The Next 6 Months?

tovid wrote:Excellent points made by TP.
The thing about committees (or boards) is that the people who are prepared to sit on them are not necessarily the best people to be on them. What you need are methodical efficient decision makers. This is rarely the case for the simple reason that there are not many about and they don't want to be on a committee.

True but I’m not sure this applies to the NL Board. Bear in mind that most of them are also officials at NL clubs some of which have been pretty successful in recent years.

I’d love to see its constitution and find out if it is a rule that a Board member must face re-election after a certain time and if there is a limit to the number of terms they can be in office.

The Boss is being interviewed at 1430 hours - https://radiobath.com/schedule - need a lot more in depth coverage from other TV and radio.

comrade powell wrote:

tovid wrote:Excellent points made by TP.
The thing about committees (or boards) is that the people who are prepared to sit on them are not necessarily the best people to be on them. What you need are methodical efficient decision makers. This is rarely the case for the simple reason that there are not many about and they don't want to be on a committee.

True but I’m not sure this applies to the NL Board. Bear in mind that most of them are also officials at NL clubs some of which have been pretty successful in recent years.

I’d love to see its constitution and find out if it is a rule that a Board member must face re-election after a certain time and if there is a limit to the number of terms they can be in office.

They may be at clubs that are successful but it probably isn't all down to them. Though they may think it is.

Not that it is of any real iimportance but we were cheduled to play Chelmsford today. Instead they played at Oxford and if they had lost by 4 goals we would have gone above them on PPG (I think). They were loing 4-0 until scoring right at the end so we remain 18th!

I didn't realise we are meant to be away to Tonbridge on Tuesday. They've furloughed everyone as well.

Irrelevant news etc.

Peter Newman wrote:Not  that it is of any real iimportance but we were cheduled to play Chelmsford today. Instead they played at Oxford and if they had lost by 4 goals we would have gone above them on PPG (I think). They were loing 4-0 until scoring right at the end so we remain 18th!
 

I see that Concord played this afternoon, which seems to go against what their Chairman has been saying this week.

stillmanjunior wrote:I didn't realise we are meant to be away to Tonbridge on Tuesday. They've furloughed everyone as well.

Irrelevant news etc.

Tonbridge have said this afternoon that they have furloughed all of their players but are prepared to assemble an alternative squad to fulfil their fixtures if necessary - pretty sure that is against the NL rules as well and wouldn’t do much for the integrity of the league!

I have checked my social diary and it seems I have Tuesday night free. If anybody could lend me a pair of 7.5 size boots happy to turn out for an alternative squad.
Shows how mundane my life is at the current time that a night in Tonbridge would seem something I could look forward to.

comrade powell wrote:The Dulwich chairman is spot on about the tactics being used by some NL clubs...

https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/dulwich-hamlet-chairman-accuses-some-national-league-clubs-of-looking-to-subvert-voting-over-finishing-the-campaign/

Encouraged by the NL who stipulated the time scale for voting. There is no case in law for forcing clubs to go bankrupt. I rest the case for the defence.

I believe the 28 day clause is laid down in the League’s constitution,  not that I’ve seen it or understand why that should be the case. Maybe it enables clubs to seek legal advice and gives their boards time to meet and decide how they wish to vote. However it’s difficult to understand the delay and can only assume that this is a deliberate ploy. I’ve lost a lot of respect for some clubs who we’ve got a long friendly relationship with.

I posted on Twitter earlier that in view of the Chairman’s comments earlier this week I was surprised that Concord had played today.

The initial response I got was that they had said they would continue if the right things were in place and that as testing was now there they couldn’t understand why I was surprised. I didn’t think the testing kits were going to be available until next week.

I pointed out that in his response to the league the Chairman had referred to the fact that he had sent them copies of the club’s accounts which showed that if they continued playing they would be trading insolvently. The response to that was they have ‘cut their cloth’ and although they are adamant that funding and testing should be in place they have voted for the season to continue even though they won’t take a penny in loans.

Les, they must have cast their vote - to carry on playing, because they are riding on the back of the fact that they have existed on gates of 200+, so are therefore cheap to run. The £30K that was received by them as a grant, to last them until Christmas, was probably enough for them to get by with all season. It doesn't excuse them for not standing the moral ground though, in 'fighting' alongside other Clubs like ours for our very existence!
If crowds are still not allowed back into our stadiums before the start of the next season (quite possible given this Government's track record of relaxing lockdown rules too early), I will not be shedding any tears for any Clubs, that have voted like Concorde have, whenever I hear of their demise!

Midsomer-steve wrote:Les, they must have cast their vote - to carry on playing, because they are riding on the back of the fact that they have existed on gates of 200+, so are therefore cheap to run. The £30K that was received by them as a grant, to last them until Christmas, was probably enough for them to get by with all season. It doesn't excuse them for not standing the moral ground though, in 'fighting' alongside other Clubs like ours for our very existence!
If crowds are still not allowed back into our stadiums before the start of the next season (quite possible given this Government's track record of relaxing lockdown rules too early), I will not be shedding any tears for any Clubs, that have voted like Concorde have, whenever I hear of their demise!

It was £30k a month for October to December so they actually got £90k - the same as us - despite our gates being three times as big. I don’t imagine their ground costs anything like as much to maintain as Twerton Park either.

Steve, what really riles me about Concord and six other NLS clubs (if Ollie Bayliss is accurate with his summary) is that they have voted against Resolution 1. So they wish the Step 2 clubs to have no individual say in ending the season, preferring the Resolution 4 option where they have just eight votes between them. And I’d imagine Gloucester’s similar stance will have gone down like a lead balloon amongst most of the NLN clubs.

Even if the eventual outcome was to continue the season without any grants there will be a number of clubs unwilling or unable to continue. Not sure where that  would leave matters and what sanctions would be applied.

On the assumption the outcome is to cancel the current season it does have an implication for ourself (and others) on how we treat season ticket holders. I suspect many of us will simply regard it as money we would have spent anyway and regard it as a donation to the club but others may well be in changed circumstances and require, legitimately, a refund.

I appreciate buying a season ticket carries an element of risk in that its owner may not gain full benefit from its  purchase - but current restrictions mean that any usage has been prevented

LB wrote:

stillmanjunior wrote:I didn't realise we are meant to be away to Tonbridge on Tuesday. They've furloughed everyone as well.

Irrelevant news etc.

Tonbridge have said this afternoon that they have furloughed all of their players but are prepared to assemble an alternative squad to fulfil their fixtures if necessary - pretty sure that is against the NL rules as well and wouldn’t do much for the integrity of the league!

I'd have thought the chancellor might have something to say about that as well.

comrade powell wrote:Steve, what really riles me about Concord and six other NLS clubs (if Ollie Bayliss is accurate with his summary) is that they have voted against Resolution 1. So they wish the Step 2 clubs to have no individual say in ending the season, preferring the Resolution 4 option where they have just eight votes between them. And I’d imagine Gloucester’s similar stance will have gone down like a lead balloon amongst most of the NLN clubs.

I am not surprised at this 'I'm all right Jack' attitude, but it does fill me with sorrow. As I said Martin, I will not be shedding any tears for Clubs that have voted for the season to continue and then find themselves unable to function as an entity in the longer term.

Peter has re-raised a very important point: "Even if the eventual outcome was to continue the season without any grants there will be a number of clubs unwilling or unable to continue. Not sure where that would leave matters and what sanctions would be applied."
I think that it is imperative that all Clubs, that vote for the season to be ended forthwith, should stick to their guns, in not playing any further, and combine their efforts in standing firm against any or all sanctions that may be imposed on them. With luck the FA may then step in and sort this NL Board's mess out, but, whatever the outcome, our best chance of 'winning' the day must surely come about by acting collectively.

The first 40 minutes of yesterday's Non League Show is worth a listen. An interview with the Dover chair who resigned from the NL Board - he's reluctant to criticise his former colleagues but appears to be laying a lot of blame at the doors of the executive committee - and input from a commentator at York City.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p095v6bb

Our friend Paul Doswell was on the Non League Banter show last night along with Steve King among others discussing the present situation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bszcqGzZj5I
Doswell was very critical of the NL hierarchy and said he is 99,9% certain that the vote will be to null and void . He thinks that the two week suspension (the one brought about by Havant and a couple of others refusing to play) should have been extended to four.

Just reading that Tonbridge have assembled a squad of 16 non-contract players so that they can play against Hemel on Saturday even though all of their contracted players have been furloughed. I don't know enough about the furlough scheme but I can't believe that it would allow you to put your paid staff on it then bring in others to do the same work for free. I think Braintree have already done this, so presumably the NL board are turning a blind eye to it.

Anything which maintains the integrity of the League has to be a positive!

It is becoming more and more difficult to hold your head up and say “Ye, great game this non league football”. Unless of course you’ve got your jester hat on!

I agree, TPM. In fact I don't consider the NL to have much in common with non league football as we knew it. If I wanted to follow an 'elite' team with all the hassle that entails I'd watch Bristol Rovers. It has got to the stage in recent months where I'd not be that bothered if the NL kicked us out and we returned to the Southern. Perhaps when the interests of all its member clubs are put first rather than prioritising the interests of these mouthy former EFL ones chasing their return to Mecca I might change my mind. I certainly feel that we have more affinity with Tiverton or Poole than Notts County or Hartlepool.

comrade powell wrote:I agree, TPM. In fact I don't consider the NL to have much in common with non league football as we knew it. If I wanted to follow an 'elite' team with all the hassle that entails I'd watch Bristol Rovers. It has got to the stage in recent months where I'd not be that bothered if the NL kicked us out and we returned to the Southern. Perhaps when the interests of all its member clubs are put first rather than prioritising the interests of these mouthy former EFL ones chasing their return to Mecca I might change my mind. I certainly feel that we have more affinity with Tiverton or Poole than Notts County or Hartlepool.

I have to say that I have been feeling the same recently. With only us and Chippenham in this part of the country now, NLS has become very much a London and south east based league, while the top division clearly tries to see itself as an extension of the EFL.