Barnet boss pleads for bigger crowds as Bees continue to punch above their weight
Barnet boss Dean Brennan believes his club needs to do more to entice more fans to the Hive if they are to make progress and emulate south London rivals Bromley in climbing out of League Two.
The Bees have made a superb start to the season and another victory on Tuesday night - 3-1 against York City - keeps them on the coat tails of pace-setters Salford City right at the top of the division.
The only disappointment for the ambitious Irishman, however, was the relatively poor turnout. Just over 3,000 attended the match, with an excellent away following accounting for a third of that. It is a theme which rankles with the Bees boss, who thinks they should be pulling in much bigger followings given the catchment area they are now in.
"We're a small club with a budget at the bottom end of it [the division] yet we've got a high win rate, and that gathers momentum and expectation - but we have to do things a little bit better off the pitch.
"Bromley have grown better off the pitch that we have done. I think they're averaging about 6,000 now and we don't get those averages. We have maybe 1,800 to 2,000 and we've got to do better off the pitch.
"Our attendances here for the first three games were atrocious and it's something we've got to work on.
"If we don't do better off the pitch the club won't grow and we can only take it so far. That's the meaage that the Kleanthous family [the owners] know. they know what they need to do. You look at Lincoln. They are in the Championship now having operated on a small budget for the level they are it.
"You can always do more. Bromley had 600 not so long ago so they've managed to do it. We can do more and we have to do more. If not the club will just stagnate. We have to get more supporters to the Hive. We've got amazing facilitie.
"I'd give all the primary schools in the area free tickets. I think that would get a new generation of supporters here. That's not my job but I've given that recommendation to the family. If we do that and can keep growing bit by bit. We love seeing kids down here and i think it's something we can definitely do better."
Brennan added: "This is the second biggest borough in the UK. Everyone keeps going on about going back to Barnet but we're not going back to Barnet, we're here [at Canon's Park]. We've got to get into this community here. It's a huge community - Edgware, Harrow and all around. We've got to buy into this community.
"The last three games in the National League we had here, we had over 5,000 at every game, so it can be done. So the people are there. We've got to attract them and keep the. There's good football being played here. We've got to make sure that the matchday experience is so special for these kids that their hero becomes Kabu Tshimanga and not Kai Havertz or someone like that.
"We'll keep going. We're a small club with a big heart and a lot of togetherness. We've shown a lot of character again tonight although I'd like to see us stop conceding goals and we've got to be more ruthless. But look, we won, that's the main thing."
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