Slade Green's demise opened door for controversial Corinthian move

CORINTHIAN addressed the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Bulmers Cider Kent League, held at the Lordswood Sports & Social Club tonight, in which they informed the member clubs that since their withdrawal from the Kent League, the club had been working on a five-year plan to move from youth football into intermediate football from the under 13 age group upwards, writes Mike Green.

It had become necessary to join forces with Blue Square South club Welling United as time had gone on.

And it had now seemed to be the natural progression for the Longfield club to return to the Kent League.

The first part of the meeting heard that Division 2 outfit Welling United reserves had been given permission to rename their team in the league Corinthian and awarded intermediate status. After a lengthy debate, a vote was passed to accept the name change.

At this point of the meeting, the only change to the constitution had been to change the name of the side competing in Division 2 from Welling United to Corinthian.

League chairman Denise Richmond then started a second part of the meeting where, with the approval of the Football Association, a proposal was made to accept Corinthian in the Premier Division.

A question was raised from the floor, seeking clarification that the League had not broken any Football Association regulations.

At this point, the League chairman Ms Richmond informed the meeting that because the move was an internal matter, the FA had indeed confirmed that the League could approve such a change without meeting the recognised in a similar fashion to the way that both Holmesdale and Norton Sports have been accepted in the past.

She then went on to emphasise that the move into the premier division would be important for the League’s survival.

The motion was then put forward by the League management committee and duly seconded and in the ensuring vote Corinthian Football Club were accepted into the premier division albeit with one club against.

It was at this point also confirmed that Corinthian would inherit Slade Green’s published league fixtures, but their opening fixture of the season, scheduled for Saturday against Fisher, will not be played this weekend.

The Corinthian reaction was naturally one of extreme happiness as, after the combination of their first five-year plan this decision effectively the season starts of a second five-year plan.

www.kentishfootball.co.uk were told after the meeting, that the club had initially planned for this application to take place next summer.

"It was only after Fisher applied to join the Kent League as a new club that potential plans and applications for this season began," said a club spokesman.

Everything began to fall into place for the Longfield club with the sad withdrawal of Slade Green proving to be the final piece of the jigsaw.

It was also confirmed that if Slade Green had not resigned, Corinthian Football Club would not have played Kent Premier League football this season.