It has already been a big week for Wingate & Finchley, so a positive result against Metropolitan Police in the third qualifying round of the Buildbase FA Trophy this weekend would merely be the icing on the cake.
After a decade-long battle, Hadley Wood Sports Trust’s new all-weather pitch was finally opened on Thursday, meaning that partner club Wingate & Finchley not only have a brand-new training facility but their numerous youth teams will have a year-round surface to play on.
Sky Sports presenter Geoff Shreeves was on hand to unveil the pitch, which was made possible by a £513,352 grant from the Premier League and the FA Facilities Fund, which is delivered by the Football Foundation.
And Blues director of football Paul Lerman explains why for a club at the heart of the community such as Wingate, this new facility means so much:
“Firstly, I should say it has been ten years of unbelievable hard work and battling and rejections.
But the efforts from chairman Aron Sharpe and our vice-chairman David Thrilling – who have spent every moment of their spare time over the past decade trying to develop this – have got us there.
We’re all so proud of them, that they’ve been able to get there, because it’s an unbelievable achievement what they’ve created.
It’s a beautiful facility in the heart of Barnet, which is going to assist our first team in terms of training but also all of the youth clubs that we’ve got and that are continuously growing.
Possibly even more importantly than that, it’s a great facility for all the local children around the London Borough of Barnet for them to use, have fun, develop their football, get outdoors and get fit.
Relief and pride are the two words I would use after the opening of the facility. But the hard work never stops because it needs renovation, we need it market it and it needs to start generating revenues so it can run itself and doesn’t become a burden.
It’s going to light up the park that it’s adjacent to for decades.
Wingate & Finchley are a community-driven club – all of our players are very local. They’re all within a 30-minute drive, which is nothing in London.
We develop young, local players who want to play at the best facilities. It’s well-documented that we are punching above our weight in terms of budget – we’re not a big spender and we don’t go out and attract mercenary players.
We look to develop young players. We’ve got a core of experience in the spine of the team but we’re at our best giving young players a chance to develop and move up the leagues.
That’s on the pitch but off it ,we are embedded in the community. We have partnerships with numerous local businesses, so when we’re able to use our facilities and manpower to help the local community – that’s what we’re here for.
We’re not there for the ego or to flash cash in the short-term to go up the leagues. We have no interest in that.
We run a really tight budget, we never take risks or spend stupidly. We’ve won two games in the FA Trophy this season so far, which is over £7,000 of prize money and that’s huge for a club like us.
It goes towards stabilising the club, renovation work that we can do, making the stadium a bit safer, and making the club a better place.
It gives us the freedom to run community days, offer discounted tickets to get kids in and things like that. Money is crucial to every football club but especially one that punches above its weight like us.
So let’s hope we can keep our run going against Met Police this weekend."
