Is Edgar Davids a Goliath who’s too big for his boots?

 
16 October 2013

Edgar Davids: Barnet’s talismanic revolutionist or self-satisfying ego maniac?

The 40-year-old’s arrival at one of London’s smallest professional clubs last year was received with a mixture of shock and elation. Here was a Champions League winner not only prepared to cut his teeth in management at a surprisingly low level but also prepared to don Barnet’s colours and muck in with his squad.

Davids won his first game for Barnet 4-0 against Northampton. They probably felt they could win every game 4-0. Yet that euphoria has slowly given way to confusion and disappointment in some quarters after the club’s relegation from League Two and a run of just one win in their last nine games this season leaving them ninth and 13 points behind early ­Conference pace-setters Cambridge United.

Davids marked his one-year anniversary with a red card in last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Wrexham courtesy of a ludicrous forearm smash with play stopped following the concession of a free-kick by a team-mate.

At that moment, defending a 1-0 lead with less than two minutes to play, Barnet needed an experienced head to guide them over the line; what they got was a hot-headed miscreant more interested in making a personal point. And, worse, in those two remaining minutes, Wrexham equalised.

In a way, that one act symbolises the debate over Davids’s worth to Barnet. It could be reasonably argued that the Dutchman has earned the right to a little self-indulgence after an illustrious career at a host of top teams.

Capped 74 times by Holland while representing Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and, er, Crystal Palace, ­Davids’s mere presence at Barnet is an honour for the club.

They have benefited from the increased exposure a global star creates — last weekend saw the announcement of a major new sponsorship deal with Toshiba which will also aid development of their new ground, The Hive. Barnet are a work in progress and Davids seems to have a genuine affection for the Bees, even if a long-term commitment has not been forthcoming.

On the pitch, Davids may have turned 40 but he is still retains a flicker of the talent that won him six league titles in two countries.

Equally, that fiery streak is not ­symptomatic of any disillusionment because it has always been part of his composition; this is the same individual who told a Dutch radio station during Euro 96 that coach Guus Hiddink should “take the head out of his players’ a***s so he can see better”.

His achievements demand respect from anyone in English football, not least those operating in its fifth tier, but whereas it would have been almost blasphemous to question Davids in those first few months, the dissenters are growing.

In his 22 games in charge last season, Barnet were the 13th best side in League Two yet they were still relegated on goal difference with 51 points — the highest ever achieved by a team exiting the Football League.

Davids showed admirable commitment in extending his stay as he ­continues his education in his first foray into management but results need to improve.

If they do not, his eccentricities will quickly become causes for complaint. And there are plenty of them, ranging from insisting his players call him Mister (a Dutch colloquialism surely inappropriate in this setting), missing a week of pre-season to visit the Playboy Mansion, and playing in a range of positions including attack, midfield and most recently centre-back. Davids has also taken to wearing the No1 shirt.

His tactics and substitutions have also caused frustration, seemingly because he is content to get ahead in a match and then protect that advantage rather than kill teams off.

Giving up Davids’s experience, ­contacts and charisma would be a huge decision, not least — and this is to his huge credit — because Davids is reportedly not taking a salary in his role as player-manager.

But he needs to adapt fast. The players under Davids’s guidance could never even hope to emulate him at his peak and perhaps he is simply trying too hard to do everything or pushing for too much, too quickly.

Describing being asked to play for a Sunday League team in Brixton before joining Barnet, Davids said: “I was sitting on the bench for five minutes and I thought I’m f*****g Edgar Davids!” Effectively: “Don’t you know who I am?”

Everybody knows who Davids is. But that alone is not enough.

Carlton Cole may still struggle to light up Hammers

Carlton Cole's return to West Ham has to be viewed as the result of a failure on both sides to move on but the short-term nature of their agreement can prove mutually beneficial.

The Hammers released Cole on the basis they would be able to acquire an upgrade in the transfer market to provide back-up to Andy Carroll.

However, Carroll’s ongoing injury problems have only exposed the failure to sign an adequate alternative with Modibo Maiga not having the attributes for a lone striker and Mladen Petric still searching for match fitness.

Cole had also hoped to progress his career and held talks with several clubs only to find himself unemployed. A three-month contract will give him the chance to prove he can still be a force in the Premier League while giving West Ham a recognised focal point to their attack.

Mind you, given the success of Sam Allardyce’s strikerless system against Tottenham, maybe he won’t get much of a look-in after all.

Bees move can pay off

These austere times make supporting your team a financial decision as much as an emotional one. So when fans are feeling the pinch and Football League clubs find themselves ever more in the shadow of the Premier League, Brentford deserve considerable credit for reviving their ‘Pay What You Can’ scheme.

The Bees will charge a minimum of £1 for their League One match against Shrewsbury on October 26 after more than 10,000 supporters turned up for last season’s game versus Stevenage, played on a chilly February evening.

And when fans pay more than £5 for their ticket, half of the excess excluding VAT will go to Sport Relief. Good on them.

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