The Irish manager, Dean Brennan, who guided Barnet to the 24/25 National League title has bagged himself a three-year deal at the Hive.
History of Success
The 44-year-old manager has had an impressive career in non-league. Originally rising through the ranks at Hemel Hempstead where he served as caretaker manager after the sacking of Gary Phillips in 2010, rejoining as full-time manager in 2012 and guiding Hemel Hempstead to its highest-ever finish (4th in the Southern League Premier). The following season, Dean Brennan leads Hemel Hempstead to a 1st place finish, winning the Southern League Premier.
After 6 more years at Hemel, managing over 300 games for the club and reaching the Vanarama National League South playoffs. Brennan enjoyed two one-year stints at Billericay and Kingstonian before a move to Wealdstone where he truly kicked on. Earning the National League South title in his first season at the club, Dean Brennan lost his position after battling relegation in his second season.
Dean Brennan took on the position at Barnet in September of 2021 in the National League. Dean has currently managed 200 games at Barnet; averaging 1.76PPG! A stat that highlights his incredible managing nous, to think the team he took over was set to be relegated the season prior, had it not been abandoned due to COVID.
Professional Promotion
Having been out of League Two for seven years, Barnet finally will make a return to the 92 after an emphatic season, clinching the title with a game to spare.
The success this year was underpinned by brilliant recruitment from the Irishman, as Dean Brennan picked up some top talent who have flourished under his reign. No one epitomises this as much as Mark Shelton. After only being available for 14 games last year, in an underperforming Oldham team, Shelton was recruited by Dean Brennan and has not only managed over 2200 minutes this year but also 12 goal contributions (11 goals, 1 assist).
Other players have had brilliant seasons too, such as Callum Stead, among many others, who scores a goal, on average, every 189 minutes- with 23 goal contributions this year (19 goals, 4 assists). In an impressive season all over the park, with easy-on-the-eye football Barnet deserves their promotion to the football league and that is thanks to the man on the sidelines, Dean Brennan.
National League: Completed. Contract Status: Extended
The new deal, which keeps Brennan at the Hive until Summer 2028, will hope to secure Dean Brennan’s future for the foreseeable future in hopes of carrying on progressing through the football pyramid. Upon the completion of the deal, Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous said:
“This is the first step in our plan to conquer League 2. First we keep the Manager, then we keep the players, then we sign new players and then we go for promotion again.”
Quote from barnetfc.com
Dean Brennan’s appealing style of possession football will certainly be an allure to professional players out there looking for a platform to progress their footballing careers. This could potentially open up a broad spectrum of talented professional footballers for Dean to cultivate into his system, and hopefully, for Barnet fans, they can maintain their great veins of form.