The Tweets of the Week - Barnet FC promotion special

Last Saturday, Barnet FC returned to the Football League. Two years ago when they were relegated, disgraced ex councillor Brian Coleman posted a tweet saying how pleased he was to see them go down. Brian savoured the moment, which seemed to spell the demise of the club he hates.

Now they are back, one or two Barnet fans used the opportunity to have their say. So for this week only, we are cancelling the Friday joke and giving you a selection of some of the best.

1. My old schoolmate, Barnet FC nut and friends reunited mogul Steve Pankhurst had this to say

Steve Pankhurst ‏@spankyhurst Apr 25

@BrianColeman251 after your disgraceful tweet 2 years when #BarnetFC got relegated I can now happily stick 2 fingers up back at you

2. Michael Hanley, an old friend of this blog agreed with young Steve

Michael Hanley ‏@hanlemic Apr 25

@spankyhurst @BrianColeman251 Rejoice! Rejoice! Break out the Bucks Fizz.

3. Even the local Arsenal fans were happy to join the party!
 

Chris Neal ‏@CNGooner Apr 26

@BrianColeman251 Barnet back in the football league #barnetfc #badgeofhonour #dealwithit

4. Mat Smit is clearly a man of few words, but they say a good picture says 1,000 words and this is a great picture!

Mat Smit ‏@SM05DOG Apr 26

@BrianColeman251

5. One somehow gets the feeling that Olly isn't a big fan of our Brian!

olly ‏@ollym__ Apr 26

Oi @BrianColeman251, we just got promoted back to the Football League. Hope you're enjoying your Bucks Fizz you prick!

6. Joe Ferris shows touching concern for Brians feelings!
 

- ‏@Joeferris147 Apr 26

@BrianColeman251 barnet's going up how do you feel?

7. Marco Berni Art is rather proud of the new Barnet FC stadium

Marco Berni Art ‏@MarcoBerni_Art Apr 27

@BrianColeman251 Hi Brian! Guess what?We're in the football league! Been down to The Hive yet to see the community asset we have? #Champions

8.  And rather touchingly Marco also quotes Brians hero Maggie Thatcher in his next effort!

Marco Berni Art ‏@MarcoBerni_Art Apr 27

@BrianColeman251 Here's the highlights, rejoice rejoice! It was great http://sport.bt.com/all-the-goals/goals-barnet-2-0-gateshead-91363977730332?s_intcid=con_BTS_HP_CarAsset … #bees #champions #barnetfc #WeAreTheChampions

9.Nigel Adderley has a bit of sympathy for Brians postie! I hope he gets a bonus this week

Nigel Adderley ‏@nadderley Apr 25

I hope Brian Coleman gets a bulging post bag from celebrating Barnet fans after his reaction to their relegation two years ago...

10. And finally... We asked Brian if he planned to congratulat his local team, sadly Brian didn't have it in his big heart to reply

Rog T ‏@Barneteye Apr 27 Walthamstow, London

Brian, aren't you going to congratulate your local team on promotion http://barneteye.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/barnet-fc-back-in-league-but-not-in.html … … @BarnetFC @BarnetTories @BrianColeman251

 To all you Bees fans out there, congratulations we are proud of our local team. Whilst it is rather sad that our most famous disgraced ex councillor can't join in the fun, at least he has given us a little extra enjoyment in this most happy of weeks.

Barnet FC Back in the League but not in the London Borough of Barnet

On Saturday, I left the borders of the London Borough of Barnet, visiting The London Borough of Harrow. I was visiting The Hive, the "temporary" home of Barnet FC. It was the last day of the Conference Season and Barnet had to at least equal the result of Bristol Rovers FC to gain promotion back to the Football League. I was slightly nervous about going. Although Barnet have had a brilliant season, the two games I've attended they've lost. The first was back in 2014 when they lost by the odd goal to Wrexham. I thought Barnet were pretty awful on that occasion. The next game was against Grimsby Town, when Barnet were even worse, losing 1-3. Barnet had been relatively comfortable  up until then, but that result allowed Bristol Rovers back into the race. In fact every game I've seen this season has resulted in the team I wanted to win playing badly and losing. I support three clubs. My "main" team is Manchester City, who I've supported since a boy. I've always supported Barnet as my local "non league" team and Watford as my local club. As I work on Saturdays, I don't get to many games. As both Watford and Barnet have been promoted this season, it has been a good season for my 2nd and 3rd teams. As regards City, keeping things in perspective, when they were playing Gillingham in the 3rd tier play off final back in 1999, I'd have settled for Champions League football, so I shouldn't be too greedy.




Fortunately Barnet did not fluff their lines this time. They put in a Champions performance. Man of the match was Mauro Vilhete who capped a brilliant performance with two goals. The atmosphere was fantastic and at the final whistle the ground exploded with a mass pitch invasion of fans celebrating. It took an eternity for the pitch to clear. To the annoyance of the fans in the main stand, the presention boards were put up so that the fans couldn't see the presentation, with huge cries of "Turn it round" and "you don't know what you're doing" ringing around the ground. Whilst it was clear that the club wanted the TV pictures to have a packed stand as a backdrop, I felt it was disrespectful to fans who'd paid to watch. It seems that in this day and age, fans have become satge props and TV is the boss.

So Barnet are back, but they are not are they. The relegation from the League coincided with the move from Underhill in Barnet to The Hive in Harrow. The Hive is a fantastic complex, but the bottom line is that the club are not in Barnet. When the Tories won the council election in 2002, they declared war on the club. For reasons I have never quite fathomed, the council decided that Barnet is not a football town. I suspect much of this was snobbery from the likes of ex Tory Councillor Brian Coleman, who made it quite clear that he thought football was not for middle class Tory voters. Attempts to improve Underhill were blocked and the club was eventually forced to look elsewhere.

The sad thing is that the Council let their prejudice and snobbery override common sense. Having a successful football team is a great advert for a Town or City. Look at Manchester. Whilst Birmingham is London's 2nd city, Manchester is globally known for its football clubs. This has helped the city to attract inward investments. Every time the football results are read out, towns with a football team get their profile raised.

On Saturday, thousands of people turned up for the match. The club employs dozens of stewards, bar staff, groundsmen, coaches, etc. All of this brings prosperity to the local area. Shops, pubs and restaurants get a boost as people need to eat / drink before and after games. Mill Hill has seen a similar boost from Saracens.

Another interesting difference is the fact that Harrow seem to have a far better relationship with Barnet fans in regard to parking. The "Saracens exclusion zone" CPZ is a nightare for residents and business. It is badly thought out and badly implemented. A five hour exclusion period when 1/2 hour would suffice is perhaps the most bonkers policy that Barnet Council has yet to come up with.

In the program for Barnet FC, there is an appeal for cash to help raise a planning permission for a return to Barnet. The club have said that if fans can raise £75,000 for a planning request, then they will submit an application to return to Barnet. I happen to think that Barnet Council owe the fans a debt of honour to facilitate this and move the club back. The purpose of Barnet Council is to serve the locality and make things better for the people who elected them. Whilst there are many priority calls that you could argue would be a better use of  £75,000, if each of the Tory councillors gave up 10% of their allowances for the next 2 years, this would easily raise the sum. As they forced the club out in the first place, it is the least they could do. I am sure pigs will fly before that happens though!

Barnet Council - Tories yet again exposed for their hatred of Football

So what is our national game? What is the game that most boys would play out of choice at school? The answer is Association Football. There are many sports played in the UK, but football is head and shoulders above the rest in terms of levels of participation, interest and affection for our young people. It is a sad fact that there is one place where this is not the case. That is here in the London Borough of Barnet. We used to have two clubs with famous histories and traditions in the Borough. Sadly both have been shafted by Barnet Council. Barnet FC were forced out of the Borough by Council intransigence and hostilty. The club now play in the London Borough of Harrow at the Hive, having finally given up on trying to get the Council to cooperate. For Hendon FC, it is even sadder. The team now groundshare with Wembley, their ground being sold to a property developer of £20 million. 

It seems that the Council have no clue about the vital role of having a local team to inspire youngsters. It goes deeper than that though. Barnet has a reputation for poor maintenance of pitches in the Borough for youth teams. I recently visited Burnt Oak lesuire centre and was dumstruck to see the state  of the youth football pitch. The season has only just started, but the pitch is in a highly dodgy state. The number of playing fields that the council has concreted over in the Borough or left to fall into rack and ruin is scandalous. Within a couple of miles from my house we've lost Pavillion Road and the Mill Hill Sports club in recent years. There now seems to be a massive question mark over the future of Mill Hill Village FC, a club which has been around for over 100 years. It seems that there are issues with the lease on the ground. There is a suspicion that the council sees such sites as prime real estate.

For some reason, whilst Barnet Council hate local football clubs, they love rugby. Now I personally have no issue with Rugby, I've been to Saracens RFC a few times. I am however appalled by the double standard. Saracens RFC have had a huge subsidy from Barnet Council in the form of  a "sweetheart deal" on their Copthall ground. Now the ground clearly was decrepid before the Saracens development and they've done a great job, but given the lack of previous ties to the Borough, one has to point out the double standard.

The latest example of anti football bias is revealed in a press release on the Barnet Council website. It seems that any sport is encouraged in Barnet apart from football. I was pleased to see a press release on the Barnet Council website announcing funding from Sport England to get young people off their backsides and into a sport (http://www.barnet.gov.uk/news/article/591/sport_england_funding_helps_barnet_young_people_get_in_shape) which is clearly a step in the right direction. Then I read what the press release and I was horrified. It seems that any sport except football is encouraged.  Read these snippets

The Sport England money will be combined with additional funding from Barnet Council’s Public Health and Children Services departments, the Saracens Foundation and Middlesex University to create a £3000,000 project fund.Young people will be able to take part in a range of coaching sessions in sports and activities including basketball, rugby, boxing, athletics, self defence and dance. They will also have the chance to take part in a number of ‘come and try’ days.

 It goes on

Councillor Helena Hart said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive funding from the Community Sport Activation Fund which will allow us to develop our sport and physical activity offer to 14 to 25-year-olds.We will offer a selection of sports and physical activity sessions ranging from self-defence, athletics, basketball, Tai Chi and much more. Young people will be able to have their say about how they can get into sport and I am sure it will encourage them to come back for more.”

As you can see no mention at all of football. Now of course all of these sports are great things to get involved with and all should be encouraged. We have to wonder why in Barnet there is such a bias against our national game? Now it may very well be an oversight. It may well be that there is money in the pot for football (we sincerely hope so) but how could you fail to mention it. It would be like setting up a Battle of Britain museum appeal and not mentioning the RAF.

I've raised this seeming blindspot on serveral occasions with Barnet Tory Councillors. They've all assurred me that there is no "anti football" policy, but not a single one has ever been able to quote a single example of anything where Barnet Council were promoting our national sport. Once again, I am throwing down the guantlet to Barnet Council. Get behind our national game. Tell us what you are doing for young footballers to help and encourage them. We'd be the first to promote any scheme which was good for football in the Borough so tell us about it. My son plays under 15 football for a local club, Watling Youth FC. Guess what the council did to their clubhouse/centre? You've got it. The Watling Boys club building was recently demolished for "new homes". What I see every week is dozens of parents taking excited youngsters for what is the highlight of their week. Like me they stand for a couple of hours at the side of the pitch, come rain or shine. I've seen the boys in the team grow up and I've seen the dedication and hard work they put in. Is it too much to ask for a bit of support from our local Council.

The Saturday List #47 - The seven deadly sins - The most missed seven things in Barnet

As is the tradition, we like to have a list on a Saturday. We've had a pretty full on week with the Your Choice Barnet Week, so here is a bit of a change. I thought I'd list the seven things which we've lost from living in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a personal list

1. Barnet FC - The club still exist but now they play in Cannons Park, Harrow. A crime and a scandal.

2. Edgware General Hospital. I was born there, but first the Tories, then Labour shafted us and we lost our hospital. Now we have to go to Barnet General and wait for hours

3. Woolworths. I don't care what anyone said. Every High Street needs a Woolworths. I loved it and my kids loved it. Don't believe the porkies that it was an outdated business model. The company was shafted by asset strippers, who flogged off the properties, took all the money out and then crashed the company. If you own shares in any company where they flog off the properties, my advice is run a mile (please note this is not financial advice, as I am not qualified to give it, just a personal view).

4. Hendon FC. Another great football club shafted by the Council.

5. Watling Boys Club. A community asset in the heart of one of the more deprived parts of Barnet.

6. The Oriental Centre. The heart of the local Asian community. A great food hall and a much loved centre. Shafted by greedy property developers and left to rot.

7. Mill Hill Swimming Pool. Forget the Garden Centre, the real crime of Barnet Council was closing Mill Hill Swimming Pool, bequeathed to the people of Mill Hill in perpetuity as a community asset. This covenant was ignored by a greedy council who flogged it off as a Garden Centre. I always felt bitter about this, which is why I was totally ambivalent about the campaign to save the Garden Centre.

Congratulations to Barnet Council on the destruction of our local football team

Yesterday Barnet FC were relegated to the Conference. I rather suspect that there will be a lot of rather pleased local Conservative Councillors. Under the Labour/Lib Dem administration in power until 2002, the club was well supported by the Council and worked together to try and build a footballing legacy. The local Conservatives were deeply suspicious of this and used this "cosy relationship" as stick to try and beat the outgoing regime with. An audit inspection of the sale of Underhill was launched by the new administration, hoping to find a set of "financial irregularities" with which to beat the outgoing regime. They spent nearly £1 million on this witch hunt and all they achieved was to line the pockets of a lot of accountants and lawyers. After years of investigations, the report was "inconclusive".

The relationship between the council and the club became toxic. Barnet for many years wanted to move to a 10,000 seat stadium at Copthall. The Tories opposed this by hook or by crook. At the last election, their leaflets were packed with lies about the Lib Dems proposing a new stadium for football at Copthall. This won the Tories the Mill Hill Ward. What they didn't tell voters was that Saracens RFC would move in and that virtually the whole of Mill Hill would be in parking lockdown every other Saturday of the Rugby season. They also neglected to tell anyone that Saracens need a 15,000 seat stadium for Heineken Cup games.

Now don't get me wrong, I hope Saracens is a success. I may be being controversial and say I hope they get the Stadium upgrade as well. The 10,000 current visitors have not caused gridlock. The council could turn around to Saracens and say "yes, you can have the extra capacity, if you install electronic parking signs that will restrict the parking CPZ to 1 hour". Saracens would be more than happy to comply.

Sadly the football club that had been in Barnet for many years, has been starved of investment due to the constraints of Underhill. The result is that they were relegated yesterday and that they are moving to the Hive in Harrow next season. Make no mistake, a different regime would have a totally different policy and would make it work for everyone. Look at Manchester City Council. They worked with Manchester City FC to build a new stadium, a new tram line, a massive sporting complex and have regenerated a really run down part of the city. Even better the club has attracted wealthy buyers and has started winning silverware. That is what an enlightened council can achieve.

Barnet Council could have worked with the Mayor and TFL to extend the Northern Line to the ground. This area also has three large schools in the proximity, which would benefit from better transport connections. It would remove traffic an be good for commuters.

The new Allianz Park stadium is magnificent. It is something everyone locally should be proud of. It offers world class Athletics training facilities as well as Rugby. I could see a situation where eventually Barnet FC share the ground with Saracens. It makes perfect sense for such resources to be used and having the club back in the Borough would be welcomed by all football supporters.

That will only happen when this Conservative administration is replaced by one which cares about the locality. Lets hope that will happen in May 2014

From Underhill to the Hive - A short video by Steve Pankhurst

Barnet FC supporter and Friends Reunited creator Steve Pankhurst has made a video highlighting the reason that most Barnet Football Club fans oppose the move to the Hive. Guest videos and blogs are always welcome at the Barnet Eye

The Saracens at Barnet Copthall - Who's naming rights?

Lets get this right. Barnet Council granted Saracens a long lease on a peppercorn rent to "regenerate Barnet Copthall". It now appears that Saracens have sold the naming rights to the Stadium for £8 million to Allianz - a German finacial services group. The deal is for six years. The money will pay towards the £20 million redevelopment of Copthall.

On the face of it, this is a good deal for Barnet isn't it? A new stadium and new facilities a no cost to the taxpayer? Erm hang on a second, lets think this through. Saracens have a budget of £20 million for redevelopment, but presumable they are financing this with a loan? Assuming Saracens stay for 99 years, the term of their lease, they will (at todays prices) receive £99 million pounds over the term of the lease for the naming rights, in return for spending £20 million doing the stadium up. Barnet council received a sum of £1.8 million in respect of the site. All of this takes no account of ticket sales, merchandising and other hires etc.

This blog has no objections to the Saracens Rugby Club, but they are a private company and have in effect been given a huge amount of taxpayer sponsored help with this deal. As a football fan, I m dismayed at the double standard applied to a Rugby club as opposed to a football club. Barnet FC are the local club, but have been driven out of the Borough. The Council attached no value to the benefit of having a leage club with the name of the Borough. Every time the football scores are read out, the profile of Barnet is raised. What does Saracens playing at the Allianz Arena do for Barnet? Nothing. Local people objected to Barnet FC because they perceived traffic and congestion. They see no difference at all between football traffic and rugby traffic. They feel betrayed by Barnet Council.

As far as I'm concerned the Barnet taxpayer has been taken to the cleaners in this deal. They have in effect given the ground away, the Rugby club are getting someone else to pay for the work, the local people will bear the brunt of the traffic (unlike Barnet FC, most Saracens fans live outside the Borough) and we've lost our local football cflub to Harrow Council. In a splendid irony, it doesn't seem to have occurred to the Borough planners that fans attending Barnet FC games in Harrow (most of whom will be driving from the East of the Borough) will collide with Saracens fans traffic (most of whom are currently based in Watford and Hertfordshire) in Mill Hill at Apex Corner on match days.

Like most things involved with Barnet Council, there is no forethought and we look as if we've got the usual mix of financial ineptitude and incovenience for the general public.

The Guardian reported on the deal today - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/24/saracens-allianz-park-stadium - sadly they seem to have missed the nuances of the deal.

Saracens at Copthall - Brian Coleman scores an own goal and loses the dressing room

I got an excited phonecall from one of my friends in the Conservative group on Barnet Council last night. "Did you hear what happened at the meeting last night?" No actually, I'd been playing five a side football and drinking beer. "Coleman nearly got chased out of the Town Hall". My ears perked up. I'm pretty neutral on Saracens. I would much rather see Barnet FC move there and believe it would be an affront to natural justice if they don't and Saracens do. But on the other hand, I don't believe that Saracens proposal should not receive a fair hearing and it has many merits for the wider Barnet community. I am uncomfortable about the implications of any overdevelopment on the Green Belt as well. The trouble is that if we want 1st class sports facilities in a Borough like Barnet, someone somewhere will have to have a bit of disruption. I've not really got much sympathy for NIMBY's generally. I have the M1 motorway and the Midland Mainline railway at the bottom of my garden. So at the end of the day, I guess I'm agnostic on Saracens.

At the meeting to discuss the proposal, it seems Brian Coleman wasn't agnostic. He came out as soundly opposed to the Saracens. This did not play well. It got even worse when he gave his reason "it will cause parking issues". Uproar ensued. If Coleman was in any doubt as to what the general opinion of his various bonkers parking scheme. The place erupted. Not only that, but his colleagues present sat stoney faced. It is clear that the penny has finally dropped that Coleman could destroy them.

Apparently Mill Hill Tory John Hart made a fine intervention, in a bold attempt to show that not every Barnet Conservative is completely bonkers and out to shaft anyone who has ever supported the party. John Hart is one of a few Tories who realise the stupidity of much of what goes on. He has a simple plan. As he's 137 years old and counting, he just waits for all of his colleagues to die. He's already outlived six generations of preceding Tories (only joking he's not quite that old). John is one of the few Barnet Tories who is quite entertaining in private. He likes a good joke, but sadly has found himself in an administration which is rapidly becoming the laughing stock of London. He is astute enough to realise that now is a good time to divorce himself from Brian Colemans policies.

My informant in the Tory ranks tells me that rebellion is in the air. There are now a majority of Tory Councillors who privately realise Coleman is a liability. I asked if they had the bottle for a public "et tu Brutus" style knifing in the council chamber. The response was rather interesting "I think things will become rather interesting".

My advice to all Tory voters in Barnet, who are disgusted at the Parking charges is as follows :-

Go to this page on the Council website :-

http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/wardmap.asp?intSubSectionID=-1&intSectionID=9

This is a map of Barnet. Click on your ward. This will tell you when your councillors have their surgery. Go along and tell them what you think of Barnet Council and their parking policies. Once you've done that, if you don't like what they said, email me via the link in the sidebar and tell me, and I'll share it with the whole of Barnet.

I have been inundated with guest blogs, comments and emails recently. The message I am getting loud and clear is that people across the whole spectrum are completely fed up. Oh and the Saracens bid was approved. In my Mystic Rog role, I make 2 predictions.

1) Saracens will move to Copthall and it will be a major asset for Rugby fans

2) Barnet FC will move out of The London Borough of Barnet and football fans across the Borough will never forgive the local Tories.

This seems to be the Tory mantra. Divide and rule.

Barnet Council accused of trying to close down Barnet Football club.

Barnet Council has been accused by Barnet FC of trying to force the club out of Underhill and out of the Borough. The full report is here on the Barnet FC website -

http://www.barnetfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10431~2459648,00.html

I am disgusted. The club accuse Barnet Council of trying to prevent vehicle access to the ground (access which has been fine for years). They are trying to reduce the footprint of the club and cut the numbers allowed into the ground. In short they are trying to kill the club (or at least force it out of Barnet).

It is truly disgusting that the Council is acting in this way. Most councils see a league club as a tremendous asset and do everything they can to help them. Barnet could be a force driving fitness and educational quality in Barnet. Instead we have a completely blinkered Tory administration, which seems to be conducting a love affair with a Rugby club from outside the Borough, knifing our local club in the back.

The idiots clearly do not see the benefit and the huge prestige of having a league club. How many other London Boroughs get their profile raised every time the football scores are read out? Barnet FC are not my first club, but they are most definately my second. It is time for everyone who cares about football to get behind the club. I will be writing to both Andrew  Dismore and Brian Coleman, who are battling it out for a GLA seat to see what their position is on Barnet FC and what they intend to do. I will reproduce any response I receive in this blog. Here is the email :-

From: Roger Tichborne

To: Coleman, Cllr Brian Conservative ; Andrew Dismore

Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 11:05 PM

Subject: Barnet Football Club being forced out of Barnet

Dear Councillor Coleman and Mr Dismore,

 

I am writing to you as prospective GLA candidates (and in the case of Councillor Coleman GLA representative and Barnet Council cabinet member) to ask your position with regard to the licensing dispute between Barnet Council and Barnet Football club .

 

(please see this link - http://www.barnetfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10431~2459648,00.html)

 

Please could you answer the following questions regarding the club.

 

a) Do you agree that having a Football league club in the Borough is a huge assett to Barnet?

b) Do you want to see Barnet FC relocate to another London Borough?

c) Will you be making representations to Barnet Council and the Mayor of London to sort the situation out and allow Barnet Fc to continue to provide great enjoyment to many people in the London Borough of Barnet?

d) Have you been, or will you be speaking to Mr Kleanthous (Chairman of Barnet FC) to seek to assist the club and resolve this ridiculous dispute.

 

I will be publishing any response to this email on the Barnet Eye for the 1,000 + a day readers of the blog. Please feel free to add any comments you may have regarding the situation.

 

Regards

Roger Tichborne

www.barneteye.blogspot.com

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I await their answers. I sincerely hope every football loving voter bears this in mind when the time comes to vote at the next Council & GLA elections.

Barnet FC accuse Barnet Council of failing football in Barnet

Today the Chairman of Barnet Football Club, Tony Kleanthous issued a statement accusing Barnet Council of failing the club. Here is his statement in full (originally printed here on Barnet FC website - http://www.barnetfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10431~2441820,00.html)

The Barnet Eye fully supports Barnet FC. We believe that Barnet Council has behaved in an atrocious manner towards the club. Association Football is the national game. Barnet FC are a successful club and it is atrocious that their role in the community is not valued and cherished. The Barnet Eye has no arguement with Saracens Rugby Football Club, but we believe it is unfair to seemingly favour a club with no ties to Barnet over our local team. The local Conservative party in Mill Hill have shown a complete disdain for football, opposing an application for a pavillion and clubhouse for Kentish Town FC (ave attendance 30) at Chase Lodge playfields, whilst backing a 10,000 seat Stadium proposal for Saracens Rugby Football Club.

Barnet Council are also trying to force football away from various locations, such as Mill Hill Sports Club and have sold off many playing fields for redevelopment. It is time for Barnet Council to start treating our local clubs with the same respect they treat the multi millionaire backers of some of the schemes forcing well loved local facilities out. Please sign the petition to Save Mill Hill Sports Club (at the top of sidebar), once you have read this blog
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Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous has broken his silence about the much publicised multi-million pound Saracens relocation plans for Copthall Stadium in a statement issued by the club today. He accuses Barnet Council of contravening the Local Government Act which states that the council MUST obtain best value for any site it disposes of in the borough.
The statement also accuses the council of using delaying tactics, failing to resolve assurances made to Barnet FC in recent years and making it impossible for Barnet FC to operate at Underhill. The council have told the club they do not have any land for it to develop a stadium ... even though they were secretly agreeing to go ahead with plans for Saracens to relocate.
"It is quite clear they want to push football out and move rugby in", says the hard-hitting statement. "Despite Barnet FC having more than 120 years of history as a community club in the area, they seem to want to clear us away".
The chairman reveals in the statement that the football club had an application for a new stadium at Copthall almost ready to go before the Planning Committee but the council would not provide the club with the land assurances needed. The club now realises this was because they had already committed to give the site away to the Saracens, who want to take over Barnet FC's home turf.
The football club was not advised in advance of the Saracens plans, which appeared out of the blue in a Press announcement during last season, despite ongoing discussions with councillors and officers over the years about the long standing Barnet FC wish to build a new stadium in the borough.
Saracens have been offered a virtual freehold for the multi acre stadium site at Copthall for free; Barnet FC have been asked for more than £200,000 just to renew the lease of their 5 - acre cricket club site to the south of Underhill.
When the current Saracens plans were revealed last season, the council asked Barnet not to object to the planning and promised to deal with outstanding land issues at Underhill, including the car park area and access and lighting for Priory Grove whilst finding an alternative site for the football club, which has been in Barnet since 1888. However, the issues at Underhill were left unresolved and the club were then told that NO site was available for them.
The previous Barnet FC application to move to Copthall was called in and turned down by the Minister (John Prescott) ten years ago after Barnet Council and Ken Livingstone, leader of the Greater London Council at the time, had given approval. Copthall was kept on the agenda in recent months during ongoing talks between the club and council but the council constantly refused to back a stadium for Barnet FC on the site.
"Our supporters should know what's going on", said the chairman, "Life has become very difficult since Mike Freer left as Leader of Barnet Council to become an MP. To compound matters we also have Saracens regularly approaching our sponsors and commercial partners driving money out of Barnet FC and the local Barnet community".
In the last few months the club has sent legal letters to Barnet Council, to which they have yet to receive a full response, and have lobbied the London Mayor's Office. "The Mayor seems very well informed and has a good grasp of the importance of a community based sports club like ours, we hope we can rely on his officers' intervention to prevent this appalling situation from going any further" said the chairman.
Barnet FC employs nearly 200 local people on a full and part - time basis and has 11community officers working in the borough for the community. The council have consistently attacked the club's existence since 2002 and efforts to gain the support of MP Theresa Villiers have failed to resolve the difficulties the club faces.
Barnet FC has had a volatile, even hostile, relationship with the council in recent years. This improved when Councillor Freer was the leader but the latest developments suggest that it has slipped back.
"Now the dust has settled on the new football season we feel our supporters and the community should know what is going on behind the scenes", says the chairman.

Proof that Barnet Council is run by a bunch of C**ts who don't give a S**t about the people who live here

Tow stories dominate the Hendon Times website right now. This one


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8938701.Hopes_of_recreating_community_centre_dashed/

This story details how a plan to set up a community centre in one of the most deprived parts of Barnet (Burnt Oak) was rejected last night by Barnet Council and the sale of the site to Property developers was approved instead. The reason for rejecting the proposal

rejected because they wanted a “substantial” council grant in order to transform the building

The other Story :-
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/8939086.Saracens_granted_99_year_lease_on_Copthall_site/

This details how the site of Copthall Stadium has been sold on a 99 year lease to a bunch of South African businessmen, to bring a Rugby team to Barnet. They are getting a massive site in the heart of Mill Hill for £1 a year. This is in effect a massive subsidy to a commercial venture. This just sums Barnet up. They won't support local groups who have 100% community support, but they'll bend over backwards to accomodate rich businessmen from outside of the Borough who have slick PR operations.

Barnet Council have done everything they can under the Tories to drive out Barnet FC. They ran an election campaign in Mill Hill opposing a development of Kentish Town FC on the grounds that a stand for 50 people would "damage the green belt". I have nothing against Rugby clubs or Saracens, but Barnet FC are established in the Borough and offered a far better deal for the residents. Both schemes bring huge traffic issues and disturbance for local residents. The difference is that Barnet are a part of the community already. Saracens are not.

As for the 30 hours community use our South African friends have promised. We've all seen what happens to these sort of deals once the facility is up and running. This whole business makes me feel sick. When even Brian Coleman says he has reservations, you have to wonder. I don't suppose the Fat Controller would be so good as to share these reservations with us, would he.

Barnet FC 2 - Accrington Stanley 0

So last night my daughter announced she had a free ticket, courtesy of her school for the Barnet FC match today. She was swimming in the Copthall club championships, so asked if the boy wanted it. Of course he said yes. Next thing, it transpires his best friend had also acquired one. I don't need much of an excuse to watch football, so at 2pm, off we set for Underhill.

Having procured 3 sausage sarnies and a few drinks, we took our seats, directly behing the goal. Having purchased a program, I was saddened to hear that former Hendon Times editor and Barnet FC stalwart Dennis Signy is rather unwell. I know Dennis reads the blog, get well soon (pass it on if you are a family member going to see him). A card was being signed at the ground.

Anyway, on to the football. The good news - Barnet won 2-0 with Izzy McLeod scoring two cracking goals. The bad news - Accrington were by far the better team and probably had 5-6 decent chances. Barnet had two and McLeod finished them clinically. I don't get up to Underhill often, but I was chatting with some of the regulars and they said it was actually their worst performance for a while. being behind the Accrington goal in the first half, we had a grandstand view of the Barnet goals and saw Accrington rattle the bar from a free kick in the second half.

The boys had a good time. It is great to see the club giving youngsters a free day out. The crowd was one of the biggest of the season and the family stand was packed. I hope it is the turning point for Barnet, with the win lifting them out of the relegation zone. Knowing Dennis Signy is a rather superstitious chap, I hope he doesn't stay on dialysis for the rest of the season, because he thinks it will bring Barnet luck. If you have kids and they get a ticket, take them along. It is a great way to spend the afternoon. It was good to see a few of my boys mates in the stand, having taken advantage of the same deal.

Jack Cohen spills the beans on the next Mill Hill Lib Dem Councillor

Bumped into Lib Dem leader Jack Cohen, on his way home from the Barnet FC match last night. Jack seemed to be in a rather jovial mood.When I asked him why, he said that he was rather pleased because the Lib Dems had just completed the initial phase of selecting their candidates for the next council elections in May. Who may these candidates be, I enquired. Jack teasingly replied "We have some really strong candidates and the Tories will be rather worried when they hear". Oh come on Jack, I pushed. You know that the Barnet Eye is the sole of discretion. Jack laughed He said "That's funny, Hugh Rayner (The Tory Deputy Mayor) asked me exactly the same thing". Jack continued "He nearly had a heart attack when I told him". I pressed "Jack, if you told Hugh, surely you can tell me". Jack continued. "I told him that it's John". I was puzzled "John who". Jack went on "John Hart (currently a Mill Hill Tory)". I was amazed, John Hart is a dyed in the wool, true blue. "John Hart has defected to the Liberal Democrats?"  - I know the Tories are a shambles, but this really was a scoop of gargantuan proportions.  "No, of course he hasn't, I was just winding Hugh up, his face was a picture". Jack then went on to tell me about a huge scandal concerning Hendon Football Clubs former ground in Claremont Road, which he was rather keen for me to write a blog about, but to be honest, his wind up of Hugh Rayner was far funnier. Oh and Barnet drew 1-1 with Bournemouth. I'm trying to persuade Jack to be the Barnet Eye football correspondent, but I think he's too busy winding up our local Tories to fit it in. (pictured above - Councillor John Hart)