Underhill Memories

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warwick

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70755Post warwick »

MatchingD wrote:Does your current disaffection with the Gunners have anything to do with the way the club is being run at the moment? My sense is that you will probably renew your season ticket once a Champs league place has been achieved. The reason I say this is that I am also season ticket holder at a Premiership club. I too used to watch Barnet when I was younger (solidly between 1972 and 1992 and season 2005 - 2006 more recently) and I am currently misty eyed with all the nostalgia on this message board. However, I currently prefer top level football for it's skill level to the rather muscular approach adopted by many teams in league 2 (Not what I have witnessed from Barnet this season I hasten to add), so supplement premiership football with the occasional visit to Underhill. If I still lived in Barnet it might be different.
The Club is being run for profit but it is being badly mismanaged. Arsenal is a c. £30-40m loss-making entity without Property sales and Player (Star) Trading. The fans are the mugs that pay for Wenger's salary plus those of about 15 players who are either on loan or not even on the bench. That is unacceptable, yet Wenger seems untouchable. The guy is a Dictator. Our Chief Exec earned £1.9m last year to oversee the sale of our best players and 3rd place. Madness..

At least at Barnet TK puts in his own money largely and is willing to make changes when they are needed. I appreciate that he should have picked better managers in recent seasons however. Barnet is a Community Club who deserve more of a break. Arsenal are wasting their competitive advantage at present and are indulging a Manager who is about 5 years past his sell-by-date.

You're right though. I will still go to Arsenal games but I might limit these to Away games (great support and atmosphere - Arsenal have some of the best away fans in the Country). I'll just rent out my Season Ticket to someone else and come back when the regime has changed.
MatchingD
Posts: 17
Joined: 10 Feb 2013, 13:52

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70766Post MatchingD »

just a tease - as I thought with you toying with the fantasy of watching honest football, at a down to earth honest club whilst you harbour your grudge for a manager who is struggling even though he took Arsenal to another level with the 'invincibles'. Oh well he is leaving at the end of next season.

My point though is that there are people like me who have oscillated between watching Barnet and another club. How does the club win me and others over? The premiership might be full of over paid mercenaries, but the product is arguably better.
warwick

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70769Post warwick »

The irony of the whole thing is that if The Hive was built on Underhill you'd have a real gem that would attract those dis-affected ex-Premier League match-goers. Football these days is about the money made from merchandise and match-day spend (at Least at League 2 Level in the absence of TV money). With better facilities come more "clients" willling to spend their hard-earned. The key to it is attracting families and not the hardcore. It's no coincidence that the Emirates is a soul-less bowl but one of the biggest money-making exercises in London. The hardcore buy their Season Ticket at Arsenal but refuse to spend a bean on merchandise or food and beverage. Day trippers however are happy to be fleeced in the Club shop. That's why the Club don't give a hoot about the fans. The issue is that The Hive appears to be in the middle of nowhere with crap transport links....(Arsenal's traiining ground is the same and I can't envisage a situation where Arsenal played their games there). I fear for the success of Barnet at The Hive unless ED stays and he builds a side that plays entertaining and consistently match-winning football. Otherwise you could be out on a limb hoping that the Club can fully subscribe the gym, rent out the function suites and sell on the odd un-earthed gem (as Barnet have been doing for the last couple of decades).

Anyway enough of Arsenal. Wenger did a lot for Arsenal. He's now just in it for himself and his ambition in the game disappeared years ago. Better to have a hungry young manager who Barnet do now.
Tuesds
Posts: 3341
Joined: 27 Jan 2011, 12:26

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70771Post Tuesds »

Spot on about the importance of attracting families warwick.

While I agree that we all wish the Hive was in Barnet, and recognise that transport links from Barnet itself are not good, it's surely overstating things a bit to say it's in the middle of nowhere. It's on the doorstep of a Jubilee Line station, while there are numerous bus routes serving nearby stops. For those coming from a bit further afield in the car, it's also not a million miles from the A41/A1/M1. I'm certainly very sad to be leaving Underhill, and will have a more awkward journey to home games myself, but I think it's worth recognising that it's not exactly Timbuktu.
warwick

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70773Post warwick »

Tuesds wrote:Spot on about the importance of attracting families warwick.

While I agree that we all wish the Hive was in Barnet, and recognise that transport links from Barnet itself are not good, it's surely overstating things a bit to say it's in the middle of nowhere. It's on the doorstep of a Jubilee Line station, while there are numerous bus routes serving nearby stops. For those coming from a bit further afield in the car, it's also not a million miles from the A41/A1/M1. I'm certainly very sad to be leaving Underhill, and will have a more awkward journey to home games myself, but I think it's worth recognising that it's not exactly Timbuktu.
The point I'm making is that people want to go to football on public transport (from experience). If you want to have a beer you aren't going to drive and you don't want to be snarled up in traffic either. If The Hive was near a station that was connected to a major transport hub from the North (Kings Cross / Euston) then fine, but the Jubilee line is a bit of an arse-ache from experience. Underhill has two options for fans (High Barnet and New Barnet). If you're coming from the North I think the Jubilee Line is an arse-ache. I see Underhill like Wenbley. When England play everyone drives down and parks at Stanmore. It's murder.
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BFCST Official Rep
Posts: 498
Joined: 14 Dec 2011, 19:45

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70774Post BFCST Official Rep »

Just to give a little context to the financial debate above - the Hive currently generates more revenue from the £39.99 monthly membership susbscriptions to the gym than Barnet FC does from its season ticket sales and a full booking for use of the function room will bring in more revenue than the club makes out of an average match day's ticket sales. All of this extra revenue counts towards the clubs salary cost management protocol cap (i.e. the cap which limits expenditure on players wages to 60% of turnover). It will great if the Hive stadium is regularly packed on match days but it won't be a disaster financially for the club if it isn't.

Derek (Not an officlal trust post)
warwick

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70776Post warwick »

BFCST Official Rep wrote:Just to give a little context to the financial debate above - the Hive currently generates more revenue from the £39.99 monthly membership susbscriptions to the gym than Barnet FC does from its season ticket sales and a full booking for use of the function room will bring in more revenue than the club makes out of an average match day's ticket sales. All of this extra revenue counts towards the clubs salary cost management protocol cap (i.e. the cap which limits expenditure on players wages to 60% of turnover). It will great if the Hive stadium is regularly packed on match days but it won't be a disaster financially for the club if it isn't.

Derek (Not an officlal trust post)
Derek - you're quite right. Anyone who has done the tour of Wembley for example will realise that the stadium is primarily a function venue. Football is secondary. The Hive will be the same. The tail will wag the dog.
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BFCST Official Rep
Posts: 498
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Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70779Post BFCST Official Rep »

It's probably fairer to say that the tail is feeding the dog and making what would otherwise be a fairly mangy specimen in comparative terms fit to fight. In many ways I can see why from a financial point of view it is TKs interests for the stay at the Hive to be as temporary as possible. How does he sell a 400 seat function room for a lucrative wedding day celebration on a Saturday in August when he doesn't know whether or not BFC will have a first team home game against Bristol Rovers or Millwall that day until the fixture list comes out ?

Derek (Not an official Trust post)
petersperoni
Posts: 699
Joined: 22 Jan 2011, 18:42

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 70789Post petersperoni »

Slight correction Derek I think. I believe the salary cap is 55% this seasoning, down from 60% last season. This makes any income from any source, including coach fares to away games, even more pertinent.
Moonchild_Bee

Re: Underhill Memories

Post: # 71140Post Moonchild_Bee »

As we're going to undoubtably receive an outpouring of memories, celebrations of floodlights and cheese rolls, we thought it would be good to roll these all into a couple of threads. This way we care share in our collective grief at the loss of Underhill, and also avoid multiple threads.

So with thanks to Reckless we have stickied his Photo Memories threads (for archiving your photo memories!) and with thanks to Warwick we have sticked his / her Underhill Memories threads, and will merge any new threads into these. This way in years to come when we are salivating over South Underhill, we can look back at what we used to have!

So post away my fellow bees...
DerekRocholl
Posts: 4329
Joined: 02 Feb 2011, 16:59

Re: My memories of Underhill

Post: # 71145Post DerekRocholl »

petersperoni wrote:Slight correction Derek I think. I believe the salary cap is 55% this seasoning, down from 60% last season. This makes any income from any source, including coach fares to away games, even more pertinent.
You are right Peter. I stand corrected it is now 55%.
gafferbee
Posts: 231
Joined: 14 May 2011, 05:55

Re: Underhill Memories

Post: # 71190Post gafferbee »

Well, the Hive is certainly making some kind of impact on the local community. A work colleague whose son plays youth football told me excitedly that they all saw Edgar Davids at the Hive when they were there on Sunday for a match. After a bit of a chat about what the place was like (I've never had the chance to go), we ended up agreeing that the pitches and facilities at the Hive might very well attract a whole new generation of fans. Next season all those impressionable young football fans/players (and their mums/dads/brother/sisters) will see what is hopefully a Football League stadium at the heart of the place where they themselves go and kick a pigskin around. Why would they not want to pop into the ground on a Saturday and cheer on the team that plays there? This seems to me a very valuable potential source of fans, and a great opportunity for the club to grow an enduring fan base.

(Great thread, by the way)

Yours, messageboard lurker ;)
northwestbee
Posts: 664
Joined: 23 Apr 2011, 10:30

Re: Underhill Memories

Post: # 71215Post northwestbee »

Just back from the South Pacific after 9 months away, spent the last few days going through this messageboard catching up on all that has happened. You don't get much football news down there, in fact you don't get much news at all.
But will always remember my first season at Underhill as a young spectator with my dad, it was in 1963, FA Cup games at Enfield, then Barnet followed by the Preston match. 10,861 were there, and what a game. Forever in my memory.
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canadabee
Posts: 1151
Joined: 14 Jul 2011, 19:23

Re: Underhill Memories

Post: # 71217Post canadabee »

northwestbee wrote:Just back from the South Pacific after 9 months away, spent the last few days going through this messageboard catching up on all that has happened. You don't get much football news down there, in fact you don't get much news at all.
But will always remember my first season at Underhill as a young spectator with my dad, it was in 1963, FA Cup games at Enfield, then Barnet followed by the Preston match. 10,861 were there, and what a game. Forever in my memory.

This was not my first season but the best memories I have also.
pgbee
Posts: 3704
Joined: 08 Mar 2011, 20:56

Re: Underhill Memories

Post: # 71237Post pgbee »

For me - 1st game home win v Folkestone in 71-72 season, 10p to get in as a junior and 3p for a programme. Memories after that in no particular order Torquay FAC game same season (1-4), the dark days of Southern Lge Div 1 North, the FAC matches v Peterborough and Woking when Greavesie got sent off. Winning Div 1 South, Boxing Day games v Enfield, first Football league game H v Scunthorpe, insane 5-4 match vs Torquay, re-promotion v Halifax then the Carlisle Graz overhead kick. Fortunately over the last few seasons haven't been able to get to many but have a ticket for Wycombe which I'm sure will stick in the memory.
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