years is hardly a recipe for success, and so it's important Edgar stays around long enough to build on the platform he's constructed.

Maybe then Barnet can really kick on and dare to dream of something more than simply surviving from season to season. God knows the fans deserve it.

This week's bet

Barnet have a potentially tricky trip to Morecambe this weekend, but they're also in possession of a bit of momentum. The Shrimps haven't won in their last three and are actually better away from home though, so there could still be a chance for the Bees to get something. A draw looks a decent bet, and is currently available at 3.211/5. Stick some of your Robin van Persie winnings from last week on it.

Back The Draw @ 3.211/5 in Morecambe v Barnet