Barnet head coach Martin Allen says expectations for the season must be realistic, stating the days of teams going from the Conference to League One with back-to-back promotions were when the Vikings were here.

The Bees have endured a stuttering start to life back in League Two, winning just one of their first five games and losing three.

Historically teams winning promotion into the Football League have fared well. Not since the play-offs were introduced in 2003 to allow a second team to go up alongside the division’s winners has either team been relegated in their first year in League Two.

Indeed, Exeter City won reached League One in 2009 thanks to consecutive promotions, while Stevenage Borough did the same thing in 2011 and a year later Crawley Town repeated the feat.

But Allen, who stated at the beginning of the season he had no expectations upon Barnet’s return to league football, insists that kind of achievement is beyond teams now.

He said: "Those sort of expectations are ridiculous. There has to be a transitional period and you have to develop the players here. It is not instant.

“The expectation of back-to-back promotions from the Conference – that is when the Vikings were here. It is so old, it won’t happen.”

He continued: “Luton Town won the Conference with over 100 points, brought in ten new players, had endless money to pay wages, transfer fees and bring in any players they want. They didn’t make the play-offs.

“So the teams that have done a double bounce, it has changed. It won’t happen now.

"The money available to those clubs we have played against is quite frightening. I have tried to get those players but you can’t get them, there is no way you can afford them.”

To that end, Allen has called for realism after a sluggish start, which has left the Bees 18th in League Two.

“If everybody expects us to win every football match we play you would have to be mad,” stated Allen.

“We are playing against teams with massive budgets and it is a challenge. So if the results don’t go as I want or hope, like all supporters, there will be a tinge of disappointment. But there also has to be a tinge of realism.”