Petition to save Alty

[Hempstead Gaz]

Their punishment of -18 points + £1000 fine does seem a tad harsh.

A petition has been started for the decision to be reversed

 

http://www.petitiononline.com/ab1bc234/

[John Pearce]

I am sorry CG but I take a different view on this affair.

 

Altrincham broke the rules and the rules say that if a club is caught playing an illegible player than they will be 'docked' all of the points that they gained in matches that the player involved played in.

 

In Altrincham that means that they lose 18 points.

 

Harsh yes, but rules are rules and whilst I feel very sorry for their supporters, if it means they are relegated as a consequence than it is of their own making.

 

Altrincham are a professional or semi-professional club, they should have made all of the necessary checks before signing the player.

 

Someone at Altrincham needs to put there hand up and admit to making a mistake, perhaps the club secretary, however the player involved should also be taking some responsibility also.

 

Their relegation fate is not sealed however, depending on what happens at Scarborough and at Canvey Island. The sad thing is that once again Forest Green Rovers appear to be escaping what is long overdue to them...i.e. relegation.

[Hempstead Gaz]

I agree that Alty could have and should have made completely thorough checks on the player, but given he was signed from another English club, Accy, they would have had little or no reason to suspect he wasn't eligible to play.

The real culprits in this matter appear to be Accrington, who transferred a player they knew, or would have had good reason to suspect required an international clearance, and not to tell Alty of this.

These things do happen , even with top clubs - look at the Manny Onoyimni fiasco with West Ham, so whilst the league are acting within the rules, my take on this is that Mr Moules is being a little intransigent over the issue.

With the number of loan players we have had passing through Stonebridge Road this year, either Roly has been extremely busy doing thorough background checks on every player or we have been very lucky indeed.

[Riverview Supporter]

It does make a mockery in the fact that yet again you cna finish in relegation place and survive.

 

Maybe a -18 start next season would have been more acceptable.

 

Bottom lineis that all clubs are responsible for who they employ.

 

Same as any company in the country. Would you employ someone and assume that because the worked elsewhere in country could work legally

[David Holden]

Quote:

The real culprits in this matter appear to be Accrington, who transferred a player they knew, or would have had good reason to suspect required an international clearance, and not to tell Alty of this.

You really should acquaint yourself with the laws of libel, they are so much more interesting than hearsay, and in your case much more relevant

[kmj]

Having looked at the petition, I cannot but think that the promoters of this are not helping their cause by adding the part that the administrators of the Conference should stand down due to "incompetence". They should keep it simple ie that the punishment is too harsh. I think that they would find more sympathy if they did so.

[jc]

Quote:

White Van Nistelrooy said:Someone at Altrincham needs to put there hand up and admit to making a mistake, perhaps the club secretary, however the player involved should also be taking some responsibility also.

The club secretary also happens to be the manager.

On the face of it, rules are rules and the Conference have to carry them out. But the real issue is that the rules themselves need looking at, for the severity of the punishment doesn't fit the crime (and an unwitting one at that). It's odd to see the Conference saying in their official statement on the matter that they're 'concerned' about the pitfalls of international clearance, yet, as the Alty website points out, when the Conference rules were altered in the summer of 2005 the statement "the [Conference] Board may vary its decision in exceptional circumstances relative to international clearance of a player's registration" was deleted.

Anyway, a removal of the 18-point penalty may yet be on the cards, given that Alty's appeal goes to the FA, who had already said, prior to the Conference charge, that Alty had no case to answer.

[Robbo]

I think that Alty definitely deserve some form of punishment be it a few points deduction or a larger find or something. But 18 points is way way too much. Who knows, next year when 4 go down we might actually get someone going down who finishes in a relegation spot.

[BustaGut]

Maybe worth a look

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/4929918.stm

[Hempstead Gaz]

Quote:

David Holden said:

Quote:

The real culprits in this matter appear to be Accrington, who transferred a player they knew, or would have had good reason to suspect required an international clearance, and not to tell Alty of this.

You really should acquaint yourself with the laws of libel, they are so much more interesting than hearsay, and in your case much more relevant

In that case, so are the 4000 who have signed the petition so far, + the countless postings on scores of forums up and down the country are guilty..
http://www.confguide.com/cboard.mpl?start=56482
or this,
http://www.confguide.com/cboard.mpl?id=488495
are just some of many.

[Lager Top]

Quote:

David Holden said:
[You really should acquaint yourself with the laws of libel, they are so much more interesting than hearsay, and in your case much more relevant

You really should get that sarcastic tone out of your postings. It would make you so much more of an interesting poster and sound less patronising.

I think what is happening to Altrincham is nothing short of disgraceful.

[Hempstead Gaz]

The reality, is lager Top, it could have easily been us, given that we have had so many loan players in this year.

No matter how thorough Roly is with checks on players, it is all too easy to see how an uncleared player can slip through the net, especially, when his previous history has been as an unregistered reserve at 2 or 3 previous Conference clubs.

At this time there are now question marks over the transfers to a number of clubs.

They cannot all have poor secretaries.

 

And whilst I do not like the way he reports on Fleet very much, Paul Harrison's article on Grays MAD site makes interesting reading.

http://www.graysathletic-mad.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=279713

And the supporters, players and directors had sympathy for their plight as well.

http://www.confguide.com/cboard.mpl?id=488478

 

[Hempstead Gaz]

Quote:

Chatham Gary said:
No matter how thorough Roly is with checks on players, it is all too easy to see how an uncleared player can slip through the net, especially, when his previous history has been as an unregistered reserve at 2 or 3 previous Conference clubs.
At this time there are now question marks over the transfers to a number of clubs.
They cannot all have poor secretaries.

http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?&newsmode=FULL&nid=34524

is one such incident.

[jc]

Additionally, Grays chairman Mike Woodward has offered to supply Alty with a top QC for their appeal.