Barnet Football Club are delighted to announce that Angus MacDonald is the new Barnet Blogger.

At the start of June the club revealed a new competition to step up fan interaction and give supporters a voice on the official website.

Supporters were asked to write a 400 word preview of the 2013/14 season and the response we received was fantastic with over 30 people vying for the position.

Angus, who has been following the Bees for the majority of his life, came out on top and you can read his preview below.

He is a 29-year-old lawyer currently working in central London and he first visited Underhill as a teenager back in the days when Sean Divine and Scott McGleish graced the famous slope.

He then moved to Bristol to go to university before moving to Germany to study and China to teach, during which time he still followed the Bees from afar. 

After returning to London in 2008 Angus picked up where he left off and after seeing the club’s excellent 2-0 win over Gillingham at Priestfield he was hooked once again!

Over the past few years Angus has been a regular in the South Stand and he often travels away following Reckless’ guides to the letter. He also sponsored Graham Stack, his favourite player, last season and you can follow him on Twitter @AHC_Macdonald.

Angus will be writing blogs for the club on a weekly basis for the duration of the 2013/14 season offering a fresh perspective on all the latest happenings from around The Hive. 

The blogs will be posted in the news section of the website but you can view all of Angus’ work under news, features tab. 

Having used an extraordinary 46 players in the 2012/2013 season, Barnet will be looking for a more consistent line up in what is sure to be an exciting first season at The Hive.  

Welcome news for Bees fans is the retention of much of the team that showed the form of play off challengers, rather than relegation strugglers, after Edgar Davids arrived in October last year.  

Graham Stack (player of the season for me), David Stephens, Mark Byrne, and top scorer Jake Hyde will all be at the Hive next season. This looks like a formidable spine at Conference National level.  

You feel promising youngsters such as Elliot Johnson and Luke Gambin could flourish in the Conference having already held their own in League 2.

If Barnet can recapture the form which saw them so nearly recover from a suicidal pre-Davids return of 3 points from 12 games, the Bees should be in the mix at the top of the table come April.

 

Looking ahead to the Conference National season there are plenty of teams fancied for promotion.  

Luton, with the money of last year’s famous cup run behind them, are surely one of the favourites for promotion this year.  

Wrexham, cruelly defeated in May’s all Welsh play off final, will be up there along with Grimsby and Kidderminster, who complete the trio of play off losers looking to put last season’s heartbreak behind them.

Hereford, Macclesfield, Cambridge, Aldershot and Lincoln complete the list of befallen football league clubs looking to win back football league status.  

Chester, runaway winners of the Conference North with an impressive 107 points, could mount a serious challenge following 3 successive promotions. 

 

Despite the strength of the Conference, Barnet have nothing to fear in their new stadium, especially with such a strong looking list of retained players.

This Bee can see no reason why the boys in black and amber won’t be in or around the playoffs at the very least come the end of the season.

And with perennial relegation battles giving way to what we all hope will be a serious promotion challenge in our first season at the Hive, there is every hope that watching Barnet will be a lot more enjoyable following the agonising relegation struggles of recent seasons. Roll on 2013/14!