FC won’t fight FA over whole season being expunged
FC United boss Neil Reynolds believes his squad’s work this campaign will not go to waste despite the Northern Premier League declaring the season null and void.
The Rebels sat second in the NPL before its premature termination on Thursday, but despite leaders South Shields announcing they have appealed to the FA, Reynolds insists FC will accept the decision - even though it brings to an end their hopes of promotion.
“I’m not going to go back on my word. We’re not going to raise our head above the parapet, we’re going to accept the decision for what it is,” he said.
“People’s lives are more important and we’re just going to, hopefully, keep our squad together and build on it for next season and get out of the league at the next attempt.”
After relegation from the National League North last season this campaign has exceeded Reynolds’ expectations.
“On merit, we’re second in the league, we’ve beaten the top sides apart from South Shields, we’ve put a magical run of form together mid-season. We’ve done really well,” he said.
“At the start of the season our aims were a top 10 finish and 1.5pts a game and we’ve ended up on 1.78 and second in the league and we’ve massively beat our target.
“When you’re second in the league and cemented in the play-offs you start turning your attentions towards that.
“Could we have filled out Broadhurst
Park? Could there have been 4,000 on for a play-off game? Could we have done the unthinkable and got ourselves promoted?” Reynolds completely rebuilt the squad with a smaller budget in the summer following last season’s relegation and the former Bamber Bridge boss feels the whole club will be better prepared if they were to win promotion next season.
He said: “I built a brand-new team back in June when lads didn’t know each other.
“I’ve seen friendships develop and I’ve seen chemistry on the football pitch develop so all that’s not going to go to waste.
“Really good sides are built on continuity and so if we add four or five it will help them ease into the squad better.
“We’ve shown that we’ve brought FC United back together and the fans are there, and I have no doubt they’ll support us through thick and thin next season.
“We started a three-year project this season. Our budget will stay the same, it won’t go up it won’t go down. That’s because there’s a lot of things we have to pay off, i.e. the stadium behind the scenes.
“It gives us another year to continue on our journey and get ready financially for the time we get back.
“If we did go back this season we wouldn’t have said no we would’ve taken it with open arms and just tried to get by.”
We’re not going to raise our head above the parapet, we’re going to accept the decision Neil Reynolds