Barnet returned to pre-season training at The Hive today to begin laying the foundations ahead of their return to the Football League after two years away.
Unlike last summer, by which point only John Akinde, Dan Bradley and Sam Muggleton had joined, it has already been a busy summer with five players signing up for Barnet’s return to League Two.
So with the transfer window officially opening today, what business is there left to be done?
Goalkeepers: Graham Stack is the only senior goalkeeper registered to the Bees following Sam Cowler’s departure, so another stopper is urgently needed.
Unlike some supporters, Allen’s faith in the 33-year-old has never wavered and any arrival will join the Bees in order to provide competition for Stack’s number one jersey.
Signing a backup goalkeeper has to be a hard sell for any club and in Cowler, the Bees had the ultimate squad member; someone who trained hard, prepared as if he would play every week and more than pulled his weight off the field too.
The challenge for Allen is to identify and convince another gloveman to fill the void left by Cowler.
Full-backs: The arrival of the experienced Gavin Hoyte means Barnet are well stocked in the full-back department and it will be intriguing to see whether or not Hoyte can force his way into the side at the expense of Andy Yiadom or Elliott Johnson.
Both players were excellent last term and although Mauro Vilhete did well when deputising, he is far better utilised as a winger.
Muggleton provides backup on the left-hand side too but has limited Football League experience – making just two appearances under Allen at Gillingham – and will almost certainly find himself on the periphery once again.
Hoyte is also capable of playing at centre-back too, though, and with today’s departure of David Stephens, the former Arsenal man may find he is put to use there instead.
Centre-backs: Of last season’s central defensive unit only Bondz N’Gala remains at the club after Stephens failed to agree a new deal and Jack Saville was released.
The Bees were arguably fortunate to get through last season with only a handful of injury and suspension issues at the heart of defence. Indeed, only Stephens was sidelined for a prolonged period at any point.
One imagines with Allen’s insistence on carrying a lightweight squad he will intend to operate with three centre-halves rather than four once more.
Bira Dembele arrives with glowing references from Stevenage supporters and skippered the Bees’ nearest and dearest to the League Two play-offs last year. He has not come to The Hive as backup, that much is certain.
A third centre-half seems a certainty and veteran Michael Nelson is already on trial at The Hive. With youth team graduates Joe Gater and Harry Taylor both penning pro deals there is youthful cover if needed.
Wingers: Lee Cook has been replaced by Lincoln City’s Ben Tomlinson and although Tomlinson is a different kind of winger to the more delicate Cook, the powerful former Imp is surely a direct replacement for the Eastleigh-bound wideman.
The real question mark hangs over the future of Keanu Marsh-Brown, though.
Regardless of your views on the former Fulham and Arsenal man’s attitude or off-field manner, he remains a talented footballer.
Allen has always maintained there is no problem with Marsh-Brown but we have still, despite repeated attempts to set up an interview, only heard one party’s version of events.
If this is to be another year of non-involvement for the Antiguan international then it will be a genuine shame.
Other options include the hugely versatile Vilhete, who excelled at the beginning and end of last season before losing his place to Luisma Villa in the middle of the campaign. The Portuguese’s relentless work ethic and malleability make him an Allen favourite but his versatility doubtless hinders him at times too.
And what of the technically gifted Luisma, who’s blistering run of form saw him net ten times before Christmas and catch everyone by surprise?
Undoubtedly talented, this is a step up for the former Racing Santander playmaker who has not played in the Football League before but may benefit from the clichéd better pitches and less physical nature of the game.
There is also Luke Gambin, a man Allen admitted last season he had underused. The diminutive wideman did much of his best work from the bench last season and with Tomlinson already snapped it, one imagines he will be forced to do so again.
With all those options, the wide areas seem unlikely to be a priority for Allen, especially if Marsh-Brown is to be feature prominently.
Central midfielders: The re-signing of Sam Togwell was one of the Bees’ best bits of business this. The midfield metronome’s value was never more apparent than in light of his red card against Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup.
He was sorely missed for the following three games and in retaining the Beaconsfield-born enforcer, Allen has one of the key cogs of his side for another year.
Paired together, Togwell and regular partner-in-crime Curtis Weston provide an effective, reliable, combative midfield double act. With the experienced Tom Champion signing from Cambridge United, the Bees finally have cover.
The engine room was another area where Barnet, arguably, got lucky last season with injury and suspension. Conor Clifford excelled following his loan arrival and David Hunt was a steady presence, but they were both short-term measures as the Bees largely survived on that Togwell-Weston axis.
Both Allen and Clifford have expressed their keenness to strike a permanent deal, whether or not it can happen remains to be seen but the Dubliner would be a canny addition and provide real quality in depth in the centre of the park.
Strikers: Charlie MacDonald’s departure would have left a gaping hole in the Bees’ strikeforce had it not been for Kevin Lisbie’s signing. However, the veteran Hackney-born hitman will bring class, leadership and experience to The Hive.
He won’t play every game and he almost certainly won’t play twice in a week but the 36-year-old will match the guile, interplay and goals of the departed MacDonald.
Akinde is, of course, the main man and the hulking forward has a point to prove in the Football League after a modest goalscoring record prior to dropping into non-league football two summers ago.
Anyone who can score 31 league goals in a division which is, by consensus not far behind League Two, would hope to go some way to replicating that form.
Michael Gash is another with a point to prove but if the German-born targetman’s rapid improvement through the spring is anything to go by then his trajectory should only be upward. However, he could well find himself as the plan B as he was originally signed to be in January.
Whether or not 17-year-old Matt Stevens will be involved remains to be seen.
The goal machine is only going into the second year of his scholarship and although there is a clamour to see what the former Reading hitman can do, Allen only used his young prodigy sparingly last term. The step up will surely not have enhanced his chances of playtime.
Either way, Allen could very likely still want a proven striker to pair with Akinde on a weekly basis.
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