Edgar Davids’ time at Barnet: Captain, player, manager, number one

Things were unraveling.

Davids was missing some away games that required more travel; this was an agreement with Kleanthous.

There were rumors that she would attend parties or go shopping instead, but Landvreugd said that was not true.

“He was in Amsterdam with people working at the clothing company,” said Landvreugd, who now runs Den Bosch.

“It took up a lot of his time. He flew for a day or two doing mostly that and nothing else.”

Landvreugd and Schreuder, popular names of the club, would take responsibility for the matches that Davids missed.

Fairclough explained: “The players didn’t know what was going on. They didn’t know who was the manager, who was the coach and who was going to train next.”

Hyde tells the story of David sitting in the coach ready for an away game and discovering that the game would last five hours.

“He closed his laptop, picked it up and walked away from the coach,” he said.

Davids’ camp says this happened before the game against Chester on January 18, 2014.

“Another situation happened when the team was about to part with the coach and that was actually the final straw,” a representative said.

The fans loved Davids but were disappointed that he was missing games, and Kleanthous asked him if he could be fully committed to going to every game.

His departure was announced just hours after Barnet lost 2-1 to Chester to remain 10th in the table.

Kleanthous admits that Davids was “starting to lose interest” at this stage.

“To me, he had become less determined, and at that point it was time to shake hands and be done with it,” Kleanthous said.

Hyde added: “If it happens once, if it happens two or three times and you get beaten up and it’s your livelihood, then it’s not funny anymore.

“We have a manager who doesn’t show up. I don’t think that’s ever happened in professional football.”

Davids left Barnet with 25 wins in 68 games as a manager, and 1 goal and 5 red cards in 39 games as a player.

Kleanthous concluded: “When I look back, I see those days as great times and have nothing but respect for what he did.

“He came, he didn’t ask for anything, he did the best he could, he did the best he could, and in the end he was a little bit unlucky.”

Landvreugd and Schreuder were appointed joint managers following Davids’ departure, but were replaced by Martin Allen just two months later.

Davids’ only managerial role since then was a six-month stint at Portuguese third-tier side Olhanense in 2021. He was the Netherlands assistant coach at the 2022 World Cup.

“We still wish Barnet the best, continue to follow them and stay in touch with Tony [Kleanthous]” said his representative.