Lancing United's SCFL withdrawal 'in the final stages'

Lancing United Football Club's Southern Combination League withdrawal is '˜in the final stages'.
Lancing United's SCFL withdrawal 'in the final stages'Lancing United's SCFL withdrawal 'in the final stages'
Lancing United's SCFL withdrawal 'in the final stages'

United director Glenn Souter wrote to the league early last week outlining their intentions to withdraw the club’s first team.

Lancing United, who have been in the SCFL for less than two seasons, were charged and now must pay a fine in order for their withdrawal to formally go through.

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United chairman Ron George stood down last week and all results from their SCFL Division 2 campaign have been expunged, with the fine ending all ties to the SCFL.

Souter admits it has been a far from ideal situation but hopes everything is resolved quickly.

He said: “I’d like to thank Tim Dawes, Steve Nealgrove and everyone else involved at the SCFL for their support during what has been a difficult time.

“We never wanted to find ourselves in the situation that we do but we’ve been left with no other choice.

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“We’re going to continue to run our reserve team in the Brighton, Worthing & District League and assess where we are at the end of the season.

“A couple of teams have approached us about projects at the end of the season, so we’ll see what happens.”

Steve Nealgrove, SCFL chairman, revealed the withdrawal is now in the final stages.

He said: “Lancing United have been charged and issued with a fine. We just now await the fine to be paid by Lancing United.

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“No player registered to Lancing United this season will be able to join another team in the SCFL until we’ve received payment for the fine issued.

“All of the club’s points from the season have been expunged and they’ve been removed from the league table.

“It’s a sorry state of affairs but we now await payment for the fine issued and are in the final stages.”

United will now hold an extraordinary general meeting next Monday as they look to appoint a new chairman and vice-chairman.

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Souter is in the running for the top job and wants to focus on youth football at the club now.

He added: “It’s not been an ideal situation but we’ll continue to run one senior team for the remainder of this season.

“As mentioned earlier, we’ll assess the situation in the summer and see where to go from there.

“One area we’d like to focus on more now as a club is youth development. We’ve got several colts teams involved with the club and that is an area we’ll be looking to grow.

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“It’s been a difficult few weeks but hopefully all of this can be resolved now.

“We’re waiting for suspension fines to be paid by players and we’ll then pay in full the fine issued by the SCFL for our withdrawal.”