Fleetlands boss condemns ‘pathetic’ decision to null and void Hampshire Premier League season

As a result, his club won’t have a chance to win promotion from the Hampshire Premier League to the Wessex League for a further 12 months now.

Fleetlands had to finish in the top five of the HPL top flight to stand a chance of going up, and when the season was abruptly ended they were fourth.

The hammer blow from the FA came on the same day that Fleetlands had been told all the grant money was in place for ground redevelopment work.

But the cash would only be released if the club won promotion to the Wessex League.

‘It’s an absolute joke,’ said Bessey. ‘I can’t understand how the FA have come to this decision.

‘Football is about winning and losing - the winners end up at the top and win promotion and the losers are at the bottom.

‘The people who’ve come up with this decision have obviously never played the game.

‘We don’t pay our players, but clubs in a higher division do, and we’ve invested a lot of time and effort into trying to get this club into the Wessex.

‘At lunchtime I took a call from our chairman (Iain Sellstrom) saying all the grant money was in place … at 3pm I took another saying the FA had said our season never happened.

‘I know it affects a lot of clubs. Mick Catlin’s a great guy and he’s done a fantastic job at AFC Portchester - they had a chance of winning promotion to the Southern League. Now their season didn’t happen.

‘Glenn Turnbull’s a fantastic guy who’s done a great job at US Portsmouth. They were on their way up - now their season didn’t happen.

‘Moneyfields Reserves would have won the Hampshire 1 title - now their season didn’t happen either.

‘Bush Hill had reached the Southampton Senior Cup final and were going to play at St Mary’s - now their season didn’t happen either.

‘Our chairman has done a fantastic job, he will be absolutely gutted now - as we all are.

‘I think if you play 75 per cent of a league game and then it’s abandoned for whatever reason, the result stands. So why doesn’t the entire season stand when we’ve played over 75 per cent of the league games?’

Bessey also questioned whether all the disciplinary money the county FAs had raked in this season would be refunded.

‘If the FA are now saying the season didn’t happen and the results are expunged, are the yellow cards going to be expunged, or the red cards?

‘I got a touchline ban and a fine in one game. But now the FA are saying that game didn’t happen, do I get my money back?

‘We’re all just puppets aren’t we, dancing to the FA’s tune.’