Hawks boss Doswell: ‘We had to fight the National League’s decision on a point of principle’

After being told last Thursday that there would be no play-offs and only the top club promoted, the National League staged a remarkable U-turn and on Monday night issued a fresh proposal with the sixth tier play-offs back ON the agenda.

That was in no small measure due to Havant MP Alan Mak getting answers from the Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston to confirm there was no government advice preventing them from taking place.

That was in total contrast to what the league had told the clubs via an email sent after 9pm last Wednesday night and in person - via a Zoom conference call - the following afternoon.

The new resolution was overwhelmingly passed by the clubs when they voted on Wednesday - though it makes no mention of a second club being promoted in the event of the play-offs not taking place for whatever reason.

Hawks and York City finished runners-up in the South and North respectively following an unweighted points-per-game methodology being applied.

Still, at least the National League have followed the EFL’s lead in ensuring the play-offs are (hopefully) taking place.

Hawks are now waiting to see how much it will cost them to fight for the chance to win promotion back to the top tier of non-league football at the first attempt.

Westleigh Park boss Doswell admitted he could hardly sleep after being told of the decision to axe the play-offs.

‘Huge credit to everyone involved - in the end the right decision has eventually been made,’ he told The News.

‘PPG is not ideal, I accept that - I do feel sorry for teams like Tranmere and other clubs who have been relegated.

‘But once the EFL made their decision the National League had to follow.

‘There is a lot of self-promotion, a lot of people act in their self-interests, and I understand that as well.

‘But the National League had to follow the EFL, but they chose to interpret the guidance differently.

‘We were very angry at first, but when the anger subsided we looked at the guidance.

‘That said elite athletes derived ‘an’ income from playing sport, it didn’t say it was a full-time income. It’s a small word - only two letters - but it was a key word for us.’

Doswell continued: ‘On the Thursday night, Kate (his wife) went to bed around 10 or 11 and I stayed up getting more and more annoyed by it.

‘I started tweeting - I’m a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to social media, I haven’t tweeted for about a year - and I tagged Alan Mak in one of the tweets.

‘I didn’t sleep well that night, I don’t think I got to bed until 3 or 4 in the morning.

‘Then Kate woke me up in the morning saying Alan Mak had been on the phone and could I go down to the ground to meet him in an hour’s time!’

From that meeting, events snowballed to the point the National League were virtually forced to put play-offs back on the table as there was no evidence to suggest they shouldn’t.

‘Everyone at the club deserves huge credit,’ said Doswell.

‘The media team have been absolutely sensational, and so has Alan Mak. Trevor Brock (Hawks director) - he doesn’t get the credit he deserves - has been absolutely brilliant.

‘I don’t think some people had a wink of sleep for four days, but we had to keep on it.

‘I ended up tweeting about 15 times in three days, I had to try and keep the pressure on. In the end it became a point of principle.

‘It was never about us wanting to go up in second place, it was about the National League following the EFL.’

Initially, the National League said only bottom club Chorley would be relegated. But now, with play-offs back on again, Ebbsfleet and AFC Fylde will go down and be replaced by the two play-off winners.

‘I know fans Ebbsfleet and Fylde have accused us of whinging, and I do understand they don’t like PPG,’ Doswell stated. ‘But I didn’t invent that, the EFL clubs voted for it and we had every right to push for them as well.’

Hawks were annoyed that Fylde chairman David Haythornthwaite was granted a two-hour Zoom meeting with National League chairman Brian Barwick to state their case why they shouldn’t be relegated.

In contrast, Hawks and their South and North rivals had to attend two divisional group Zoom meetings last Thursday where they were allowed one question each.

‘We couldn’t get 10 seconds with Brian Barwick, we were only allowed one question,’ said Doswell. ‘Brian Barwick didn’t ring us up and give us two hours.

‘There has to be an element of fairness.’

Now attention turns to how expensive it will be to take part in the play-offs.

National League chief executive Michael Tattershall told the South clubs in the Zoom meeting that it would be financially out of reach for many.

Dorking, like Hawks, were unhappy that they were almost being told it was too costly, rather than finding out for themselves just how costly.

Dorking owner/boss Marc White said ‘there was almost an establishment-led propaganda around the cost involved. I didn’t understand why so much conversation in the meeting was about this. Regardless of whether the cost would be a barrier, it was irrelevant.

‘The costs quoted in the meeting had absolutely no detail, none. The affordability comes after can it (the play-offs) happen?’

Doswell said: ‘If the play-offs were to cost the club £150,000, we couldn’t take part - we can’t put the future of the club in jeopardy.

‘There is a limit to how much we will pay. The club hasn’t got any money coming in at the moment, so it will be individuals on the board being prepared to put the money in.

‘The National League said it could cost between £75,000 and £150,000 and they were doing us a favour by not holding the play-offs.

‘They didn’t give us exact figures as to how they reached those amounts.’

He added: ‘We’re not the Premier League, we’re not the Championship, we’re step 2.

‘We will have to look at it very, very carefully.

‘A lot of people will be putting in a lot of voluntary hours to get to the position where we can compete.

‘We will have to get the detail right.

‘I appreciate there are more important things in life right now than football, it’s been a horrendous time for everyone, but this is what we do - we’re a football club, we play football.’

Hawks’ playing squad have been furloughed ever since lockdown was imposed, and Doswell has only seen them via FaceTime meetings.

‘It (the play-offs) will be a lottery. No-one has any form as we haven’t played for three months, form will go out of the window.

‘We’ve had three months without a game - that’s longer than the gap would normally be between seasons.

‘We haven’t played or trained for 13 weeks, and that could be 15/16 weeks by the time we start again.

‘So it’s a lottery, but one we wanted to be part of - that’s all we have ever asked.’

Hawks will go down in history as the only club in the top six tiers of English football in 2019/20 to remain unbeaten in league action away from home.

They are the first club, from National League upwards, since Arsenal’s ‘invincibles’ in 2003/04 to achieve that stunning feat.

Of their 17 away games, they won 11 and drew six.

At Westleigh Park, it was a different tale - eight wins, four draws and five losses. Every team in the South play-off zone picked up more home points.

Doswell said of his side’s away record: ‘It’s an incredible achievement and it doesn’t get enough praise.

‘Many times we were 1-0 down away from home, but I never doubted the team’s character.

‘And you have to remember it was a squad only put together last summer after the club had been relegated.

‘Whatever happens, I’m really proud of the players. If the season had been null and voided I would still have been really proud.

‘We finished second to a team who had an outstanding season. Wealdstone were relentless, and for us to get so close to them was a fantastic achievement, especially as our home form wasn’t great at times.’