Barnet thrilled by League return

By Adam Blenford

Since I was 13 years old, I've spent each season obsessed by the trials and tribulations of Barnet football club.

Watching the celebrations at Underhill last Saturday was to know that something is stirring again in this quiet corner of north London.

Barnet savour the sweet taste of victory at Underhill

Paul Fairclough's side defeated Halifax to seal their return to the Football League after a four-year absence.

When the news filtered through in 1991 that Barnet had won 4-2 away at Fisher Athletic to clinch the Conference championship, I remember being thrilled at the prospect of professional football arriving three miles from my doorstep.

The idea still thrills me in 2005 but it has been a long journey for Bees fans.

After success in 1991, Barry Fry's exciting team seemed to have the world at their feet.

Another promotion followed two seasons later, only for that team to break up amid chaos in the Underhill boardroom.

Relegation back to the bottom division - by then re-named Division Three - was followed by six easily-forgettable seasons under a string of managers.

The gloom of underachievement was only occasionally broken by the discovery of a quality player, quickly sold on, of course, and two play-off defeats.

Life may have been a little dull, but when relegation back to the Conference came in 2001, every single person connected with Barnet felt a sense of personal loss.

After losing the relegation decider against Torquay United, Barnet chairman Tony Kleanthous, a passionate man who has given his life to the club for 11 years now, could be seen sitting alone behind one of Underhill's goals, head in hands, tears running down his cheeks, utterly distraught.

For a few hours, the whole world seemed amber and black

Fans wandered across the pitch in a state of disbelief.

"This is the end of league football in Barnet," one ashen-faced supporter told me. "Forever."

On Saturday, Kleanthous was crying again, but this time they were tears of joy.

After a scintillating season of goals and attacking football, his team clinched the Conference championship and sealed promotion back to League Two.

Fairclough, who was denied promotion nine years ago because of ground problems after winning the Conference with Stevenage Borough, was also wracked with emotion.

Fairclough hails triumphant Bees

When he sprinted up to the directors' box to embrace his chairman, the 3,924 fans packed into Underhill nearly raised the old stadium's ramshackle roof.

Unlike some small clubs, for whom relegation to the Conference is the spur for wholesale changes behind the scenes, most of those steering the good ship Barnet were there when it struck the iceberg four years ago.

Only one player - local boy Ben Strevens - remains from the team relegated in 2001.

But off the pitch the fans, directors and commercial staff are largely the same.

It was easy to pick out the happy smiles on the faces of all those who had stuck by the club through some tough times.

It felt like redemption.

Hours later, with the party still in full swing, manager and players came to toast their success with jubilant fans in a local pub.

They mingled with the masses, wearing broad smiles and raising a glass of champagne. For a few hours, the whole world seemed amber and black.

The reality is Barnet still face an uncertain future and have three years to upgrade Underhill or face expulsion from the league.

But to be expelled from a league you have to be in it first and for Barnet fans that's enough for now.