The Next 6 Months?

https://nonleaguedaily.com/we-must-finish-the-season-with-all-66-clubs-in-existence-15-nl-north-south-clubs-make-statement/

This was confirmed at last night’s Q & A

I see that Concord, who were at the forefront of the ‘we won’t play’ movement and put their name to the same statement as we did only yesterday have now come out and said “we have funds to see us through the next few weeks and hope by then we will have a decision on funding that we can then decide our future for the rest of the playing season”. As Yuffie pointed out the other day, the money they got for October to December should see them through the whole season on the basis of their gates!

I wonder whether they fear not playing might harm their chances of this FA Trophy final ever being played?

They might have even been sent some money from the FA for reaching the final, maybe what they'd make if they were runners-up?

So they blow it on a season that may yet not finish. Sounds like the money the govt blew on track and trace. No thank you.

The first to jump ship...

http://www.doverathletic.com/news/chairman-resigns-from-national-league-board/

He makes some very valid points though.

So the league's view is that sanctions should be applied to clubs that refuse to play.

The same organisation that frowns (and a lot more) at clubs who don’t keep their finances in order.

It seems pretty clear that the vote is going to be very close whichever way it goes, and if the decision is to continue there could be say 20 clubs who don’t want to. Will be interesting to see how many of them then decide they do want to do so, and if there is a ‘rump’ who maintain they won’t, and what the league do about it. I am pretty sure that at the meeting on Wednesday Nick Blofeld said that we need £150k to complete the season and surely the league can’t force us to take on that sort of liability.

Hopefully the outcome will be known soon and then at least everyone will be able to move forward.

So basically by starting the season they have got themselves in a hell of a mess. We could see a fracturing of the league.
They put all their faith in the government financing the league for the whole season. You have to ask - why should they?
If the vote is to continue Bath City are in a very difficult position. I wish they hadn't called Saturdays game off.

Les, you fear the vote will be very close. Presumably you’re referring to  the vote on Resolution 3, which of course will be irrelevant if a minimum majority of 75% don’t vote for Resolution 1. And the step 2 clubs only have 8 votes between them as is the case for the final resolution where only 50+1% is required to vote against (ie 12 NL clubs) and the whole lot continues. So any idea what the voting for Resolution 1 is so far?

comrade powell wrote:Les, you fear the vote will be very close. Presumably you’re referring to  the vote on Resolution 3, which of course will be irrelevant if a minimum majority of 75% don’t vote for Resolution 1. And the step 2 clubs only have 8 votes between them as is the case for the final resolution where only 50+1% is required to vote against (ie 12 NL clubs) and the whole lot continues. So any idea what the voting for Resolution 1 is so far?

Yes I was referring to Resolution 3 being very close. From what I have seen in terms of comments and the charts that Ollie Bayliss has put up most clubs seem to be voting for Resolution 1 so I am assuming that the 75% majority will be reached and Resolution 3 will then come in to play. By my calculation, if the 8 votes from North and South go that way then it only needs 16 from the National League to vote for Resolution 1 to give the 75% majority, i.e. 24 out of 31.

Interesting interview with Southport manager.

https://youtu.be/a1DozHzz5SU

Thanks for the link - what an excellent interview which is a damning indictment of what has gone on for the past year.

Really pleased with how he compared the present NL chairman, Brian Barwick, with his predecessor Brian Lee. When we were Foundation trustees Pete Macca and I met Mr Lee at the Club. I then noticed him at several of our matches, both home and away, and joked that I’d get him a City scarf. He explained that as League chairman he saw it as his responsibility to visit as many of its member clubs during a season as possible. I think he visited Twerton more than most because he lived in Hampshire but I got the strong impression he attended at least one match around the country every week so that he could discuss matters with the two sets of club officials as well as enjoying the football.

I’ve never seen Brian Barwick either at Twerton or at one of our away matches. To be fair I assume that he’s based in the north so I hope he makes a point of keeping in touch by regularly attending matches in his area. But somehow I doubt it....

I think Barwick is based London way - believe he had some involvement with Hampton? He's from the north west originally. He did a talk on my course just over a year ago, before all this nonsense. Was sure he said he didn't have far to come for it.

I Googled Brian Barwick and his roots are certainly in the north - I see that he was chairman of Liverpool's unsuccessful bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games and chairman of the Rugby League. He is also currently President of the Board of Governance of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. Quite a lot of the Google results are about the NL clubs wanting him to stand down!

The website for the Rugby League World Cup has a link to his bio and when you read it you can't help but get the feeling that he might well think that non-league football is a bit beneath him.

Junior, Barwick is from Liverpool. He made his name at the BBC and ITV and it was his media contacts which probably got him his job at the FA. This coincided with the period when the FA decided that the National team would become a world power if we simply appointed a foreign manager. Following the Erickson scandal Scolari was headhunted by Barwick in an embarrassing wild goose chase which led to the Brazilian telling the FA where to go. Still it all ended well as Barwick then appointed McClaren....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4956598.stm

Amateurish would seem to sum up the present situation.

The scary thing reading that link is that the three best English candidates at the time were Allardyce, McClaren and Curbishley, and that two of them actually had the job for a while!

I see that Chorley have come out and said they have voted for the season to continue - I am sure it has nothing to do with the money they got from their F A Cup run...

Barwick was head honcho at ITV Sport when they almost killed the Football League, he's got unfinished business clearly and is settling for killing the Conference instead

https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/sport/football/eastbourne-borough-star-cox-gives-damning-verdict-national-league-crisis-3128242

Ollie Bayliss reports on Twitter that Eastbourne are voting AGAINST the resolutions...our friend Kevin Anderson may have more insight.

As LB predicted this is all getting very divisive. There are some very unpleasant online comments doing the rounds based on clubs' announcements on how they have decided to vote. Obviously they owe it to their supporters and share holders to keep them informed but it's also providing ammunition for many ignorant people.

And this has all been the result of poor leadership from the NL. I don't know if some clubs are deliberately going to wind down the clock on this 28 day deadline - if so this farce has a long way to run. With self interest by clubs being the natural result of all this one wonders what will arise once the voting results are announced. Already supporters of 'continuing clubs' are asking if they can continue in mini leagues if the season is ended. While ourselves and other 'end the season' clubs are wondering if we'll be forced to continue if the resolutions do not win majorities.

I'm sure no one has any confidence in Barwick & co sorting out such scenarios and I believe the time is coming either for the clubs to vote them out of office or for the FA to step in. Then we'd find out what its 'guardian of the game' role really means.

It must be very tempting for the clubs that want the season to continue to delay their vote until as late as possible, perhaps thinking that even if the season does finish they might be able to persuade the league into PPG. By the end of the month some of the top half in our division will have played half their games - Dartford and Hungerford both played their 19th last night.

If we maintain our position of not playing until the vote is resolved and then find ourselves forced into carrying on - hopefully that won’t happen - we could find ourselves having to play 27 games in the last 3 months of the season.

The NL board seems determined to keep its head in the sand while the clubs are throwing mud at each other but hopefully (although I doubt it) they are trying to come up with plan for what happens next after the result of the voting is known.

Interesting piece on the Tonbridge website which seems a fair summary of the situation clubs at our level face....

https://www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk/first-team-news/angels-try-to-make-sense-of-an-impossible-situation/1895

Dulwich have put out a very similar statement which sets out a number of ways the season could be resolved, all of which are against the league rules. They (probably foolishly) put it on Twitter and immediately got shot down, someone suggesting they should take out a loan to complete this season and then cut their playing budget for future seasons to repay it.

The Gloucester chairman is apparently sending a proposal to the NL board for mini-leagues for the clubs who want to play on, including some form of promotion - I must check their league position! I hope he isn’t expecting a quick response!

Beau Nash wrote:https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/sport/football/eastbourne-borough-star-cox-gives-damning-verdict-national-league-crisis-3128242

Ollie Bayliss reports on Twitter that Eastbourne are voting AGAINST the resolutions...our friend Kevin Anderson may have more insight.

“Just because the club doesn’t want to play doesn't mean that they are a problem. Every club has got to look after itself and make sure the club is still here. If the teams can’t afford to-play, don't play. No game of football is worth using your club over.” Exactly! This is something that doesn't have to be a crisis. Only the NL Board can turn it into one. Exceptional times = exceptional measures.

A Kettering fan has posted a copy of a letter sent by Nigel Huddleston to an MP in response to a letter from his son about the present NL situation.

The letter says that at no stage was the National League told by the DCMS that the support would only be in the form of grants, and goes on:
“I understand that some National League clubs say that they only agreed to start their season on the basis that the National League told them they would be receiving grants. It is unfortunate that the National League chose to communicate this to the clubs without first clarifying the nature of the support with DCMS. This appears to be a regrettable misunderstanding but DCMS cannot be held responsible for internal communications between a governing body and its clubs”.

Pretty damning!