Chairman's statement

[John Hunt]

A proper 4 sided ground will be marvellous and atmospheric in our spiritual home. I am enthused particularly by the proactive work of the Bring Barnet Back campaigners who are gaining a lot of traction with their efforts already and the communication flow from the club. Early days but giant leaps already. Well done all. Keep up the good work.

[DerekRocholl]

The astro pitches are not in the same part of the field as the proposed stadium. I was walking there recently and am surprised how small the available site is. I estimated the size to be about 300ms x 160ms. My conclusion is that we should not assume that this will be another Hive stadium but will be more like the size of Borehamwood. The space for functions (weddings!), match day hospitality, a gym etc would appear to be limited. Training may have to continue to be carried out at the HIve - the original purpose,I think. But it would be in Barnet!

In his first statement which you can see by following the link at the top of this thread TK said the proposal will include a 6,000 – 8,000 capacity stadium, two Multi Use Games Areas, and a formal pitch for training and playing purposes.

The capacity would therefore be about the same as the Hive currently offers, and considerably more than the 4,500 at Borehamwood, and facilities for training would be available on site.

[KneesBees99]

Realistically if we want to be taken seriously we need 10,000 seater arena- minimum

[Berlinbee]

Realistically if we want to be taken seriously we need 10,000 seater arena- minimum

I think cross that bridge when we come to it. If we’re in the Championship and getting full houses every fortnight then the case can be made. Otherwise there’s absolutely no need for us to have a stadium any bigger than 8,000

[Berlinbee]

Has anyone (SA or Bring Barnet Back) contacted the club to discuss a potential Q&A session with the chairman to discuss the plans in further detail at some point?

[EastBarnetFan]

Even 6,000 is too much.

I don’t doubt we’ll see in increase in home support should we move back but you’ll probably be looking at 2,500-3,000 max during a good season in NL/L2 at home in South Underhill (and that’s being generous).

How many home games have topped 4,000 in the last 25 years? Not many at all.

[CrawleyBee]

Even 6,000 is too much.

I don’t doubt we’ll see in increase in home support should we move back but you’ll probably be looking at 2,500-3,000 max during a good season in NL/L2 at home in South Underhill (and that’s being generous).

How many home games have topped 4,000 in the last 25 years? Not many at all.

Agree to a point, although still feel 8000 is perfect, room to grow and develop and allows away fans 2k with still plenty of room for home fans. We should be aiming to be an established league 1 club once back to Barnet. Might feel a bit ambitious but other clubs not massively bigger than us have done it.

[becbee]

Even 6,000 is too much.

I don’t doubt we’ll see in increase in home support should we move back but you’ll probably be looking at 2,500-3,000 max during a good season in NL/L2 at home in South Underhill (and that’s being generous).

How many home games have topped 4,000 in the last 25 years? Not many at all.

Some have and for that reason, we need a ground capacity of at least 6,000.

Excluding Barrow ( 2,829), the lowest ground capacity in L2 is 5,000. There are 5 grounds with a capacity between 5,000-6,000 ( maybe only 3 next season). Apart from 3 others, the rest are over 9K. I agree we don't need one that big but if we are to return to EFL, we need to appear competitive.

[EastBarnetFan]

Nothing wrong with ambition, and nothing would please me more than seeing us in L1 but some perspective is needed. Historical crowds over the past three decades would indicate even 6,000 is too big.

If 5,000 is the minimum league requirement, then I’d rather that, so we don’t end up with a ground 60% empty for your average game. A good atmosphere can be generated when the ground appears full, regardless of the number to some degree.

[Tuesds]

How many home games have topped 4,000 in the last 25 years? Not many at all.

Loads of them have! To name just a few… play off games vs Peterborough & Shrewsbury; cup games vs Plymouth, Bristol Rovers and Brentford; recent games vs Wrexham and Southend (this season); last-day dramas vs Torquay, Port Vale, Rochdale & Chesterfield; and *that* game vs Wycombe. There are several more, too.

Plus football crowds are much bigger these days. We should seek to grow our crowds in the way other lower league clubs have, and if we did we’d be pushing and even exceeding 4,000 more often.

[Mikel Bee]

With just a 6000 capacity (smaller than the Hive), for a game like Brentford you are then locking out many Barnet fans who were there from attending and likely the Gateshead title winning game too, had they brought more than 10 fans. Depending who we face in the play offs, the attendance again could be higher than 6000. We were lucky last season Borehamwood are so poorly supported which allowed home fans to use the north, as iirc the West stand had pretty much sold out.

You'd hope as a club we have ambitions to play in bigger games than National League play offs, bigger cup ties than Championship sides and in a higher division with larger away followings. Having extra capacity allows the historic, bigger games to be bigger and more fans to experience those moments.

[EastBarnetFan]

So in reality we’re looking at a couple of games a year if we’re lucky (playoff, last day decider, bumper away crowd, cup run).

They are the exception to the rule however and even then, to the previous poster, that Boreham Wood play off last year was a major disappointment attendance-wise from the home support, not the away. Only 3,733 total with 800 odd away. They had to put a giant flag to cover empty seats so it wouldn’t look so poor on telly

[Mem Beespod]

You’re seriously underestimating how many fans would suddenly come out of the woodwork. As part of the Bring Barnet Back campaign, we’ve had so many fans tell us that if we achieve our goal they’d definitely start coming back and we’ve had Arsenal and Spurs fans living in Barnet, telling us that their clubs have priced them out and they’d love to bring their kids to games

[Mikel Bee]

So in reality we’re looking at a couple of games a year if we’re lucky (playoff, last day decider, bumper away crowd, cup run).

As is normal for the majority of clubs below the Championship. Very few get anywhere close to selling out every week and have plenty of empty seats for most league games.

[Berlinbee]

I think to be able to accommodate for bigger away followings in the football league and to grow our own fan base, we need a ground bigger than 6,000. I think 7,500/8,000 would be perfect