He's been away for far too long hasn't he!
Well, the Official site are delighted to say that United legend Hugh McIlmoyle is back on board, and ready to take us through the season with his own view on how the Blues are getting on as the season unfolds.
Club Commentator and Website Assistant Rob Scott-Buccleuch caught up with him yesterday to get his reaction to the Northampton game:
"I enjoyed the match but not the result. I thought we played exceptionally well in the first half but gave away a soft goal. We had three chances to clear the ball but their lad reacted very quickly to put the loose ball away. We had five or six half chances in the first half but as the match wore on, it looked like we weren't going to score.
I thought that Northampton weren't as good as us and I do feel that if Barnet and them are two of the best teams in this Division then we'll be alright. We can go out and not be afraid of anyone. Two years ago we would have folded as soon as we went a goal down but I felt that the first half on Saturday was as good a performance as I have seen for a long time. I'm sure that if we had scored first then we would have won - in fact, if we had equalised then we would have gone on to win it.
It was a very tight game which seems to be the way of football these days - there is very little individualism any more. One thinks of Stan Bowles, Rodney Marsh, George Best - even Gazza - this type of player is not encouraged today but they used to fill grounds. People would go to see one player - an example was when Allan "Sniffer" Clarke came to Brunton Park with Leicester City in the League Cup. People went just to see him (and he obliged by scoring in our 0-3 defeat). Today's teams work hard together as a unit, covering for each other - very effective but possibly not as entertaining.
If I had the money to spend, I would bring in a striker who can get us a goal every two games, possibly every third game. This is imperative if we want success. If we don't get a striker before the deadline then I look at the team and wonder where the goals are coming from. I can't see them getting pasted, but a man in the box who you know will get the goals is a must.
Derek Holmes, who is a big asset for us, won a lot of balls in the air on Saturday but most of these were where it had been lofted forward for him to knock down. As a striker, I would like to see him being on the end of more crosses. Together with Hawley, he spent too much time with his back to goal - it means that they have to turn one, possibly two, defenders before they can have a shot. That is so much harder to do in the modern game.
Glenn Murray adds something up front but he hasn't scored very many for us yet. I thought Brendan McGill had an excellent first half but didn't seem to get into the second half as much. Simon Hackney is a very exciting prospect and caused them problems with his runs - he had an excellent game on Tuesday (at Burnley) as well. The creativity of Chris Lumsdon has been a big miss so far this season.
I'm not too down despite losing the last two homes games. We may, but I hope I'm wrong, have a better away record this season. If we can keep up the teamwork and work-rate then we should be ok."
More from Hugh after the Macclesfield game on 10 September.
