BARNET chairman Tony Kleanthous has been saddened by some of the criticism levelled against the club and insists the Bees have created an asset of community value in Harrow.
Barnet’s move to The Hive has been met with resistance by some local residents concerned about the impact that staging matches will have on the community.
But Kleanthous believes the club deserves more credit for fulfilling its commitment to develop the Prince Edwards Playing Fields site.
“This site has had nearly £25 million of investment now and I put in another £6.1 million in just two or three months ago,” he said.
“We’ve created something not only for Harrow to be proud of, but we’ve created an internationally recognisable venue that everyone should be praising and I’m disappointed actually that some people have had a very myopic view of things which is wrong.”
Kleanthous remains optimistic he can win over residents who are sceptical of the club’s contribution to the local area and insists the club is hoping to make many friends in Harrow.
“We came along and the site was empty and derelict,” he said.
“We won the tender we said we’d invest in the site and we have done and we’ve built this wonderful facility.
“We are providing hundreds of jobs now and a lot of the local kids in the borough are training here and playing football.
“Hopefully, we will make a lot of friends in this community. We have a huge amount of friends in Barnet and now we want a huge amount of friends in Harrow. We make friends wherever we go and that’s all we are looking to do, make more friends.”
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