Grays in ESL for 10/11?

[Eastside Urchin]

I would think it is too late for them,the fa & leagues would look stupid to tell a team one minute they are in a league and then demote them because grays say so,especially as it's grays who have probably fcked up

[YELLOW]

At the end of the day, Grays have got no god given right to be in the ryman league. They resigned from the Conference, therefore had to find a league willing to take them.

[Baron of Black Fen]

They might as well go into liquidation and go into ESL as AFC Grays with no debts and be grateful to the kind hearted people of Tilbury for letting them have a gound to play in.

 

Quote "Mr Appleby is wiling to be a witness for us with our appeal if needs be to the European Court of Appeal and beyond as its a total liberty that a lot of time and money has be spent to be treated like this."

 

welcome to the real world my son and where do you think you will get money from for the legal action to go to the European Court of Appeal and beyond. You havnt got a pot to p!ss in. Take the ESL and be grateful.

[Eastside Urchin]

I don't think they are in debt therefore liquidation wouldnt be an issue

[Eastside Urchin]

Just been speaking to a grays fan at work who said the latest thing he has heardis that after being placed in the esl the club are talking about not accepting the esl and not playing anywhere or in any league next season

[Baron of Black Fen]

If they do that they must start in the ESL or lower as they will be treated as a totally new club.

 

Tell them to stop sulking and get on with it.

 

Both us and Canvey went down and we both come out of it ok but keeping hold of the ground must make a difference.

[cup of tea]

I've never heard of a football club refusing to play football. Agree with BB on this.

[Miss.A.F.C.Hornchurch]

strange!

 

Sounds like Grays are giving up

[Nutchutney]

It sounds like they want to be treated as a special case.

That creates too many dangerous precedents like when Uefa were forced to allow Liverpool into the 2005-2006 Champions League even though they finished 5th in the Premier League.

Grays should accept their loss of status and rebuild like we had to.

They are longer the big Essex non-league club they like to think they are. That mantle has been passed to Chelmsford City.

[Hornchurch "O"]

I've heard they have applied to join the Dutch league.

[Baron of Black Fen]

At the end of the day, the choice is their's.

 

Give up and call it a day or play in the ESL.

 

They were only getting 200+ in the conference so i cant imagine there is too much pressure from fans one way or the other.

[cup of tea]

Whoever has caused the problems at Grays, it isn't the fault of any other non league club or the Ryman league.

I'm sure there's rules set in place for this and Grays will have to follow them the same as everyone else has had to.

As said previously, you can't allow exceptions as that sets dangerous precedents for the future - and some other club (Margate,Harlow?) would have to pay the price for Grays's inclusion into a higher league.

[Ian_W]

I've heard they have applied to join the Dutch league.

 

Is that with their new striker Clogson?

[Ian_W]

All very sad - http://www.theenquirer.co.uk/FA+respond+to+Grays+claims%20id=2685

 

GRAYS Athletic FC’s chief executive has slammed the Football Association and others in the soccer hierarchy after his club were placed in the Essex Senior League.

 

He also claims that the FA’s senior administrator in charge of restructuring, Mike Appleby, is backing Grays’ claim for a place in the Ryman Premier League and that he will act as a witness for the club – a claim immediately refuted by the FA.

 

 

 

A statement from Mr Swallow was placed on the club’s website on Monday which was full of emotive language.

 

 

 

He said: “The club are shocked not been accepted into the Ryman set-up. It's a total tuck up and a proper liberty what has gone on.

 

"They refused us on three accounts:-

 

1) The application was not in by the 1st April in accordance with rule 5.2

”We asked them why they never told us straight away and the reply was "That's a fair point" Mike Appleby doesn’t think we fall into this as we are seeking Voluntary relegation not moving league which would have put us out of time.”

 

 

 

2) The Committee is of the opinion when we withdrew from the conference we had withdrawn from The National League System totally.

 

“Their opinion isn’t fact so its irrelevant.”

 

 

 

3) No confirmation of a home ground for next season.

 

 

 

"This is a total lie The club, Mickey Woodward, Benny Bennett and John Coventry of East Thurrock have spoken to Bruce Badcock and Mr Robinson at the Ryman league about ground sharing and Mr Badcock had confirmed that he had received the relevant documentation and at no time had they told us there was any problems with applications, timings and anything else to do with the application.

 

”The outgoing owner Mike Woodward spoke to the Ryman Chairman to let him know he has nothing to do with the club anymore and to look fairly on the new ownership and it was agreed there was no problems between the Ryman league and Mike Woodward or Grays Athletic”

 

 

 

The statement added that Mr Swallow had spoke to Mike Appleby who was of the opinion that the league have got it wrong.

 

 

 

Mr Swallow continued: “We are not asking to move leagues, we are asking for voluntary relegation.

”Mr Appleby is wiling to be a witness for us with our appeal if needs be to the European Court of Appeal and beyond as it’s a total liberty that a lot of time and money has be spent to be treated like this.”

 

However, the FA have denied Mr Swallow’s claims and said: “At no time has Mike Appleby offered to be a ‘witness’ for Grays Athletic Football Club.”

 

 

 

They went on to counter other claims, adding: “Grays Athletic’s resignation from the Conference structure was interpreted by both The FA’s Alliance and League Committees as resignation from the entire structure, hence the club were reallocated to Step 5.

 

 

 

“As of May 18, Grays Athletic do not have a ground share in place as a request to share with East Thurrock United is yet to be rubber-stamped by the Isthmian League.”

 

The Enquirer understands that terms for a groundshare with East Thurrock had been agreed but Grays had delayed confirming them and the Ryman League have confirmed that they have not been given a formal application for a groundshare, which would have to contain a written, confirmed legal agreement between the participating clubs.

 

 

 

Despite the week’s news, Mr Swallow concluded: “Regardless of what league we get put into we will still play as Grays Athletic and will not be driven out by this disgraceful treatment of our club and we will leave no stone unturned until we get proper justice and is this now time for us to reform as Grays 1890 and start again.”

 

 

 

On Tuesday it was suggested on Grays’ website forum that the club were seeking to groundshare with Basildon United now.

 

 

 

It was reported on other websites that talks had been going on behind the scenes regarding this scenario earlier in the year, and both clubs have a more than cordial relationship at boardroom level, after Grays reserve side played the home games at Gardiners Close last season.'

 

 

 

Basildon secretary Richard Mann told the Enquirer: “Although no talks have begun about Grays playing at Basildon United next season the club would certainly not object to such a groundshare as we are running without a reserve team after failing in our application to join the Olympian League meaning the pitch is free every other Saturday and we would obviously welcome a club of Grays pedigree and history coming to Gardiners Close even if its only for one season.”

 

 

 

EDITOR’S COMMENT: Those watching the demise of Grays Athletic FC from outside the inner sanctum have been shaking their heads at the way the club has allowed itself to slip down the leagues ladder and, in many people’s opinion, become a club of ridicule.

 

Yet the blame must lie firmly with those at the head of the organisation who have steadfastly refused to listen to advice and have ploughed on with an arrogance and disdain of others that borders on the unbelievable.

 

I speak from personal experience. Several weeks ago I attended a meeting of the club’s loyal core of fans and the new management structure, which included Mr Swallow.

 

Sadly, I have to say they lied, straight-faced and up-front to those loyal fans about some things. They might say it was passion and rhetoric, not lies, but it amounts to the same thing when it’s a blatant, proven untruth.

 

I happen to have more than 20 years experience of administration experience at non-league level, have been a secretary and manager of many clubs as I've moved about the country , from Step 4 downwards to Sunday sides, and have a lifetime’s experience of working as a journalist in football.

 

Yet when I challenged them, I was ridiculed and jeered and told, in some particularly colourful language to ‘go away.’

 

I've kept my counsel and opinion since then - and respected some confidential information that's come my way so as not to damage ongoing negotiations. But, having been refused access to Grays' forum, I will add my fivepenneth to the debate today on this site.

 

What I had to say at the time was that the club should have been planning for a future in the Essex Senior League as precedent clearly indicated that was where they would go unless something very unusual happened.

 

I suggested the club ought to be organising its fan-base along the lines of other football supporter trusts, concentrating on the small, vitally important housekeeping and financial issues – not dreaming of the impossible. Despite having personal experience of two former Football League clubs having gone down the same route and being part of the fan base that put them back together, no-one at Grays wanted to know.

 

They knew best and damn the rest.

 

It was clearly a case of the delusional leading the desperate and a recipe for tears. Even now, the talk is not constructive about what must be done to create a base on which to build, but talk of high-flying lawyers and QCs. I wish the club well if it can afford the legal challenge and believes it has the moral high ground, but moral high ground hasn't saved lots of other clubs when they haven't followed due process and the personal abuse and allegations don't help anyone.

 

Over recent weeks I have spoken to people like Bruce Babcock and Alan Turvey of the Ryman League who are decent, footballing people, regardless of comments on the Grays forum They have no wish to see Grays demoted or out of business – indeed they would probably a welcome a club with such support in their league because of the financial boost it gives other member clubs. But they have to abide by a set of rules and to clearly be fair to ALL clubs, those on the way up as well as on the way down.

 

Yet they are castigated and abused by Mr Swallow and others – and then some fans who choose to believe what they are told by people who have been proven to lie, rather than bring common sense to play.

 

The great shame of all this is that Mr Swallow has the passion – and apparently the cash – to help get Grays back on their feet. Sadly it appears he is unaccustomed to the machinations of grassroots non-League football and its administration and he either takes bad advice at face value or simply believes he commands the power to turn back the tide of precedent and overturn the rulebook.

 

He appears at times to be a man who speaks passionately before he thinks and this leads him to say things which he may believe with his heart, but his head should tell him aren’t so.

 

He could, of course, be a complete charlatan trying to stitch up the club for some unknown reason but I find that difficult to believe. He generates so much raw passion and enthusiasm at times he surely can’t be anything other than a man trying to do good.

 

But what Grays need now isn’t just passion. It’s cool heads, a calm approach and a plan.

 

Going down to the Essex Senior League isn’t a disaster. It’s a starting point.

 

Grays have the resource and support to bounce back at the first attempt. There are players out there who would love to pull on the blue shirt and start something special.

 

Please don't take anything for granted, as some comments on the club are immediately disrespecting the ESL and Ryman One North by saying Grays will breeze through, but in just a few short seasons the club can be back at a higher level – and as someone who enjoys life watching teams in the Essex Senior League and both Ryman levels, there is a lot of enjoyment and entertainment to be had, new friends to make and, I am sure, a few cups for the trophy cupboard to be won – wherever that may be sited for a few seasons.

 

And on a new ground – well there are several options. The Development Corporation is about to announce its new North Grays Masterplan and they still talk of a sports hub. The land is there, so is the will to help – but Grays must go to them with a scheme, not a half-baked plea for charity.

 

Despite what some people have said, Grays have NEVER put a proper plan to the DC or Council. They've had meetings, they've made some verbal suggestions with officials of both organisations and they've even drafted some outline plans - but a proper, by-the-book proposal has not been submitted. Whether anyone in the Grays fanbase believes me is up to them, but I've asked the right questions in the right places to get the definitive answers. However, it gave certain club officials someone convenient to blame for their own failings!

 

Regardless of that, there is a future.

 

It’s all doable, it’s all positive and even in this, which some are calling Grays’ darkest hour, the light is still on – it’s just that the end of the tunnel has moved a little further away.

 

NEIL SPEIGHT

 

Editor and football supporter.

 

 

 

Date published: 18/05/2010 19:23:45

 

[YELLOW]

Some good opinions from the editor. Makes a lot of sense.

[cup of tea]

It does make a lot of sense.

I think there's certain people at Grays who have just got to be realistic.

[Eastside Urchin]

none of this actually surprises me