Results expunged, fined £40,000, start with -12 points next season.

No demotion from the NL, so they've got off very lightly (and can appeal the fine and points deduction).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56544033

They think it's all Dover...

Thats a joke!

Dover's chairman was on the NL board - he only came off just before they stopped playing games. I think he knows too much for them to go after his club hard. Useless organisation.

To be brutally honest I cannot really begrudge clubs for not wanting to play. They were promised fair and balanced funding, which it wasnt. Were then promised grants, which were instead loans, and while a division below in the Southern and Northern Premier fans were allowed, only a few test events occurred in the National League all while clubs would of assumed fans would of returned at some stage before the season ending.

The FA, National League and those numbnuts at the DCMS have essentially fingured clubs at this level three times over.

whilst all thats fine the vote to continue playing took place and at our level it was to carry on. Have always been one that goes with the majority vote even if i thought it wrong. Doubt we,d be happy next season if we do not go up and they nick promotion off us. You never know in football.

Exactly right. The board are totally incompetent.

A number of National League clubs are considering whether to bring a vote of no confidence against the league's board in the wake of the latest controversy to hit the competition this season.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56549165

Parmenter, the Dover chairman, was party to the NL board's unfair distribution of the initial grants that covered the first 3 months of the season - no doubt his club did better than it ought to have done out of the carve up.

I dare say when he switched from gamekeeper to poacher and cancelled Dover's season he was expecting the likes of King's Lynn to follow suit. If the other 6 NL clubs who voted against carrying on had all 'done a Dover' the credibility of the season would have been shot to pieces. Because they didn't, 2 clubs will get promoted to the EFL this season as normal.

Be great for the other 22 clubs in the division if Parmenter magics some money up and Dover are challenging for promotion themselves next season!

What does the league table look like now? BBC site was updated on the 23. Any links ..anyone know cheers

What a f up this league is. Don't play and don't get relegated

Dover saying they've 'been hung out to dry' and are appealing. Tw&ts.

The £40K fine doesn't cover the costs suffered by the other clubs. This league is a joke and the sooner we escape it the better!

One of the impacts of Dover going is that Pools won't have a final home match of the season - that will cost us gate money on likely 4 to 5 thousand people and other revenue. The other impact is that we'll have played our final match on 22nd May (hoping to get to that one at Sutton). The next match will likely be a play off fixture, either on June 5th or 12th. Hopefully not too large a gap.

Pools only have 10 league games left now. The clubs around us have all have at least 3 games in hand (including Sutton unfortunately) - Notts County have 6 in hand!

Still, Pools have the points banked and the sides below us are going to have to win most of their games in hand to catch us - a tough task as a lot of times they'll be playing their rivals for the play off places. On the face of things Pools only have 3 difficult fixtures left - home to Chesterfield and Notts County and away to Sutton.

The automatic promotion place is Sutton's to lose, but equally Pools' form would have to drop off pretty badly for us not to finish 2nd or 3rd and be one home game away from a play off final at Wembley.

Gonna start planning that weekend now

These are not normal times. Dover are in financial difficulty mainly because the League's idiotic rulers have cocked every decision up!

The League's answer to this? Fine them £40K (to push them over the cliff) then if that doesn't work deduct 12 points next season so they will most likely be relegated.

Mark Ives and co are the perfect illustration of the phrase "unfit for purpose"

On reflection I think they should have been bounced a division or three at least they would have a club to support.

There's to many grass route clubs going the journey, but they have bought this on themselves.. You can't just say we're not plAying and expect nothing to happen.

The whole league is run by idiot's in my opinion.

if that had been pools instead of dover i,d have bit their hand off for that type of punishment. hope they do appeal and get some more points deducted for next season. Suppose they,ll be saying that its mistaken identity next.

So a club that is skint is fined. Great logic from the league.

think if fans of all clubs got a vote the no confidence vote would not need a re count.

An interesting view of the situation.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football ... hed-covid/

They should have been relegated but can't be without causing problems with the number of teams in the leagues. It's daft to fine a club with no money, just convert all the penalty to a 30 points deduction for next season. They will then be playing in a lower league in a years time which is where they belong for the damage they have done to other clubs in the NL.

So forcing clubs to take on loans to finish the season isn't also causing damage?

What is interesting is that article was written by a local lad who climbed over when he was a kid to support them.
He makes some good points but it is nothing new when he refers to the incompetency by the people running football.
Whilst his club has been run by what seems like decent people our club was decimated by cheats, crooks and vagabonds under the very nose of the football authority.
Join the club mate.

Regardless they should have been relegated. This sets a dangerous precedent.

Absolutely, Mr B.

Trying to gain advantage next season by having no debts when others took out loans to meet the decision of the majority of clubs is indeed cheating and they warrant the punishment of the league. They have also caused the existing clubs to lose money on streaming etc when they have 1 fewer home match to play. Pools may be the most disadvantaged as mentioned earlier in the thread.

So Coxall loading you with debt is bad but Dover refusing to do the same just to keep other clubs who may have better resources, or who don’t give a toss in the hope of getting promoted, happy, is also bad? I wouldn’t let you anywhere near running a business if that’s your attitude towards debt.

its their fans that i bother about. remember if it wasn,t for the luck of geography we could be fans of dover. the only thing on their side is that the club went bust once before and that could be the reason they have been over cautious in getting into debt.

i dont understand why so many people hate dover.

is it cos some of our fans racially abused one of their players and it kicked off? Do people hold grudges cos of that deep down?

I forget he cupped his ear and deserved it.

think most must or should have moved on from that. i for one do not hate em and just rate them the same as teams like bromley, eastleigh and woking. just wish they were all not on a pools fixture list and have total disinterest in them all.

Actually I ran my own business for over 20 years without ever renaging on a contract as I viewed my reputation as important. I also believe in the democratic vote. Dover just decided to stop without any attempt to cut costs and sod the rest of the teams in the league. The mighty Kings Lynn have shown that other, lower cost options, are available but Dover failed to explore any of these.

Agree. Jim Parmenter is a crafty operator who likely has considerably more net worth than Raj Singh. Dover made such a poor start that their season was already as good as over when he decided to take his ball home. Now he's delivered his club from near certain relegation and is being hailed as a man of principle to boot!

I stand by what I said earlier in this thread - don't be surprised if Parmenter magics some money up and Dover are promotion contenders next season. If he gets the 12 point deduction overturned as well as the fine, I'd have money on it.

Dover Athletic face ruin in 'dog eat dog' football world
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-57177208

just another day in the present world of football. no one really cares and never will nowadays if dover never kick a ball in anger again. put the words hartlepool, rochdale or accrington in place of dover and the reactions from the majority of the premier league would be the same.

Their players have had a hard time and now face an uncertain future but that's down to the National League board and Dover's know-it-all chairman, who together almost wrecked the National League season. Couldn't give a toss what happens to Dover as a club - though I fully expect they'll get the £40,000 fine written off and be back to business as usual next season.

I'll reserve my sympathy for the likes of smaller clubs like King's Lynn who respected the majority decision of NL clubs to carry on and took on debt rather than follow Dover's example.

Why do the bbc go to some professor at Aston University for quotes? It’s hardly dog eat dog fella. There is a football community. Dover are part of a league that voted and agreed to bide by the vote. They then didn’t and extricated themselves from the community by choice. If they don’t want to be in the league and go along with the community of clubs they belong to then they can play Sunday league. No one is stopping them. If their chairman doesn’t want to put more money in fair enough but he furloughed his players leaving them to fend for themselves. Dog eat dog world out there or community spirited by the Dover chairman? I trust they will lose their appeal. The question of the suitability of the leagues board is something that the community of clubs in this league need to establish.

Exactly!

never forget that dover is not just a football ground, a chairman who may or not be popular, the present bunch of players but mainly its a group of fans. these fans will love their club as much as fans of anyother. what decisions were made they might have agreed with them or not. they had two options as fans. carry on supporting the club or turning their backs on it. all decisions were totally out of their hands.

Like a lot of articles the BBC produces, it uses hyperbole and falsehoods to portray the narrative it desires.

Firstly Dover aren't  bottom, technically. Their record is blank and they have yet to incur any major point based punishment (which I don't think they will).

About players, Dover was a part time club, like many at this level. I can't speak for every club but the ones around here like Spennymoor and even Blyth Spartans have players who have jobs outside the game, some of which are very secure. If Dover players can't be bothered to find a job outside football that's there problem. I don't even see how they pay the bills playing football at that level anyway.

Apparently in February Dover moved from Proffesional to Semi Professional. Did they? They were always a part time club when I've looked into them.

And of course the BBC link Dover's plight to the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan's point deductions (even though Dover's hasn't happened yet). Not to mention that Sheffield Divesday and Wigan have little in common with Dover's struggles.

Finally, the BBC can act all romantic and attentive of non league and local football. Yet they still pay Gary Lineker and his pundits money we could only dream of, for fingering themselves over VAR, diving, and overpaid footballers. They're not as bad as SKY, but they're still an enabler.

I somewhat feel bad for Dover. But the solution for me is simple. Voluntary relegation. Yes they'll miss out on big clubs like us, Stockport and Chesterfield. But they'll have less travelling and more local derbies. Player recruitment at a club like Dover should be fairly simple due to several nearby population hubs.

It's been said on here before the National League Premier should be regionalized and I can't agree more. Would always have us beating the likes of Darlo and York 1-0 than us pummeling a southern side no ones really heard of.

Finally, fuck the government and National League.

[quote="Brasil Brush"]

It's been said on here before the National League Premier should be regionalized and I can't agree more. Would always have us beating the likes of Darlo and York 1-0 than us pummeling a southern side no ones really heard of.

when that is mentioned they for some reason call it a backwards step. can never understand this attitude. its not just pools and the northern clubs that would gain but the southern ones as well. i emagine clubs like dover would prefer games against maidstone than say spennymoor at home if they got promoted. even with no away fans present the gate would be higher for a local team. for those who go to pools games regularly if they know they,ll miss a match they,ll hope its against a southern club and not a northern one. can remember the old div.3 north days. it never bothered me playing darlo, york,gateshead, barrow, halifax etc every season. watching gillingham, southend and exeter never had the same interest after the first seasons novalty wore off.

Dover should be demoted at least three leagues. Even if they aren't, the National League is still one club short for next season. How are they going to fill that gap?

not sure as there been a precident for demoting a team that low for non fullfilment of fixtures. this certainly has done for the future.

Eleven National League clubs have lost their appeals against sanctions imposed on them for failing to fulfil fixtures last season due to Covid-19.

Dover Athletic, who had their results expunged after not playing beyond January, will be deducted 12 points next season and fined £40,000.
Aside from Dover, 10 other clubs, who all play in National League North or South, have each been fined £2,000 per breach of fixture and handed a suspended two-point deduction, also per breach.

Alfreton Town, Bath City, Bradford Park Avenue, Chippenham Town, Curzon Ashton, Darlington, Dulwich Hamlet, Kettering Town, Slough Town and Southport all had their appeals dismissed.

Chippenham, Curzon Ashton, Dulwich Hamlet and Slough were fined £8,000 for four breaches each, Bradford Park Avenue £6,000, Alfreton and Bath £4,000 and Darlington, Kettering and Southport £2,000.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57484251

fined for not playing games when the league got cancelled early anyway. they want to have a go at running a club like bradford park avenue that rely on volunteer unpaid labour just to keep en going. suppose if one of these clubs cease to exist we,ll get the usual crocodile tears for 24 hours and be forgotton as quick.

NL harvesting cash from their piggy bank - club bank accounts. This is despite them fouling up big time on Government cash grants vs loans. Clowns.

no they are certainly not clowns by a long way. thats very disrespectful to clowns who are supposed to be funny and go a long way in helping people enjoy themselves. they are the complete opposite.

The most surprising thing about charltonclive's post is the link to an earlier BBC Sport article:

"National League clubs have rejected a proposed vote of no confidence against the board and chairman Brian Barwick.

An extraordinary general meeting was held on Wednesday, May 26 at the request of 14 member clubs, but only seven of 31 clubs backed the motion, with two abstaining.

Barwick will stand down as chairman at the end of the current season."

Dunno which clubs had voting rights in the EGM - presumably all the NL clubs and 4 each from the NLN and NLS? It's depressing that a majority of NL clubs backed the board after a season that's seen one organisational shambles after another. You do wonder how half the clubs that called for an EGM in the first place were bought off.