Southport manager Liam Watson has launched an attack on the National League Board for how they have handled the season and in particular the funding crisis.
Speaking after their FA Trophy defeat at Torquay last Saturday, Watson confirmed that Southport had voted to declare the season null and void.
‘Not one person on the
Conference board has come out and said ‘we’re really sorry’, we have
absolutely led you up the garden path," said Watson as reported by The News.
‘We’ve promised you something, probably misguided, well definitely misguided, certainly the CEO (Michael Tattersall) must have felt he’s misguided us because he jumped and fell on the sword.
‘There was the argument about the funds, has it been fair, has it been right’
‘These grants were to compensate for loss of fans’ revenue streams, so I’ll turn round and say some teams in the Conference Premier get crowds of 600 and they get £84,000 (a month).
‘You get a club like York City, a big club in our league, getting 2,000 or whatever, and they get £36,000.
‘How does that work out? It doesn’t work out, so there’s another mistake - they misguided us into starting the season when they told us we would have grants, they’ve been proven wrong, they’ve then got grants for the first three months and chucked them away.
‘You could actually have given us all less and done it over a five-month period and made us manage the funds correctly.
‘There’s teams in the Conference North and South who’ve been getting £30,000 and have felt like they’ve hit the jackpot.
‘I understand the bigger clubs have bigger outgoings but not once have I heard anyone on the board of the Conference come out and say ‘I’m sorry’.
‘Now they’re forcing clubs to vote to get them out of a position - no-one else, just them. They’ve created this chaos, this carnage.
‘Some clubs are rightly, 100 per cent rightly, saying as a club you cannot operate insolvent. If you are operating insolvent, you are breaking the law in effect, you could be struck off as a director.
‘We always have to do our PAYE, we always have to do our VAT, as a company/league they actually manage our finances, but now that’s all out of the window - take loans, do what you want, bail us out, because we’ve caused carnage and we’ve got to get out of jail here, we’ve got to save Vanarama deals, BT deals.
‘Now some clubs are saying ‘we’re not playing’. Then you get letters saying you’ll face sanctions.
‘The tactics have changed, now it’s bullying.
‘Are they going to fine clubs that potentially could go out of business because their grants, which they promised, haven’t come forward?
‘You’re now asking clubs to go to Sport England for a loan. I’m not being funny but it would take a month to fill the form in.
‘If I was a director on that board, me personally, I would get up and resign because what they’ve done to all these clubs is not far short of an absolute disgrace.
‘I feel the board of directors have thrown all these clubs under a bus to save their own skin. To start throwing fines and sanctions at clubs who they have already put in financial chaos sums it up.
‘We won’t be going to Brackley (on Tuesday). We don’t want to put the players at risk.
‘As far as I’m concerned this (FA Trophy loss to Torquay) is our last game of the season, I can’t see a resolution. They’ve had 14 days to come up with a resolution and what have they come up with - we’re going to start again, if you don’t we’ll sanction you.
‘That’s bullying in this day and age.’