WHY THE OVAL IS PERFECT PLACE TO REVIVE CAREER LUKE MCCULLOUGH

The Irish FA maintain that the appeals are ongoing but the delay leaves the north west club in limbo.

“Under normal circumstances we should already have formally agreed player contracts for the 2020-21 season,” read a club statement. “However, the protracted appeal process, and the uncertain nature of the eventual outcome, has impeded our ability to confirm any individual player contracts and, in our view, exacerbated the injustice of the original NIFL decision.

“The club understands and sympathises with players’ desires to secure contracts for the coming season and whilst we have already lost a couple of them to other Premiership clubs, the majority have been loyal enough to await the outcome of the appeal panel’s decision before deciding on their immediate future and we are grateful to those players.”

Institute underlined their view that the decision to apply automatic relegation contradicted the Premiership clubs’ stated principles when coming to their decision on the season’s conclusion.

Those were that any decision should be based on “protecting the health and wellbeing of all individuals, enduring the financial sustainability of member clubs and preserving the sporting integrity of the leagues”.

“It is unfortunate,” Institute continued, “that at a time when the wider community were united in their attempt to support each other during the Covid crisis, our ‘football family’ did not appear to have a similar focus.

“Nonetheless, resilience, resolve and positive values are fundamental aspects of our club and it is important that we do not lose sight of our true character.”