We can’t allow clubs to be treated like this when they are in genuine financial difficulty, says Dover Athletic chairman Jim Parmenter

DOVER ATHLETIC chairman Jim Parmenter says the club have been unfairly treated after losing their appeal against a £40,000 fine and a 12 point deduction at the start of the 2021-22 National League season.

The Crabble club had their results expunged from the league table after failing to complete their league fixtures last season due to a lack of funding, caused by the coronavirus health pandemic.

Most games at elite level (Premier League, EFL, National League, National League North and South) were played behind closed doors last season.

In an interview on their club website, Parmenter said: “We have got the result now of the appeal to the FA which highlights really it’s not really truly an independent system and the system’s really failed here and I definitely believe that. I was surprised and disappointed by the result and I was quite angered by the written reasons.

“The financial situation that we were in was very clear and that was demonstrated and the fact that we weren’t able to project the next five years when we were in the middle of a pandemic doesn’t seem to me to be relevant.

“The suggestion that my personal financial information should have been made public in order to support our case when we’re dealing with a football club that is a limited company should be a warning to anybody that’s thinking of investing in a football club or supporting a football club financially because it seems The FA deem it their right to decide how much you should be putting into a club and how much you shouldn’t and I’m frankly disgusted by that.

“We move forward, we’ve had to cut our budget, despite suggestions to the contrary, we’re probably going to be on 50% of the budget that we had last year but this is Dover and we’ll be fighting like hell next season. We’re going to start with a 12 point deduction but that’s something for us to target and aim at and try and get over.

“I think it’s commonly thought that we’ve been treated quite badly and unfairly and I still hold that true and I think the football system has failed us. I think The FA has failed us and the general public and the town and the area need to get behind the club now and show they think we’ve been unfairly treated, because somebody at some point has to stand up and say this is not right and we can’t allow clubs to be treated like this when they are in genuine financial difficulty.

“We certainly won’t back down and I don’t think there is anywhere for us to go with the appeal now, we’ll look at legal routes but the cost of that will probably be prohibitive and The FA know that, of course, and the League know that, of course.

“But I think the idea that football governance needs to be looked at independently, I think this has just been highlighted in this case.”

Visit Dover Athletic’s website: www.doverathletic.com