Harry Kewell: Barnet sack manager after seven winless games in charge
- Published
Harry Kewell has completed a full season in charge at just one of the four clubs he has managed
Barnet have sacked manager Harry Kewell after only seven games in the job.
The 42-year-old failed to win any of his matches in charge of the Bees, who have lost five times and drawn twice in the National League this season.
Barnet are second from bottom of the table, with Dover - who started the season with a 12-point deduction - the only side below them.
Former Liverpool and Leeds winger Kewell has also managed Notts County, Oldham and Crawley Town.
"It was clear how much Harry Kewell wanted to have a positive impact, but ultimately the results and the poor start to the season have dictated our decision," Barnet's head of football Dean Brennan said in a statement.
"The plan for this season was for Barnet FC to be challenging in the top half of the table and that is still very much our aim."
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Kewell's assistant Paul Butler is also leaving the club, with Brennan taking over the first team temporarily and becoming the sixth person to be in charge of Barnet in 2021.
Tim Flowers began the year in charge but parted company in March, with Paul Fairclough and Gary Anderson each having a spell as caretaker boss before Simon Bassey became interim manager in April until the end of last season.
Having reached the play-offs after finishing seventh on average points in the Covid-19-affected 2019-20 season, Barnet struggled last term and finished third from bottom, only escaping relegation because the leagues below the National League were declared null and void for a second season because of the pandemic.
Kewell, who won the 2005 Champions League with Liverpool and played at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups with Australia, said he would put "the club back on the right path and get going back in the right direction" when he took over in June.
But a 5-0 opening day defeat by former club Notts County set the tone for a difficult spell at The Hive, with draws away at Solihull Moors and at home to Eastleigh the only bright points in a season that has seen the Bees score seven goals and concede 19. They have found the net once in three home matches.
Kewell has won 38 games and lost 57 in a managerial career that began in 2017 at Crawley Town.
He led the club to a 14th-placed finish in League Two in his only full season in charge before leaving for Notts County, where he lasted 14 matches at the start of a season which ended with them being relegated from League Two.
Kewell returned to management at the start of last season with Oldham, winning 17 of 41 games until his sacking in March.
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