FA DESERVE #PRAISE, SAYS UNITED BOSS
HASHTAG United owner-chairman Spencer Owen has praised the FA Alliance and Leagues committees for recommending that the National League System restructure goes ahead this summer – rewarding clubs who have performed consistently over the past two seasons.
The Northern Premier League will administer a new division at Step 4, with two created at Step 5 while Step 6 is reduced to 17.
To fill the gaps, 110 clubs will be promoted across Steps 4-7 and others moved laterally to help reduce travelling distances within a ‘pure pyramid’.
Owen was critical of the 2019-20 null-and-void decision, but believes this proposal lays it to rest.
“For the first time in a long time I was very satisfied with an outcome from this whole period,” he told The NLP. “I know it doesn’t please everyone, if it was up to me I probably would have done something around Step 3 and 4 as well, but it’s not quite as simple.
“Well done to the FA Alliance and Leagues committees for pushing it through. While I believe very strongly it is the right thing to do, I didn’t expect it to happen.
“They’ve shown some really good leadership here. They’ve shown some ability to adapt to the situation which it called for.
“The null and void decision was made too hastily last year, I don’t think the words ‘null and void’ needed to be used.
“They’ve looked at it with a whole year’s worth of knowledge with another Covid season. They have thought outside the box but for the right reasons. That’s good leadership. The only option was to promote through two years of results or don’t, and this is definitely the better one. It ends the conversation about last year’s decision.”
Hashtag have the third best points-per-game ratio at Step 5 of 2.5263 having taken 96 points from 38 games over the last two seasons.
They were on course for back-to-back promotions in 2019-20 when they led the Essex Senior League before it was made null and void, having won the Eastern Counties League Division One South in their first season within the National League System.
The plan now is for the results from the null-and-void season to count and be put together with the games played this term.
“There are some noises from teams that aren’t happy about it and I don’t really understand it,” said Owen. “If the maths aren’t in your favour then you get to go again next year with a slightly changed league setup and a better chance probably of promotion as the stronger teams have gone up.
“I’ve said before if they were using a different methodology and it meant we didn’t go up I would still rather someone went up from our league than just have the same league go again.”