Boro's appeal to reclaim lost points is ""out of time

THE appeal by Stevenage Borough and six other clubs against the decision by the Football Conference to expunge the record of Chester City from the Blue Square Premier has been declared "out of time" by the Football Association (FA).

Boro lost six points when their two victories over Chester City were wiped from the records following the north west club's expulsion from the Blue Square Premier after it had admitted to breaching five Conference rules and they were one of 10 teams to appeal against the decision.

Ten became seven when three clubs, including Crawley Town, reneged on the decision to appeal but an announcement posted on the Football Conference website on Tuesday afternoon said "the appeal...against the decision of the Board to expunge the record of Chester City has been declared by the Football Association to be 'out of time'.

"In respect of the appeal lodged originally, it was the claim by the solicitors acting on behalf of the said clubs, that the decision to expunge had not been made until the 8th March 2010 when the record was actually expunged.

"This was countered by the Football Conference Board stating that they had made and published the decision on 26th February 2010, the very day that Chester City were expelled by the member clubs and the decision to expunge their playing record was (a) subject of a press release circulated at 4.45pm that same day and (b) subject of a email circulation to all member clubs at 4.49pm that day and also published on the official Football Conference web-site at the same time.

"The letter from the FA sent today (30th March 2010) to the solicitors acting for those clubs lodging the appeal concludes: 'The FA is satisfied that the decision of the Board of the Football Conference was first announced by the League on 26th February 2010 and, consequently, the appeal is out of time.