League make statement about suspended Greater Manchester club
In a rare move, a league has put out a statement confirming the reasons behind why a club was suspended after confusion ensued.
On Thursday night, today’s (Saturday) Wythenshawe Town game against Stafford Rangers was called off.
In a now deleted statement, Wythenshawe Town claimed the club had been suspended, due to “requested documentation not being submitted to the league in the correct format.”
They added that the documentation had been delivered electronically but was required to be sent by letter.
The league rebutted the claims of the Erikstan Park Club and released a statement to confirm the situation.
The statement read: “The club has been suspended from membership of the NPL for failing to provide information relative to the Financial Reporting Initiative (FRI) to which all clubs at Steps 1-4 of the NLS are subject and 87 out of 88 member clubs are currently compliant.
“The purpose of the FRI is to provide a level playing field that ensures clubs manage their liabilities and do not gain an unfair advantage by ploughing money into the team at the expense of HMRC and the club’s landlord.
“Wythenshawe Town FC has not been suspended because the club supplied the information required in the wrong format.”
The league added they cannot permit any member club’s sustainability to put the integrity of the competition at risk.
The NPL Division One West team will be suspended from playing until this information is provided in full.