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Anthony Kleanthous, chairman of Barnet FC since 1994, has issued a statement on the club website apologising for staffing shortages during Saturday’s match against Notts County. Barnet, which competes in the National League, lost to Notts County 5-0 in a performance described as “disastrous”.

In his club statement, Mr Kleanthous admitted issues with staffing throughout the week leading up to the Notts County Match.

On Monday, the club’s new team kit arrived “only for us to discover that the manufacturer had not put the Club badges on the garments and the sponsor logo on the front of the shirt was too small”.

On Tuesday Barnet FC’s chairman knew “our biggest challenge was going to be staffing levels and a particular concern was the stewarding numbers for the game”.

He added: “The problems with staff shortages have been well reported and this is particularly acute in London and in the hospitality trade.

“Matchdays rely on casual labour and many staff, who had only just returned from furlough, have taken lengthy holidays which they accumulated during their time off work, so preparation during July and August has been patchy, at best.

“Problems were also reported with staffing the Bars, Hospitality and Ticketing meaning we were going to be stretched in all areas.”

Mr Kleanthous went on to share on Wednesday “our caterers were unfortunately unable to continue”, and “our media team now consisted of only one new staff member who was also helping with ticketing, so despite efforts, we were unable to arrange any commentary for the match and decided to cancel this”.

Thursday saw “our usual beer delivery didn’t arrive and then the bombshell dropped, Heineken are on strike”.

Friday had a new chef come to be “was not up to standard, so we decided to close The Hive Bar and notify Notts County that we were unable to provide our usual hospitality”.

Mr Kleanthous added Notts County “were very understanding and interestingly told us they had similar problems, with 85 percent of their staff having not returned to work for this season”.

He then said: “At this point we had to deal with: no Stewards; no Club Shop; no badged replica kit; no chefs; no beer; no bench wear; no shirt numbers and no match balls.”

In an apology to disappointed Barnet fans, Mr Kleanthous said his statement is “not an excuse or to pass blame”.

He then said: “I am not going to go into all the problems we had on Saturday because you already know, having experienced them yourselves.

“On the day, we had Stewards and Staff that failed to turn up, system IT failures, player injuries and some very angry people to deal with.

“However, despite all of this, we got the match on as best we could expect given the circumstances.

“The team result was poor as was our service in certain areas but all in all, everyone went home safely.

“We are confident that as people return from holiday and new staff gain more experience, the service will improve as we hope will results.

“Lastly, we would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding during this time.”

Last year, in August, Mr Kleanthous refused to be drawn on questions barnet FC would survive the coronavirus pandemic.

The chairman slashed the playing budget by 50 percent at the time, lost parachute payments from the EFL and main sponsor Cannon Medical Systems ended their deal.

Barnet FC cut their non-playing staff by around 25 percent, but Mr Kleanthous said: “This club has been doing 132 years since 1888 and my job is to make sure is keeps going for another 132 years…

“I am a realistic kind of guy, I need to deal with the issues and that is what I am doing, I am getting on with it.

“What that means from a football perspective is we need to cut our cloth accordingly and we cannot afford the excesses of previous seasons.”

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