Dover refuse to play indefinitely.

[LaxtonLad]

12.9 A Club which for any reason ceases to operate at any time during the Playing Season may have its playing record expunged, and any monies due to them from the Company shall be forfeited. From the date of the withdrawal no further payment shall become due to them. From the date of the withdrawal, that Club shall cease to be a member of the Company.

Well that's that then. Although I expect their chairman already knew this but was wondering if some filthy-rich American film stars might be wandering by, it's happened before.

[magpie_mania]

The problem isn't only Dover imo. The problem is the National League. They should have decided clearly what finances are available and how / if the season should continue. I reckon that the NL North & South are in a far worse position.

[Woodsetts_Pie]

Dover seem to be in the same position that Truro City have occupied in previous years, - Too big and successful for the league they are in, which sees them move up a division, then the geographical isolation has an effect, (Truro were training at Exeter for example as most of their players came from the wider South West), they nosedive, and go back down from whence they came. This year the Covid/financial problems has exacerbated that.

If they truly have "given up" then their results should/will be expunged, (which benefits us), and they will drop at least one league as a result when the season is concluded (which suits them as they are then in a more "local" league).

It's fair to say that the National League Board are handling this whole thing badly though, and as KTD says, we need to keep winning and be on top of the league (PPG) if this goes completely t1ts-up. Every game is a "must win".

[countygump]

I always thought that if clubs refuse to fulfil their fixtures in any competition then they are disqualified from that competition. The solution seems obvious to me.

This ^^^

You would imagine that the NL exec would step in and lay down the law for them. You either play or you're disqualified/points deducted/fined/relegated. Most of the problems we're encountering are because they seem not to want to take charge of the situation.

[countygump]

We desperately need to get to the top of the PPG table.

And this^^^

We need to bust a gut to win every match we possibly can.

[Evesham Pie]

It gets very interesting if they do effectively drop out and their results are expunged. I think this is what the PPG table would look like.


Played Pts PPG
Torquay 21 41 1.95
Notts 17 33 1.94
Sutton 18 34 1.89
Hartlepool 20 36 1.80
Stockport 18 31 1.72
Wrexham 20 29 1.45
Altrincham 21 30 1.43

This just reinforces that Notts need to keep pushing for every point in the upcoming games and worry about the league situation once that happens.

[laddo]

It's great we are even talking about aiming to be top of the PPG table as that looked a pipe dream in December.

As for Dover there problems started before the season kicked off. Awful pre-season unexpected resulted in an awful start to the season with then being bock bottom until very recently.

[matt_magpie]

The whole things got out of hand, there's many NLS and NLN clubs disclosing letters from the National league about them charging them for not playing games which I can understand but at the same time unprofessional.
I can't understand for the life of me why this has gone for a vote as that's always going to be driven by self interests, if Notts were bottom I would fully hope they voted null and void, it's not right but you would want to use the situation. If the DCMS are offering clubs grants based on they will become insolvent or insolvent long term taking on loans why on earth have they given clubs the option to vote, it shouldn't be an option. If they furlough players now for months it's going to cost as much if not more to the government, I think if it had been handled better by the National league a small number clubs would actually go against their current stance and weather it, but appears to be becoming a protest vote against the league. I like everyone else is going to be pig sick if this season gets curtailed when this could have been avoided, how much money I have our owners wasted this season, little DCMS support through the misallocation ?

[matt_magpie]

It's not going to go to PPG is it? I think Covid is going to be a lesser issue getting the season complete as cases are going down, yes there going to be some cases at clubs but I think they will finish or it's going to be null and void, they still have 2 or 3 weeks to respond on the vote, by then less teams in our league will be in contention for promotion and that will sway the vote against continuing.

[Evesham Pie]

If, say, the top 12 clubs all vote to continue, why not find a solution that lets them play to a conclusion. That's of no consequence to the likes of Dover, so they shouldn't have an issue with it, and it's unlikely that any team outside the top half at the moment would gain promotion, so shouldn't compromise the quality of the team's going up for the EFL. For me, the NL should be devoting time working with clubs for a plan B along these lines, just in case. But it's the NL, so it doesn't look like they've given it any thought.

I've just seen that, conveniently, Dover's game at Halifax has been called off on Saturday due to a frozen pitch. A bit of an early call for me, conspiracy theories anyone?