This is the second successive season we have faced a ridiculous March fixture list, yet when comments were made to the Official Conference Twitter account it seems they think it is a situation that has nothing to do with them!
I am not against the FA Trophy. It is after all the only realistic chance a Conference club has of winning a cup. I can, at a push, accept it being a Saturday competition with two legged semi finals and a final at Wembley. What has undoubtedly exacerbated the fixture back log is the pre season fixture 'planning'.
During September, October and November there were 13 Tuesdays when fixtures could have been played yet we had scheduled fixtures on just 3 of them. I think that utilising say 4 or 5 of those barren dates would have made the run-in fairer for all. During those autumn evenings there is a much lower chance of bad weather causing cancellations and travelling is much easier, and safer, for fans. When this solution was made to the Conference, their PR guru claims that managers refuse to play too many games early in the season for fear of injury and burn out! Seriously?
The governance of the Conference do have a responsibility to managers and players, I totally accept that, but I think they also have a responsibility for fairness and to fans. Surely the integrity of the competition is better served by all teams having played a similar number of games at any given stage of the season yet we have Halifax having played 6 more than Braintree and Grimsby and we aren't out of January yet.
Hopefully, GTFC can rise above this problem, which has arisen through no fault of their own, and win the FA Trophy AND promotion but whether or not Grimsby are in the Conference or not next season, surely the League cannot continue to bury their heads in the sand, but must plan a fairer fixture schedule to benefit all? CP