Finished 6th in the play offs... Yet denied a place.
Official Club statement here:
http://www.concordrangers.co.uk/club-statement-3/
For what its worth, I would like to begin by saying i agree on both points of the disccussion, but it does seem a little unfair to me that just not Concord Rangers, but any other similar clubs that find themselves in the same situation in the future.
Yes, granted, they did have around 3 years notice, and should have acted on that, but their own ambitions of a promotion (just likes were unknown at the time), but if they did believe they could succeed, they should have seen this coming & done something like crowd funded local fans or press agents etc through money raising schemes in order to make this happen, to alieviate their small budget.
On another note...BTW...They already have 375 seats currently in place, so the other 125 seats should have been possibly really easy over the last 3 years since notice of intent was giving to all clubs in that league from the FA.
IMO....To be honest, (never been there,...well at least that i dont remember) but a quick look on footbal ground guide, suggests that they could have even saved a fair old few quid and just bolted on some seats at the clubhouse end (which is currently a covered concrete stepped covered terrace) and saved themselves the bother!!... Does that remind you of a genius solution of modernising a certain 1950's aging seaside stadium?
But surely the most sensible thing that the FA should have done would have been to do say... if they did get promoted via the play offs, and Concord Rangers gave proof of financial assurances that the stand would be covered in time for the start of next season, then why not let them go ahead and play it (who ever it was they were facing??)...... & if they didnt achieve the building of the covered 500 stand (by say.... early /mid July)...... They forfeit their promotion, and as long as the losing play off club has built the 500 covered stand as requested, they should be promoted instead... As per the current FA rules.
On the other hand, if the club lost out on promotion via the play off's against another team, they wouldn't have to find the funds in the first place to build the stand, and would remain in the same league they are currently in..... ie:..... no financial outlay needed that year / season.
Personally, I find it strange really why the FA would punish such small towns / village teams up and down the country in such a manner that live on a shoe string budget with no money & basically live on a day to day basis of a small matchday income & the selling of a couple of sausage rolls and a few pints of ale etc,.... Yet demand so much for these small clubs to cover 500 fans weather proof, whether or not they have the fan base to fill the stands...To me personally, it sounds like madness... How does this law benefit the game we all love?... All the the best footballers that have played, started at "Grass Roots Level"... so what does that say about the integrity of the modern game, other than rinsing more money off anyone that can be found.
All in all.....I find this "ethic fa grass roots" punishment odd in all perspective, whilst the likes of Gillingham for example, play Division One football, & get away with that ramshackle of an away stand that holds 1,500 away fans is open to all the elements and has been built on rusty scaffolding and quite frankly a health and safety disaster waiting to happen..
I feel it's harsh to punish a small club like Concord Rangers (or any other teams for that matter), that continue to struggle or improve at that level.
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