NPL Division One East
Yorkshire Amateur are only going to get stronger and stronger, despite their devastating relegation back to the Northern Counties East League.
That’s the view of chairman Gareth Senior whose club lost an appeal and were booted out of the NPL by the FA on Friday for failing to meet ground grading requirements by March 31st.
As Bracken Edge does not meet standards, the Ammers are moving to the state of the art John Charles Centre for Sport in South Leeds to be part of an exciting social investment project, but the lease with Leeds City Council will not be signed for several weeks.
The NPL and FA refused to sanction their plan b option of a short-term ground-share with Guiseley or plan c – an extension of the ground grading deadline so their Bracken Edge home could be brought up to standard.
“We will definitely come back stronger,” Mr Senior told Non League Yorkshire.
“We will still pursue the move to South Leeds and moving to South Leeds will make us stronger because we are moving into LS10, LS11 and LS27.
“These are stronger football communities to start with so we will have affiliation with football fans and straightaway it will give us a fan-base we don’t have currently.
“It will give us the ability to build a fan-base because we will have the facilities.
“We will be stronger off-the-pitch and the move will help us build something that can be the envy of a lot of clubs.”
The news is a devastating blow for the the Ammers, Non League Football in Leeds and the deprived community of South Leeds which would benefited greatly from the increased GDP that NPL football brings.
Some will rejoice though and social media is bound to be ablaze with criticism from people who will say the club has only invested in their team and ignored their facilities.
Mr Senior disagrees.
“It is false (that we have a big budget and have spent money on players rather than the ground),” he said.
“It was thrown at me during the appeal by the ground grading committee.
“The reason we have not (brought) Bracken Moor (to standard) is because of the changes off-the-field.
“We lost the secretary who was halfway through the grants process and we had to bring in a new regime who was not au fait with the ground grading issues.
“The effect of covid has certainly played a part as we had no income apart from the £14,000 survival gift from the league which was spent on ground improvements.
“I can tell you everything we did; we put a new turnstile block in, we built new terracing and we did some hard-standing and we put two new emergency exits.
“£14,000 soon goes.
“Our playing budget is at the low end of Step 4 and there is a perception that we have been bankrolled, but it is not true.
“When Andy (Kendall-Jones) was chairman, he did use his own funds to do the clubhouse and make it look smart.
“We’re not paying players stupid amounts of money.
“We’re not overpaying.”
As it stands, the Ammers will be playing at Bracken Edge next season but the club are hopeful the move to South Leeds will be completed soon.
Bracken Edge will then be used as a community hub for local groups, youth teams and women’s sides. Other plans are in the pipeline.
Mr Senior says the move across Leeds is right step for his club.
“We made a decision not to invest in Bracken Edge because we don’t have £50,000,” he said.
“We haven’t got a pot to p**s in, if we’re honest.
“We need to move because we don’t get fans at Bracken Edge.
“We also need to rebrand because no-one knows where Yorkshire Amateur is and where it sits.
“It could be North of Scarborough or Sheffield to some people.
“So the response from the appeal is very disappointing because it was a sharp email just saying ‘dismissed and you have no right for further appeal’.
“We would need to invest in the region of £100,000 to £150,000 to get Bracken Edge up to a standard where we could compete at Step 3.
“We would need to invest £55,000 to get us to the grading at Step 4.
“Bracken Edge isn’t really suitable for Step 3 or Step 4 football.
“It has its limitations with where the ground is and its accessibility and its ability to be manipulated or expanded.
“We took the decision that we would pursue the route down at South Leeds and be part of what is an exciting project down there.
“South Leeds Stadium would be the best ground in the NPL structure and certainly hold its own at Step Two.
“The move will also do a lot for the community.
“In the correspondence (with the FA and NPL), I’ve mentioned a lot about community, about introducing a foundation and an academy.”
Mr Senior says the league and FA do not have an issue with the club moving to South Leeds.
“The league haven’t objected to that,” he said.
“But what I did was submit our desire to leave Bracken Edge and move to South Leeds and I also put in place a ground-share agreement with Guiseley for the start of next season, should the move to South Leeds be delayed.
“That was for four months and it could have been extended for a full season.
“I thought I was following the league rules correctly and I submitted it all before the 31st March.
“Two Friday’s ago I received an email from the NPL and FA within 30 minutes of each other, to say it was rejected on the grounds that we were appearing to use a ground-share to avoid relegation and they wouldn’t accept our move to South Leeds Stadium because I didn’t have a signed agreement with the owners of the ground.
“That was correct, but I had said in my correspondence that it would be forthcoming.
“I submitted an appeal to the FA and it was heard on Friday morning and it was quite an ordeal – it was like being in court as there was a panel and a QC on it.
“They heard the appeal and they were quite clear in saying ‘no’.”