Barnet FC chairman Tony Kleanthous this week issued another ultimatum to the council - 'find us a new home in the borough in the next eight years or we're off.

The Bees are now in a strong bargaining position after a victory in the High Court last week which means the club can sell their Underhill site after February 2012 and pocket all the profits.

"What the ruling now means is, if the council does not want the football club, we will be able to resolve our problem by buying some land in another borough because the club will have a healthier balance sheet," said Mr Kleanthous.

"But let me be absolutely clear. This is a very, very last resort. Barnet FC belong in Barnet. If the council lets us do up our existing ground as per the plans we submitted in November then effectively they have eight years to come up with an alternative site."

Mr Kleanthous unveiled a compromise package in November which involved an interim upgrade to Underhill stadium on condition that the Tories assured the club it would find them an alternative site for a stadium in Barnet. A planning application for the upgrade was submitted in December but has yet to be formally registered by the council.

"Either the council signs up to all parts of the plan or we don't bother," said Mr Kleanthous. "I am not going to do up Underhill and then not have a training ground, an academy or a new site in the borough - there's no point.

"The document was absolutely clear. It was for the support of all parts, not for the council to cherry pick the parts that suited them."

Councillor Victor Lyon, leader of the council, said he was still waiting for the results of December's public consultation to decide if he could give the Underhill upgrade his support.

"As far as I am concerned, the High Court judgment has nothing whatsoever to do with the planning application they may make for the revised footprint of Underhill. I think the two things must be treated separately."

Last week's High Court ruling will increase pressure on the Tory administration to find the club a new home within the borough. It was responsible for scuppering plans championed by the then Labour group leader Alan Williams for a £10million stadium on the Green Belt south of Underhill when it came to power in 2002.

The Tories remain reluctant to commit future administrations to finding the Bees a home - but they have supported Hendon FC's proposed move from their council-owned ground in Claremont Road, Cricklewood, to the council-owned Copthall Stadium in Mill Hill.

Moving out of the borough remains a long-term possibility for the Bees after repeated efforts to find an alternative site have foundered. If the Bees were to be promoted to the Football League, they would have just three years to build a new stadium because a troublesome slope on the Underhill pitch does not meet membership criteria.

Labour group leader Councillor Phil Yeoman said: "It's about time the Tories stopped attacking the club and started working with them. If the previous administration was guilty of anything, it was trying to find a home for Barnet FC."

Meanwhile, the council's cabinet resources committee will hear tonight that the cost of last year's independent inquiry into the sale of Underhill has risen by 200 per cent.

The inquiry, which was ordered by the Tories in January and also found no evidence of malpractice over the freehold sale, cost £46,000, not the £15,000 which the council had claimed it would last July.