Authority seems determined to drive Barnet FC out of borough

12:14pm Thursday 25th May 2006

It is with growing concern that I watch the continuing abject plight of the football club I support.

Barnet FC have been victimized, bullied and cajoled into a corner by a council which seemingly despises the thought of a successful, community-based football team being based in the locality.

Barnet Council has used every legal device within its powers to delay and frustrate the attempts of the Barnet FC board led by its dedicated and eternally optimistic chairman, Tony Klenathous to either redevelop Underhill or move Barnet to another part of the borough. They have taken the club to the highest courts in the land and have made it throw good money after bad as planning application after planning application has been unreasonably rejected by this council.

All the more frustrating is the construction of the Emirates Stadium, which Arsenal move to next season. This ground is a hundred times larger than anything Barnet would want to build, yet no-one can even begin to compare the local political opposition to that faced by Barnet.

Make no mistake, with the Priory Grove debacle ongoing there is every chance this club could be playing its football in exile next season. Any takers for a trip to Stevenage Borough next season to watch Barnet Exiles in action?

Julian Hunt
St Augustine's Avenue, Wembley