12
by County-at-the-races
And it gets a whole lot worse!
If the National League Board thought its announcement yesterday evening of the voting results for the resolutions posed at the beginning of the month would have everyone wandering happily off into the sunset it has already been disappointed.
Dover Athletic hasn't even bothered to publish the press release sent round by the NL to all clubs on its website. Instead owner/chairman Jim Parmenter has issued another statement attacking the Board, triggered by the club receiving two separate charges of a failure to fulfil fixtures:
"We are clearly very disappointed that the National League seem to be sticking to their guns and applying rules of the competition with no proper awareness or consideration for the exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in. It is clear that the agenda is to finish the season at any cost.”
There is no indication he intends to back down:
"We do have a right to deny charges on a game-by-game basis, but with the cost of a personal hearing for each charge being £150, clearly this is an additional financial burden and limits our options. We will, however, make our submissions in writing, based on our firm belief that the failure of the National League to ensure the promised funding was made available has resulted in us taking the only possible action to avoid insolvency.”
If part of the Board's thinking in pursuing Dover was to discourage other clubs from following its lead that may not be working as well as they might have hoped. King's Lynn, who happen to have Dover on their fixture schedule tomorrow so won't have to play then, has issued a statement saying that it does intend to fulfil its fixtures (against Barnet and Weymouth) the following week, but is "unable to confirm that we will play any further fixtures after February 27th".
Meanwhile Dorking Wanderers, Gloucester City and AFC Fylde have issued statements vehemently attacking the decision to null and void National League North and South, with the first two asserting they have contacted their lawyers.
And the Board's woes don't end there as Chester, which is on the other side of the fence and did want the season to be null and voided, is demanding a full investigation into how the NL executive got the league into this situation: "it is vital clubs and their supporters receive an explanation for the decisions and actions that contributed to the disastrous collapse of the 2020/21 season."
