CHELTENHAM TOWN boss Gary Johnson and chairman Paul Baker have slammed the FA and National League after their league game against Kidderminster on Tuesday night was postponed.
The Robins drew 2-2 at Oxford City in the FA Trophy on Saturday and their replay is being played at Whaddon Road tonight (Wednesday).
The club, however, insisted they wanted to play both the Trophy replay as well as the previously scheduled National League fixture against Kidderminster on Tuesday night, rather than postponing it.
That seemed fine until Monday, however, when the club were informed they would not be able to play games on back-to-back days and the Kidderminster fixture was postponed.
It means the league leaders will have to catch up on the game later in the season and boss Johnson was far from pleased with the decision.
He said: “Frustrating is a good word. There are a few other words I can think of too but I'd rather not use them.
“Kidderminster were prepared for the game, we were prepared and everybody was happy a couple of days ago. Who was it hurting?
“There's nothing we can do. You know what it's like with committees and associations – one person makes a decision and doesn't tell you why.
“People knew I was going to play a youngish team against Oxford but we still had four or five pros in that side. If they felt it was a weakened team, it's disrespectful to the boys who played so well at Oxford in the first game.”
Chairman Baker had similar feelings, adding: “It's an appalling decision. You can't understand decisions that are made with no real understanding of the business and the complexities of rearranging games.
“Oxford were very happy to play the game and the Kidderminster match was already scheduled – we haven't broken any rules.
“There's no rule against it but the FA don't want us to play back-to-back games. They say it's never been done before – what's wrong with that? – and that they think it will affect the credibility of the competition.
“We put out a team on Saturday that was good enough to earn a draw against a very good Oxford side. In any business you have to prioritise your resources and our priority is to win the National League.”
