ILKESTON PROMPT LEAGUE RE-THINK

EVO-STIK NPL chief Mark Harris says the league are considering making available the written reasons behind controversial decisions after outlining to club chairmen why they suspended Ilkeston last month.

Harris took the unusual step in detailing the league’s process following their call to not allow the Robins to start the season with the club owing money to creditors.

They were eventually allowed to play on August 27 but there was criticism of the handling of the situation with games postponed at less than a day’s notice.

Harris wants to be as transparent as possible and will consider a similar approach the next time the league is faced with a challenging situation.

The Witton Albion chairman told The NLP: “Sometimes, when situations like this are ongoing, we are not always in a position to be as open as we would like.

“This is often down to the legalities, not because there is something to hide. This is not us treating supporters with distain – in these days of social media, there’s an immediacy to have information. Supporters expect it and we respect that. There is a lot of speculation and baseless inaccuracies, but we are not in a position to clarify things which is clearly a frustration.

“We took the steps to publish our written reasons, a lot like the Football Association do, and they have been sent to club chairmen to digest.

“This is something we are now considering for the future in all big decisions we need to make. The Ilkeston matter is now closed and we hope clubs now have a stronger understanding of our process.”