Yeltz Cup KO anger (From Halesowen News)

Yeltz Cup KO anger

12:30pm Thursday 21st May 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)

ANGRY Halesowen Town fans have hit out after it was revealed the club has been kicked out of next season’s FA Cup.

The Yeltz were banned from entering the competition after failing to pay Maidstone United their share of the gate receipts from last October’s third qualifying round clash at the Grove which the Stones won 4-1.

They also missed the closing date for applications to the FA Trophy and will not play in that competition either. It means the club stand to lose out on the financial windfall the competitions bring.

An FA spokesman confirmed: “As a result of Halesowen Town failing to comply with the FA Cup Rules by not paying Maidstone United monies owed from an FA Cup tie, the FA Cup Committee decided that no entry would be accepted into The FA Cup next season.

“The club did not make any application to enter the FA Trophy by 1 April, and it is now past the closing date for entries.”

Supporters claim the club should have announced the ban as soon as it was enforced - instead the news was broken after fans group the Yeltz Trust contacted the FA’s head of competitions.

Club chief executive Guy Simpson has apologised over his handling of the issue but the Trust, set up to help ensure the club’s long term future, says it cannot now back current owner and manager Morell Maison.

A Trust statement said: “We cannot condone the present situation whereby the name of Halesowen Town Football Club is being damaged within the local business and social community and the wider footballing bodies.”

Trust board member Guy Cooper said there were still “a thousand unanswered questions” surrounding the club and said Mr Simpson’s credibility may now be irreparably damaged.

He said: “If he is going to manage the flow of information to us, reveal some things but not others, it puts him personally in a very difficult situation.

“The fans are the true stakeholders of the club, they need to be told things. We still wonder whether we are being told everything.”

The cup ban is the third FA penalty the club have incurred this year. In March, Maison was banned from football until June 2010 after being found guilty on charges of violent conduct and failure to provide information, though this was reduced last week to three months following an appeal.

The club itself was then briefly suspended from all football at the start of April for failing to pay contracted monies to players and transfer fees to two clubs.

Mr Simpson, who joined the club in January, said he made the decision not to pay Maidstone by an FA-imposed March 31 deadline in order to ensure the player debts were paid and the total ban lifted.

He said: “We were struggling to find enough money, it was a question of whether we paid to ensure entry to a competion that we could be banned from anyway.

“If I was forced to make the decision again I would make the same decision again, I make all my decisions in the best interests of the club.”

The Yeltz Trust has organised a public open meeting to keep fans updated on its progress. The meeting takes place at Halesowen Members Club, Hagley Road, on Wednesday June 3 at 7.30pm and will be followed by a fundraising quiz.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)