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For the love of the game
This morning The Daily Telegraph has an interesting article written by Ricky George about Barnet and its chairman.
It contrasts the gap between Newcastle chairman Freddie Shepherd and Tony Kleanthous and illustrates how the wait for promotion will be worthwhile should Barnet achieve their aim.
Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous has a simple explanation as to why he has spent the last 10 years of his life and nearly £3 million of his own money devoted to the survival of a tiny football club in North London: "For the love of the game."
Kleanthous has had to endure worry, frustration and heartache over the years and pay a small fortune for the privilege. Now there is light at the end of a tunnel that for years must have seemed longer than the Northern line.
This morning, Barnet sit proudly at the top of the Nationwide Conference, 13 points clear of second-placed Carlisle United, undefeated away from home, and with a goal difference of plus 39 -not even Chelsea can get within a mile of that.
Relegation from the Football League in 2001, expensive High Court cases battling against an unhelpful Barnet Council, a play-off defeat last season, ongoing stadium issues and failed planning applications have contrived to turn the 38-year-old chairman's hair grey.
But whatever the present colour of his 'Barnet', Kleanthous is not getting it cut. "As soon as we went top of the league in September," he explained, "I vowed not to have a haircut while we remained in first place. If I look like Ozzie Osbourne in May I'll be a very happy man."
Barnet's young side, managed by former Stevenage boss Paul Fairclough, show no signs of not wishing to turn their chairman into a hippie and the bookies now have the Bees priced as near certainties at 4-9 to be Conference champions. The emphatic 3-1 win at Gravesend on Saturday was achieved in style, after a difficult first half during which `Fleet' held sway and the lead at half-time.
"I've seen players at Barnet over the years who thought they were men," Kleanthous said after the game, "but these boys are truly men." Former Tottenham and Orient defender Ian Hendon, 32, captains a squad of which nine players are under 21, including midfielder Dean Sinclair who started his career at Norwich City.
Non-League football is littered with former Premiership and Football League scholarship players and young pros that didn't make it - a point that should not be lost on the rest of football and those who seek to run it. Men like Newcastle United Chairman Freddy Shepherd, who, as opposed to the Tony Kleanthous's of this world, is paid handsomely (salary and benefits package amounted to £591,639 in 2002-03) for running the club he says he serves "for the love of it".
Shepherd's recent crass dismissal of the rest of football outside the Premiership provoked a furious response in non-League circles: "Where do people like Shepherd think that kids like Sinclair end up?" said Kleanthous. "What is football supposed to do, just drop them off the edge? Why shouldn't they have the dream, why shouldn't we have the dream? It's a very selfish point of view."
Other non-League chairmen were equally succinct, like Accrington Stanley's Eric Whalley, whose club went full-time again this season after 42 years in the wilderness. "Don't tell me Shepherd gets paid for making those stupid comments", he said. "He should go and get a proper job. It shows what level of football he's been brought up with; if he'd done the rounds he'd be able to comment. I've strong views on football, and I hate people who try to decry the commitment at this level. He doesn't know what he's talking about."
Ben Robinson, chairman of Burton Albion, who are about to move to a new stadium, said: "The game as a whole needs the little clubs. Is Shepherd saying forget about the FA Cup as well? Sky call the tune at the moment, but what happens when the money runs out? It's elitism at its worst. The whole spectrum of football is at risk from people like Shepherd, the money should filter its way down to development in schools, not continually be thrown at players."
Nationwide Conference chief executive, John Moules said: "This is the second time in 12 months that a leading figure in the Premiership has made a similar comment. Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon predicted only 40 full-time clubs in the near future and now Shepherd says the Premier League will run football. When attendances at that level are dropping, how does that equate with the fact that The Conference attracted over a million fans last season?"
Kleanthous concluded: "I think Freddy wants to take his ball away so we can't play with it". Tell that to the Barnet supporters.