Barnet FC have announced the signing of 25-year-old centre-back Connor Stevens after his contract was mutually terminated by local rivals Boreham Wood earlier this summer.
The move comes as a bit of a shock to some Barnet fans, given that the club already had six centre-backs on the books, although two are currently out on loan.
Despite being 25 years old, Stevens hasn’t played a vast amount of senior football in his career so far. He came through the youth ranks at Watford and featured for the Hornets’ under-18 and under-23’s teams before getting his first taste of senior football at Oxford City in the National League South in the 17/18 season.
He then departed Watford in the summer of 2018 and linked up with the now Barnet boss Dean Brennan at Wealdstone. Stevens played an important role for the Stones as they finished in the playoffs in his first season at the club before winning the National League South in his second year.
Stevens was then signed by Boreham Wood for an undisclosed fee ahead of their FA Cup match against Bournemouth. He also started in the following match against Everton but that was about as good as his Boreham Wood career got.
A ruptured achilles tendon at the start of the 22/23 season restricted Stevens to just two appearances last year and 12 in total for the Wood before his contract was mutually ended.
Writer’s View
Given the current state of the Barnet squad, I was not expecting a new centre-back to be announced. But, I think it shows a vote of no confidence in the current backups more than anything else.
Dominic Revan is the one who is in the most trouble. Banbury United have not won a game since he arrived on loan and they have conceded four times against South Shields and three times against Buxton in that stint. Stevens would seem to be the most direct replacement for Revan as well due to him being right-footed. All that Revan can do now is stay fit for the duration of his loan spell and train well when he returns in the hope that he can force his way back into the Bees’ back three.
Stevens certainly seems like a player who will suit the Barnet system. In his ‘First Words’ interview, he mentions how he is comfortable defending in one-on-one situations, something which Brennan likes to make defenders do so that he can push more players further up the pitch.
He has also played with or worked with several key Barnet personnel before and this, combined with training with the team throughout preseason, should lead to him fitting into the team more seamlessly than others might. Dean Brennan was his manager at Wealdstone and Connor Smith was at Boreham Wood when Stevens first joined the club. He has also played alongside Jerome Okimo and their past connection will be useful in helping to keep the defence tight in Stevens’ first few games.
Overall, I think it is fair to say that the signing of Stevens comes with relatively low expectations. In an ideal world, he would be a backup who rarely has to play but adds character and personality to the squad overall. However, that’s also what many fans said about Jerome Okimo when he signed just over a year ago and he has since turned into a key player for Dean Brennan’s side. It will be interesting to see how the move turns out and how he will be reintegrated after his big injury.
