LAWYERS WILL LEAD THE WAY
FRUSTRATED South Shields chairman Geoff Thompson is set to step up legal action after the FA Council’s decision to ratify a move to void the 2019/20 season.
The Mariners are one of a number of clubs directly impacted by the decision after their hopes of securing a fourth league title in five seasons was brought to a grinding halt.
Graham Fenton and Lee Picton’s side were sat 12 points clear at the top of the BetVictor NPL Premier Division table before the coronavirus epidemic put a temporary halt on the campaign.
But that has now been made a permanent move after the FA Council’s decision to ratify the voiding of the season was announced in a statement released on Thursday afternoon.
Mariners chairman Thompson has been one of the leading figures in a move to ask the govnot erning body to reconsider their decision and enter into meaningful discussion with clubs over the next steps.
Over 150 clubs across the Pyramid put their names to the joint letter that was sent to the FA in the aftermath of their initial decision – but Thompson admitted that he always felt that their attempts would prove to be fruitless as he called for rational thinking moving forwards.
Integrity
He told The NLP: “I am afraid we expected this to happen and it’s important that we stop, hold our breath and consider carefully what our next steps should be.
“After the ratification was announced, I entered into conversations with a number of chairmen and we were talking to our lawyers on Friday.
“It’s very important that we don’t make any emotive comments and it’s time to think calmly and think rationally.
“We do feel that it is manifestly unfair, but it’s a matter for the lawyers.
“We will appoint a barrister and look at the next steps in a careful and considered way.”
Thompson insisted that he would have accepted the decision if a similar move had been put in place across the English football pyramid.
But as the Premier League, EFL and National League continue to deliberate over the most effective way to end their own seasons, Steps 3 to 7 of the Non-League system have been brought to a close.
The Mariners chairman insisted that the move has undermined the integrity of the English game and stressed that he now believes that there are two separate pyramids functioning.
“We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves when we communicated with the FA, but we were hopeful that the decision might have been ratified. We were truly stunned by the reaction of the clubs that gave us their support and it’s important to state that it was not just those in promotion positions.
“There are those across the pyramid that supported us that has nothing to gain from any overturning of the decision.
“But the problem now is that the integrity of the pyramid has not been maintained – if anything it has now been undermined and it has been truncated.
“In my eyes, we now have two different pyramids across the game and that is a shocking state of affairs.
“We understand everyone’s mind is rightly on their family, friends and the wider community with the coronavirus situation – and that is only right because this is a very serious situation for the country.
“But football will return one day and surely a consistent decision is needed to maintain the integrity of the game.”