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Dulwich Hamlet and Coronavirus

Griff_Turnstile said:
It would appear that a letter has gone out to the National League clubs in relation to the initial distribution of funding to them if this article is correct. “The National League have now hit back, saying the panel recommended increased funding to 24 clubs in December with 30 clubs receiving less than they had done in the previous two months.
In 10 cases, it would have seen distribution going from an expected £84,000 down to £12,000. ‘This variation, at such a late stage, was simply not practical or legally possible,’ said Ives in his letter to clubs.”
Curiously not seen any official from anywhere on this yet... Havant & Waterlooville admit uncertainty over next financial aid package is ‘very worrying’
Click to expand...
The argument now seems to be that we can't change the division of funds because those clubs who received a disproportionately large grant the first time will be expecting another one of the same size. What about those clubs who were shafted the first time? We weren't at a "late stage" when the matter was raised by the group of clubs who feel it was done wrongly, and anyone with any common sense will have anticipated that any further funds should be distributed differently the second time.
 
I’m seeing this very much as the turkeys aren’t going to vote for Christmas. The voting power of the clubs getting less under the “gate distribution” system presumably outweighing that of those clubs who have now received less that they were led to believe they were going to get. Not that I’d expect the league board to admit that. Then again they left themselves wide open for this using the gate receipts model. If they felt the fixed cost model was the most equitable situation then why didn’t they just say that rather than go through all the rigmarole of the Bernstein Inquiry then compound that by dillydallying with the findings? 🤷‍♀️
 
Ollie Bayliss reporting that the next and overdue money will be in the form of loans rather than grants. No idea if that decision is in any way a result of the dodginess of the National League distribution of the lottery money.
 
StephenMac said:
Ollie Bayliss reporting that the next and overdue money will be in the form of loans rather than grants. No idea if that decision is in any way a result of the dodginess of the National League distribution of the lottery money.
Click to expand...
It's also been reported that the National League is "encouraging" member clubs to ask their local MP to lobby the Government to change the loans to grants. The League Management Committee has created this mess with its hopeless leadership and now the clubs are being asked to deal with the consequences. I trust those responsible for starting the season behind closed doors, then distributing the lottery funding for clubs in a patently unfair manner, will finally be resigning after this latest fiasco. Or maybe they'll all get an OBE like the League Chairman?
 
Either they resign or maybe time to explore setting up a new League
chaos does provide opportunities
dreamland probably ...but surely
Things have to change
 
There’s going to be a lot of resignations by the looks of it... I’ve been trying to find out how the so-called Winter Sports Survival Package exactly operates.. Supposedly it’s being administered by Sport England, rather than through the National Lottery, with a 7 person board (quango?) processing applications from a number of individual clubs & organisations across a range of sports including motor racing, badminton, rugby union, horse racing, women's football, rugby league, tennis, netball, basketball, ice hockey, badminton and greyhound racing as well as the National League & Steps 3-6 below. I can’t begin to imagine how much paperwork will be generated! Nowhere have I seen any terms for the loans beyond Dowlen’s rather vague “low interest” which puts me in mind of William Hootkins’ “top men” in its lack of clarity. No duration, no security, no nothing... Apparently the Trident Leagues & below are still waiting from last year to hear how and how much they might be eligible to apply for. Non-league football's £14m rescue package - many questions remain from lockdown-hit clubs
 
Griff_Turnstile said:
There’s going to be a lot of resignations by the looks of it... I’ve been trying to find out how the so-called Winter Sports Survival Package exactly operates.. Supposedly it’s being administered by Sport England, rather than through the National Lottery, with a 7 person board (quango?) processing applications from a number of individual clubs & organisations across a range of sports including motor racing, badminton, rugby union, horse racing, women's football, rugby league, tennis, netball, basketball, ice hockey, badminton and greyhound racing as well as the National League & Steps 3-6 below. I can’t begin to imagine how much paperwork will be generated! Nowhere have I seen any terms for the loans beyond Dowlen’s rather vague “low interest” which puts me in mind of William Hootkins’ “top men” in its lack of clarity. No duration, no security, no nothing... Apparently the Trident Leagues & below are still waiting from last year to hear how and how much they might be eligible to apply for. Non-league football's £14m rescue package - many questions remain from lockdown-hit clubs
Click to expand...
The only bit I like of this post is the exemplary deployment of a Raiders of the Lost Ark reference.
 
Ollie Bayliss is reporting the clubs have been offered three routes forward.

Long term, low interest loans with no immediate repayments.

The league take out a loan. They make grants to the clubs and reclaim the money by reducing central funding payments.

Suspending the season
 
Less than 64 hours until we are supposed to be kicking off v Dartford.

Gotta feel for everyone at the club right now not knowing if they need to get a game on or not.
 
The league have said they expect the next two Saturdays to play irrespective of which way clubs respond

Clubs must report back tonight, the league meet on Friday apparently.
 
Concord have gone a step further and informed the league they will cease playing until they receive clarity around financing generally and for Covid testing.

The league have previously stated they expect fixtures to be fulfilled for the next two weekends.

Getting interesting... Might not be a great look disciplining a club who are refusing to play as they cannot test their players in the current Covid climate
 
The Telford statement is worth a look as it sets out some of the terms attached to the loan. They want a suspension of up to three weeks and then null and void if the financial position hasn't changed.

www.telfordunited.com

Club Statement: - AFC Telford United

AFC Telford United would like to provide supporters with the following statement regarding the 2020/21 National League season. During Wednesday’s meeting, the National League confirmed to its members clubs the Government’s Winter Survival Package would be in the forms of loans not grants. The...
www.telfordunited.com www.telfordunited.com
 
Roger D said:
Concord have gone a step further and informed the league they will cease playing until they receive clarity around financing generally and for Covid testing.

The league have previously stated they expect fixtures to be fulfilled for the next two weekends.
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Apparently Havant and Slough have followed Concord and informed the League they will not be fulfilling further fixtures until the matter is resolved. Looking back to the very first post on this thread, this is essentially what our club did immediately before the National League suspended last season.

It seems that Chester, Eastbourne and Hemel have expressed a preference for the National League grant option. No one seems to favour the direct loan option so far.
 
I don't know what the terms of the loans are but taking on additional debt at a time of total financial uncertainty seems like a really bad idea doesn't it. If clubs are refusing to play I don't doubt it's because their financial circumstances are pretty dire - a rather pointless season with no fans isn't worth potentially pushing clubs to the wall for IMO.
 
The terms of the first option loan are in the Telford statement. From memory 2% over ten years with no repayment for the first two years.

Most of the teams objecting to loans to date are citing the risk to the club of taking on this sort of debt.
 
Roger D said:
The terms of the first option loan are in the Telford statement. From memory 2% over ten years with no repayment for the first two years.

Most of the teams objecting to loans to date are citing the risk to the club of taking on this sort of debt.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Not surprised clubs are objecting tbh - they tend to live on a financial knife-edge anyway I think so substantial extra loans are an existential threat even if the terms are fairly reasonable which they sound to be.
 
All seems to be unravelling quite spectacularly. I think it's perfectly sound for Concord, Havant and Slough to be refusing to play on financial grounds, and I'd be supportive if we do the same, but I find it a bit weird that all three have suddenly started throwing player safety/lack of testing into the mix. It's a very reasonable point in itself but presumably they hadn't been spending the initial grant money on testing anyway?

For what it's worth (precisely nothing) I'm all for knocking the whole ridiculous season on the head.
 
Slough issued a statement saying they were concerned about player safety and thought the season should be suspended a few weeks ago to be fair to them.

It may have been when Slough was put on tier 4 and the rest of Berkshire into tier 2.
 
Believe Uork
sleaterkinney said:
I'm not sure what the point of playing on at this level is, we can't do bubbles like the professional clubs so we are putting lives at risk for what?
Click to expand...
If I recall rightly at the start of this latest “Lockdown” one journalist said that only elite sports with testing bubbles would be allowed to continue. Given that the EFL clubs were already talking about shutting down until such measures were put in place only the Premier League clubs could reasonably be considered as being in “bubbles” and even the current positives coming out of trips to Dubai have given the lie to that. The increased number of positives among National League clubs over Christmas should really have been the warning sign not the money...
 
I suspect the club will confirm what they are doing once they hear the results of tomorrow's League Management Board meeting.
 
If game goes ahead, and we beat Dartford who are top of the league, then we can claim to be the best in the league when the season gets suspended on Monday...
 
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