Desperate measures.....

[Trek]

I think the Gills situation is different from only having say 8 or 9 registered players on a team sheet handed in to the officials before the start of a match. I'm sure if it got to that stage then Mr. Strudwick at Conference HQ would quickly find the appropriate regulation to impose sanctions on the Ploppies. ;)

[Olly]

This is desperate measures......
Some suggestions on Poppynet to get the next home match abandoned:

Every supporter brings 100 red, black and White balloons to the next game. We blow them up and make the match a farce as balloons impede the game!

We arrange to somehow waterlog the pitch, anyone got a fire engine we can borrow to water over the roof.

To be fair to them as silly as it sounds I hope they do it, its a farcical situation they're in and they appear to be slowly dying. Seem to remember Chester doing it a few years ago before they went bust, so I think now is the time for the fans to take action and I'm sure they could do with some publicity.

[Pigman]

I see they have been ridiculing the level of our falling support as well on Ploppynet :roll:

Perhaps one of them passing by this way might like to note that we currently have an average of 306 per NSYL match, for youth football, all played on a Thursday night; that is bloody amazing !! Of course they were going to drop away, we knew that. The start of the season saw football on nice summer evenings, we're now in mid winter, its cold and wet - to still have 241 turn up (the attendance at our last home NSYL game) is terrific. 167 turned up on a cold, wet evening at Wellingborough last week to watch a friendly - thats more than most UCL sides get on a Saturday afternoon !!!

What the Ploppies haven't yet realised is that they are in a terrific situation at the moment. They're club is going tits up during the season, they can do something about it. We lost ours during the close-season, we had no chance to really do anything. We couldn't get a Senior side together in time for the new season, hence having a year following youth football (something that some of them ridiculed at the time if you remember rightly). What our Committee achieved in a few short weeks was/still is fantastic !!

I know we have a lot of ex-Diamonds fans are waiting for next season to start, for Senior football on a Saturday afternoon - I wonder what will happen to K*ttering if they can't save their club from the slow death it appears to be heading towards and can't get themselves organised with a Senior side for next season? At least they have a good 4 months of the season left to plan and communicate what they're doing, I hope for their sakes they don't waste that time.

I'm enjoying watching them wriggle on the hook at the moment, and I don't care one way or the other if they go bust - they're our rivals and I'd love to be able to lock horns with them in the UCL next season a lot more than watching them survive in the BSP ;) I wish them luck more in forming a new club than I do in saving their existing one !!

[Trek]

..... so I think now is the time for the fans to take action and I'm sure they could do with some publicity.

Their problem is there no concerted plan of action and they have no clear idea on what their protest will be seeking to achieve.
When we had our problem in May within a couple of days a Fans Action Group Open Meeting was organised with a 500 odd attendance. OK the financial problem was so great which meant we weren't able to save the Club in the short time available before the Conference AGM.
I don't think the Ploppies Supporters Trust is taking much of a lead in this matter.

[Three of Diamonds]

I know we have a lot of ex-Diamonds fans are waiting for next season to start, for Senior football on a Saturday afternoon - I wonder what will happen to K*ttering if they can't save their club from the slow death it appears to be heading towards and can't get themselves organised with a Senior side for next season? At least they have a good 4 months of the season left to plan and communicate what they're doing, I hope for their sakes they don't waste that time.

I think they'd have to apply to join the UCL (for next season) sometime this month like us, so in reality they have a couple of weeks to do that. Does anyone know the deadline date? Their BIGGEST issue is that KTFC are still around, so they'd have to effectively break away from it and hope a level of support goes with them if they did that at this point. Then they'd have to get their new club constitution set up and accredited with the FSA .It's a tough call for them IMO so in a way our situation was better as it allowed us to do things the right way from the start and not be hurried (taking about the senior first team here, not the current youth).
Interesting point about if they do not get their "other" senior side organised in time to put out a mens team for next season, it would put them in exactly the same position we were in.

[Formic]

There are various dates, not all of which are clearly published, relating to applications to join a County FA and a local league, but the FA rules are as follows (from their handbook, available online).

"If a Club (whether a Members’ Club or a Company) is wound up, liquidated, ceases to trade
or is removed from its League or withdraws from football competition (‘the Former Club’),
and then wishes to establish a new Club (‘the New Club’) and be placed within the NLS
other than as set out in Regulation 5.3, then unless otherwise determined by the LC, it will
be allowed to make an application only to join a League/division at step 5 of the NLS unless
the Former Club was in either Step 4 or Step 5 when the event which caused it to cease
its membership occurred in which case it must re-join the NLS at a minimum of two Steps
below the level at which it was at the time the event occurred, or withdrew from football
competition, whichever is lower. Where the Former Club is a member of The FA Premier
League or Football League in the current Playing Season then the LC shall at its absolute
discretion determine in which league within the NLS the New Club shall be placed for the
following Playing Season and will set out at its complete discretion the requirements to be
met by the New Club.
In order for consideration to be given to the placement in the NLS by the New Club in the
following Playing Season, an initial application must be received by the LC by 1st March or
within twenty-one days of the Former Club being wound up, liquidated, ceasing to trade,
resigning or being removed from its League or withdrawing from football competition, if
such date is later than 1st March.
The full application accompanied by all necessary documents including evidence of
security of tenure having been granted to the New Club must be received by 31st March.
The application shall be copied to the League of which membership is being requested.
The application will be determined by the LC."

[Three of Diamonds]

So does that mean the date to register with the FA to join the NLS is March 1st, but the date to apply to join the UCL is not mentioned? Is that correct?

[BartonRaz]

Is the UCL not in the NLS then? I'd have thought that means the date for application to the UCL is March 1st. I don't know why someone at the club can't just tell us and put us out of our misery it feels like a bit of a secret at the moment.

[Formic]

The UCL is of course part of the National League System (NLS).

http://thefa.com/Leagues/NationalLeagueSystem

To be fair, the whole application process is pretty complicated, with issues relating to where we might play also having a significant bearing.

The UCL website has a lot of useful docs in the downloads section, including a set of documents relating to ground grading - and as you'll see, they are pretty complicated too.

http://www.htucfl.com/LeagueDocuments

Mods - perhaps this needs to be split to a separate thread, as it's rather "off topic".

[BartonRaz]

Do we think the fact we don't have our own permanent base will hamper our chances of starting in the UCL Prem? I was thinking to myself whether we'd be considered any different to King's Lynn who reformed in the UCL Prem, and then realised the ground situation.

Talking hypothetically here as obviously we don't know the options open to us, but say we were entered into the UCL Prem, playing at Kiln Park, what happens if we happen to win that league? Do we expand their ground for them? Do we move again (probably St Neots only suitable stadia even close)? Or do we just accept promotion will be refused and try again the season after?

The powers that be may look at the ground situation and think that if they stick us in Div One it gives us two years to find a place of our own....