Text at top (next game etc)

Next Game: Pre-Season

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Maidstone Owner Says Funding Decisions 'Possibly Corrupt'

Maidstone, who ply their trade in the National League South, are another club who are unhappy with the way the £10M funding designed to help clubs through the pandemic have been allocated.

Their joint owner Terry Casey has said he feels that the grant funding has been mis-used.

"The distribution of the £10million grant from the National Lottery to the Vanarama National League has left me utterly confused and bitterly disappointed," said Casey as reported by Kent Online.

"The Government was specific in that the money they brokered for our football clubs, via the National Lottery, was designed to 'replace lost gate revenue'.

"Clubs agreed to start the season, taking on trust the promise to cover these lost revenues. This has not happened.

"Our average gate over the last two seasons has been 2,000 per match and our club will receive 36k per month from the National League.

"This is some 50% below our estimated monthly shortfall! It is also nearly £50k per month less than Dover who attract just over 1,000 per match.

"On the face of this it looks stupid but when it becomes clear that those sitting on the Board making the decisions are heavily biased towards their own financial wellbeing, then it's not just a stupid decision but possibly corrupt.

"For the Board of the National League to arbitrarily decide the first thing that they will do is take 60% for their own clubs and give the South and North just 20% each looks stupid, especially as they have no mandate to keep the money for themselves as they should be representing the interests of all of their member clubs.

"We are sure that the league sponsors such as Vanarama, BT Sport and the National Lottery will be carefully reconsidering their sponsorships on the back of this scandalous decision!

"This is a clear case of the Board not serving the membership and a clear misuse of the way that the money was supposed to be spent.

"This is one of the most extraordinary cases of the misuse of grant funding that I have ever witnessed.

"The FA and National League had a clear mandate to spend the money on lost gate revenue.

"What they have done is ignore this and instead allowed National League Board Members to favour some clubs with outrageous amounts of money that far exceed their gate receipts."