Mickey Mouse League relegates nobody again

[Stu M]

Well, nobody in relegation positions that is, since Altrincham's appeal failed today and they are now demoted in place of Scarborough.

[jc]

The Conference rules are in a pretty dire state if a team making an innocent mistake which gained little advantage for them anyway (i.e. international clearance would surely have been granted had it been applied for) get docked six times the number of points deducted from the total of a club who broke Conference budgetary rules - not to mention the Boston fiasco of a few years back.

 

Ultimately, the Conference must take the blame, not for applying the rules as they stand, but for allowing a clause in the rules that allowed discretion to be used in cases of players appearing in the Conference without international clearance to be removed last summer.

[Stu M]

Indeed... I don't think anyone can argue that Alty were innocent as they clearly broke a rule. However, one only has to look at Crawley's three-point penalty for overshooting their budget to know that Conference rules and the enforcement of them needs drastic overhauling.

 

Surely Crawley gained much more of an advantage by paying players more than they were allowed than Altrincham did playing one bloke in a handful of league games. Yet they were docked 18 points and Crawley three...

[kmj]

The Conference stands accused of bringing the game into disrepute. How say you all? Guilty as charged?

 

If nothing else it shows that the FA do not stand up for the innocent, but are perfectly happy to give a slap on the wrist to serious offenders. Bad luck Alty! I hope you come back up soon.

[Alan W (GNFC)]

The biggest issue here, to my mind, is not so much the penalty itself, but more the time it took the Conference to become aware of the problem - if the Conference were "on the ball", this would not have happened at all, and even if it did, it should have been picked up far sooner.

 

If you were cynical, you could suggest that the issue was in fact spotted sooner by one of their relegation rivals, but was deliberately left until late on to notify the Conference, so as to ensure their own safety (I dont really believe this, but I say it simply to make the point that it does rather leave the position open to abuse - after all, an 18 point deduction effectively relegates many a club, whereas a 3 point deduction doesnt)

[The Invisible Man]

I understand it was actually spotted by the Australian FA of all people.

 

It makes me wonder why we bother with playing footbal all year anyway. if issues are to be decided by little men in blazers with badges, accountants and whatnot. And you can finish 3rd and no go up, or you can finish 6th and get promoted.....

 

Apart from the lunacy and sheer injustice of the Alty "decision", the other thing that bugs me is that when a club drops out of a division for other reasons than finishing in a relegation position, it's a bottom club that gets reprieved. Surely it would be better to promote another club, i.e. to reward excellence rather than failure?

 

So there.

[Rob_Butler]

Can someone explain the budgetary rules please? Thanks

[jc]

What have budgetary rules got to do with the Altrincham case?