Harry Kewell has been named the new head coach of Barnet, while former Wealdstone boss Dean Brennan has been brought in to oversee off-field football matters.

A statement on the Bees' website reads: "Barnet Football Club are delighted to announce its new backroom and coaching team, following the appointments of Dean Brennan as our new Head of Football and Harry Kewell as the Bees new First Team Head Coach.

"With his ambition to succeed and build something at The Hive London, Kewell was seen as a great option to help take the Bees into the 2021-22 campaign and beyond. Coupled with his fantastic knowledge of players who would be available within the EFL and his clear credentials as an exciting young coach, it is hoped that the Australian will be the man to bring the Club success going forward."

As a player, Kewell won the Champions League with Liverpool and has since gone on to manage Crawley, Notts County and Oldham.

Speaking after his appointment, the Australian said: "Barnet is a fantastic football club but we need to get the Club back on the right path and get going back in the right direction. The Chairman and myself have put a really exciting backroom team together, with the view of a collective unit being the driving force behind a successful future for the football club.

"That starts with me as a Head Coach, but also with all of the staff, players and of course the supporters, we need to be a collective group with the ambition of bringing brighter days back to this incredible Club. There’s plenty of hard work to do to get us going in the right direction and I can’t wait to get started."

Meanwhile Brennan has been brought in to deal with off-field issues, including player recruitment, performance, analysis, logistics and youth teams.

He said: “It’s very important to get a togetherness, we want to bring success back to the football club but that has to start with honest hard work. We need to bring everyone together, that includes the supporters, they are the life and soul of the Club, so let’s all get together and move forwards as one. We have lots of recruitment to do and that works starts immediately, I will be tasked with bringing the very best players who want to work hard for our Club.

“I have to thank the Chairman for his faith and trust in me, it’s a true privilege to be tasked with bringing success back to this Club and I think with what we’re building we can do just that. It’s a big job and a massive task but I am hugely confident with the staff that we have we can collaborate to bring something special to our supporters. But first and foremost, it’s about hard work and you achieve nothing without that, so we’ll be ensuring that we’re all pushing together in the right direction.”