Havant & Waterlooville boss Paul Doswell fears he's becoming a conspiracy theorist after their local MP confirmed there is no official government advice ruling out National League play-offs.
After warning that that National League North and South promotion hopefuls would not take any decision to promote only one club from each lying down in Sunday's NLP, Doswell took to Twitter this weekend to publish advice from Havant MP Alan Mak that Non-League's second tier is deemed ‘elite sport'.
Already an outspoken critic of football's handling of the coronavirus crisis, the Hawks boss believes the wording of the government's coronavirus advice proves there should be no barrier to the play-offs going ahead and two going up from each division.
The former Sutton United manager also warns that future decisions by the EFL on two up from the National League may be influenced by their own stance in the debate in this week's NLP before posting a copy of the MP's letter to National League chairman Brian Barwick.
As promised #Promote2 So there is no official letter it seems? Who exactly didn't want us to play? I'm not a conspiracy theorist but….. pic.twitter.com/Z1V7ozk0uj
— Paul Doswell (@DoswellPaul) June 13, 2020
Piling on the pressure in a series of Tweets ahead of key vote by clubs on Tuesday, Doswell said: “As promised #Promote2 So there is no official letter it seems? Who exactly didn't want us to play? I'm not a conspiracy theorist but…
“Alan Mak MP was straight down to our ground on Friday to hear our story and get the guidance reviewed and clarified by the Minister of Sport. It clearly states there is no government advice that Step 2 are not elite athletes.
“Elite sport is someone who derives an income from sport. It does Not say ‘full time'! All players at step 2 derive income from playing football. ALL. Let's get playing.”
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