VIDEO: Lynn chairman devastated by FA decision

Paddy Davitt King's Lynn chairman Ken Bobbins says he is devastated by the FA's decision to reject his club's demotion appeal this afternoon. A three-member Derbyshire FA panel rejected the club's bid to overturn their Conference expulsion for failing to initiate a �250,000 upgrade to their council-owned Walks stadium before a March 31 deadline.

Paddy Davitt

King's Lynn chairman Ken Bobbins says he is devastated by the FA's decision to reject his club's demotion appeal this afternoon.

A three-member Derbyshire FA panel rejected the club's bid to overturn their Conference expulsion for failing to initiate a �250,000 upgrade to their council-owned Walks stadium before a March 31 deadline.

The FA panel deliberated for 55 minutes before upholding the Conference's initial ruling. Lynn now face being placed in the Unibond or Southern Premier Division for the 2009/10 season. That decision is expected later today after Unibond club Cammell Laird have their appeal heard by the same panel.

“I am just absolutely devastated by it,” he said. “We put a very good case forward. Our barrister was very impressive and the Conference's case seemed very weak but it appears to have hung on two factors.

“The first is the word 'dispensation'. We sent a letter to the effectively asking for dispensation to start after the March 31 deadline which was ignored. The Conference said we didn't request compensation but there was nowhere in the rules where the word dispensation had to be used.

“Secondly we hadn't started the work. But even in the appeal the Conference contradicted themselves quite a lot on that matter. Their Conference grading person Mr Hunter said quite few had made that request and it had been granted. We said under the circumstances with the council involvement we couldn't close the ground down during the season.”