YOU CAN’T DODGE THE DROP

Relegated EFL duo’s bid rubbished by top bosses

PROMOTION-HOPEFUL National League managers have told relegated pair Grimsby Town and Southend United the goalposts can’t be moved now.

The League Two duo have launched a last-ditch attempt to avoid dropping into Non-League with a proposal submitted to the EFL ahead of a meeting this week.

They are arguing relegation isn’t ‘fair’ because they claim the integrity of the National League is compromised with no clubs set to go down to Step 2, while Dover Athletic also stopped playing on financial grounds.

The NLP understands Grimsby, now under new ownership following the completion of a takeover in the week, wrote to their EFL representative in April expressing concerns about the situation and proposing no promotion or relegation between the EFL and Non-League’s top tier.

Southend chairman Ron Martin has this week also suggested an option of four relegation places next season with two National League clubs promoted as usual.

Should the proposal gain any momentum it will be met with fierce opposition by National League clubs who have been striving for promotion this season.

Torquay United boss Gary Johnson told The NLP: “At the end of the day, everyone looks after their own interests as much as they can, don’t they? But it comes down to what the rules say. You can’t suddenly change.

“The National League has got two teams that goes up. League Two has got two teams that come down. And that’s it. There’s not been a World War. Everybody has had to cope with Covid whether you’ve got promoted or relegated.

“The National League is the lowest league where 99 per cent of teams are full-time. I’ve always said we should be part of the EFL anyway. But of course there should be relegation and promotion – whether it’s us, whether it’s another team.

“Otherwise, what are we all playing for? There was uproar when the Super League came out with no promotion or relegation. This feels a little bit similar.”

Hartlepool United boss Dave Challinor says the National League’s situation of no relegation following the cessation, and termination, of Step 2 football hasn’t just come out of the blue.

“It’s the way of the world where everyone is trying to look after themselves and if people can try and manipulate situations to suit themselves, people are going to,” Challinor told The NLP.

“If they’re suggesting there’s potentially no promotion from our division then I’m sure all of a sudden it won’t just be two clubs trying to come up with an argument as to what should happen.

“It has been put out there what was going to happen with our division and how that would work. People have spent money over the past four or five months in order to pursue that.

“If Grimsby and Southend were going along that approach then they may as well have stopped playing six months ago, which they didn’t do. They tried to keep themselves up through football merit and weren’t able to do so.

“I’d suggest if all of a sudden they’d pulled themselves out of it, they wouldn’t have much sympathy with the team they’d taken the place of.”

One National League manager put it to The NLP: “Does that mean there will be no relegation from

League One as well then?”

It has largely been met with a negative reaction from fans on social media, who feel the clubs should accept their fate.

Southend United chief Martin told the Southend Echo: “Grimsby and us feel that the unusual circumstances of this year should be acknowledged. The National League haven’t relegated but they have promoted and the way it’s pitched at the moment it’s unfair to relegate clubs from League Two. We’re looking at the rules.”