It was a win that guaranteed this 123-year-old club at least one more season in the Football League.
Nothing against Lincoln City, the fall guys on the final day of the League Two campaign, but it was a heart-warming scene. There is something engaging about Barnet, whose idiosyncratic ground, Underhill, sounds like a hobbit’s home, and slopes so drastically that one goalkeeper’s boots are level with the other’s crossbar.
The phrase “family club” is often used for anywhere without a 30,000-seat stadium and a shady absentee owner, yet at Barnet it truly seems to apply.
In April, they suffered a managerial crisis when Martin Allen left for Notts County after only 19 days in the job. Their response was to appoint Giuliano Grazioli, their community development officer, as caretaker manager.
“I was here every Saturday afternoon, watching the boys play, keeping my face around the place,” chuckled Grazioli, a former Barnet striker who scored 62 goals in a five-year stint at Underhill. “I would give the chairman a little wink when things weren’t going well. There was a method in my madness, because this is what I want to do. And it means so much more because I am a fan of this football club.”
Allen had started the revival for Barnet, who were eight points from safety on April 1. Grazioli continued it. Coming into Saturday’s deciders, Barnet knew that if they could beat Port Vale, they had a chance.
That was not the end of the story: a win for Lincoln over Aldershot would still knock Barnet out of the Football League, no matter how many goals they scored. But Lincoln had taken just one point from the previous nine matches. The Imps were limping towards the finish line in what was now a two-horse race.
In the early stages the diminutive Mark Byrne was at the heart of everything Barnet did, running the game like a cut-price Scott Parker. He had promising outlets in a pair of speedsters: left-winger Mark Williams and striker Izale McLeod, who once earned a transfer fee of £1million on his way to Charlton Athletic.
Port Vale, who had nothing to play for, were coming second on every 50-50 ball. And yet, for all their energy, Barnet could not get the ball home.
They were fortunate that Port Vale were so disinterested, and indeed charitable: a ridiculous penalty at the start of the second half meant that Grazioli’s nervous strikers did not even have to score from open play.
Straight from the restart, Byrne slipped the ball to McLeod, who ran 40 yards into the Port Vale penalty area without being challenged. When a tackle did finally come in, from centre half Gareth Owen, it was mistimed and brought McLeod down. McLeod struck the ball home.
Soon afterwards, news began filtering through of Lincoln’s plight: Aldershot landed a penalty of their own just before the hour, and eventually romped home 3-0.
“We’re all grateful to Aldershot,” said Grazioli afterwards, “but what really gives me pleasure is that six weeks ago nobody gave us a chance in hell. I looked at the crowd and saw a lot of the kids I’ve been coaching for the last year with their families: it was great to do it for them.”
So what now? “On Monday, I’ll be back in the community development office,” he replied. “The chairman has to think about what he has to do. If I’m part of it, fantastic, if I’m not the manager, I’d still like to have a place.”
Grazioli was a folk hero at Barnet during his playing days, and after Saturday’s feat of escapology – the second time in as many seasons that they have defied the drop on the final day — he is more revered than ever.
