It's Cheaper To Keep in Touch!

[Nos]

A letter from today's Non League Paper's fans' forum

 

It’s cheaper to keep in touch!

 

 

WE READ with interest the comments the comments and views about clubs being expelled from FA competitions.

 

I have one question to ask: Why have we not heard from the club secretaries in these cases? So far all we have read – and it is quite usual – are quotes from chairmen and managers.

 

As a long serving administrator in the game I have always worked to the following principles when seeking to register a player with my club:

 

1. Never trust what your chairman tells you about a player.

 

2. Even more so, never trust what your manager tells you about a player.

 

3. Even more, never trust what a player tells you.

 

4. And never trust what the club you are signing the player from tells you unless you get it in writing on headed club paper.

 

Even then it is the duty of the secretary to check the status of any player before he lodges any documentation for the player to kick a ball in a competitive match. I have a cabinet full of stories I have been told over the years and examples are:

 

1. I am not registered with any other club in your league.

 

2. I have already played in this country for another team so I do not require international clearance.

 

3. My manager and chairman have said it is OK for me to play in any match while I am on loan with you.

 

4. Yes, I do have a work permit from the Home Office.

 

The list is endless but readers will get the drift. As secretary you are duty bound to adhere to the rules and regulations on behalf of your club. It is vitally important that those in charge do not try and railroad their secretary into getting players to play, until the secretary is confident the paperwork is completed.

 

Some of us do make errors and we know the work-load can be horrendous. However, that is not an excuse to take chances when it can be avoided, for it can be a costly exercise.

 

If need be, the FA and my league will get a barrage of calls for confirmation that a player is registered correctly and my club has a written right to receive that in hard copy. Often working in close liaison with those officials may throw up a query in the back of your mind that can save a terrible blunder occurring. The cost of a phone call is a cheap price to pay for job satisfaction and peace of mind.

 

Of course I am sorry for supporters of St. Albans and Sutton Coldfield but can you really blame the club where the player in question was last? If each of the secretaries had spoken about the matter then it would have probably been resolved.

 

Also the FA rule on permission for a loan player to play is quite specific. The club at which the player is on loan must have permission in writing to that affect, not an assumption on some other wording.

 

 

A Secretary of senior club,

name and address supplied

 

 

It's been 2 weeks now and that is long enough. Is it not time that St. Albans City F.C. informed everyone of the exact sequence of events leading up to our expulsion from the FA cup? I think we are entitled to know the full details and I would also like to hear our secretary's version of events. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />

[ASF]

Hear Hear.

 

And it would also be nice to know exactly what the loan contract says.