Chesterfield's new stadium develops more income from its vice-presidents' club than Barnet's entire gate receipts ... the Bees' average wage bill is about 30-40 per cent behind the League 2 average.
Chairman Tony Kleanthous provides these and many more informed answers to supporters' questions in this third part of the feature.
"Ultimately, we punch above our weight by being in the Football League", he concludes.
Please click here for a link to Parts 1 and 2.
Martin Smith asks: Why do we not get players on loan from our bigger Premiership neighbours like other League 1 and 2 clubs seem to do? Especially now that the 25- man ruling comes into force they may have some reserve players they might like to loan out.
AAK: This is a very general statement and I'm not sure who you're referring to here but I'm not aware of any significant number of established players being loaned out in League 2. The players loaned by Premiership clubs are generally young pros needing experience and we cannot guarantee them a place in the team as we would always look to develop our own talent where possible. Hereford used loan players to get promotion but as soon as the players left the club got relegated again, so I'm not convinced this is the right way to go. There are more opportunities in League 1 because of the higher standard of football but the new squad rules have only just come into force this week so it's wrong to already criticise the club for something that hasn't even happened yet.
John Smith asks: What would happen to The Hive if Barnet were to get relegated this season or in the future?
AAK: Hopefully, nothing. It has been developed to be sustainable in its own right.
John also asks: What is the average/range of wage in League 2 and what is it for Barnet?
AAK: Because we have clubs like Bradford City with average support of over 10,000 down to us with only about 2,000 the range is quite large from several million down to about £750k. To give you some perspective, Chesterfield's new stadium develops more income from its vice presidents' club than our entire gate receipts per match. For commercial reasons I cannot tell you our exact figures, although it wouldn't be hard to guess, but we are about 30-40 per cent behind the average.
James Collins asks: Why can't the club try playing on Friday a few times in a season? It might bring in few more fans in who cannot get to games on a Saturday. We seem to be losing fans as each season goes by; it has got to worth a try.
AAK: You need the visiting club to agree and we did try this in the past. Although the numbers held up, we had a decrease in secondary spend and a number of complaints from the traditionalists so I'm not sure what's best here. It may be worth experimenting again but I don't want to alienate our traditional supporters and the young kids who may not be able to attend so we will see if the opportunity arises.
James also asks: Why are you so loyal to your managers? It does not seem to have work so far.
AAK: I was brought up to be loyal and I don't understand the modern supporter who expects every team to win every game and then wants everyone fired when they don't achieve it. I believe if the fans had stayed loyal to John Still and Paul Fairclough, two hard working honest managers who had to cope with hardly any facilities and limited resources, then we would have enjoyed more success today but this is just speculation. Ultimately, we punch above our weight by being in the Football League so I don't know what you mean by it hasn't worked so far.
James asks also: When do you honestly believe we will get a new stadium?
AAK: This is very difficult to answer but in another four years time I will have been in charge for twenty years and I will give up on Barnet Council and relocate elsewhere if no solution is found by this time. I cannot have our ambitions thwarted by the glass ceiling at Underhill by allowing this to go on indefinitely.
Mark O'Meara asks: Today's London Evening Standard [August 27 2010] has a report in it, which includes the words: - "[Mr Kleanthous] wants to build a new stadium and has finally obtained planning permission...". This sounds like great news. Can you please confirm it, and tell us more?
AAK: I have already answered this. They are referring to the planning permission a couple of years ago to build a new Football League standard stadium at the Hive.
