The 2015 Barnet FC Academy Dinner took place at The Hive last Friday as the club, partners and local business community came together to celebrate their success and help raise funds to support them in their future endeavours. 

Sponsored by Savills estate agents, the evening was also attended by the entire U18 squad as well as a number of their parents following an excellent season which saw them crowned as Football League Youth Alliance South East division champions.

Hosted by Tom Watt, the evening kicked off with a speech from Academy Manager Henry Newman reflecting on the Academy’s work, the Youth Team’s success this season and announcing the winner of the Player of the Year award sponsored by LLynch – with Youth Team captain Harry Taylor being selected as the winner by his peers and striker Shane Cojocarel and first-year scholar Nana Kyei claiming second and third place respectively.

All those in attendance on the night were also given the chance to vote for the U18 Goal of the Season after being shown the video below with a shortlist of five, with full-back Keir Dickson eventually being named as the winner ahead of Mathew Stevens whose effort against Dagenham was just one of 53 goals scored by the seventeen-year-old striker this term.

Following a delicious three-course meal a memorabilia auction then took place with all proceeds going towards the Academy before guest speaker Ray Parlour took to the stage to entertain the room with stories of his time playing for both Arsenal and England. The evening was then rounded off with a special prize raffle giving away some fantastic prizes that were kindly donated by friends of the club and sponsors.

A fantastic time was had by all and we would like to thank all those who came along on the night to show their support for the Academy and look forward to welcoming even more people to next year’s event.