On pretty much every level the decision for Lewes FC to apply to join the Women’s Championship, tier 2 alongside such luminaries as Manchester United, looks dismal.

Take the FA. They set the criteria that is crucial for all entrants to fulfil. Meeting these criteria will come at an enormous cost; money Lewes FC do not have. It begs the question, how did the FA reach the decision to give Lewes FC a place in the League over Crystal Palace, who have an existing huge infrastructure, deep pockets and track record? Palace Chairman, Steve Parish, a genuine football man with  a great track record has been 100% behind the bid.

 The FA said one of the main reasons for restructuring the game was to develop interest and participation. They looked at catchment areas to raise interest and participation. Mmm, Crystal Palace’s catchment area is 900,000 vs Lewes’s minimal catchment possibility; Lewes’s catchment is also actually immersed in the catchment area of nearby Brighton and Hove Albion who are in the top division and so already a successful team close by. Barmy. Go figure,

The 96 page document of rules etc from the FA is to lift all participating clubs into semi professional set ups. Lewes FC had to send in a business plan to show how we can meet the expectations. Crikey that must have made interesting reading. How the hell can we afford it, bearing in mind we already lose money hand over fist and are supposed to be establishing ourselves as a self-sustained, transparent and community club?  The iconic Doncaster Belles and Sheffield United ladies have effectively been cleansed from this League as they have acknowledged that they cannot afford to meet the requirements. But we can apparently. Wow, have you seen our accounts ?

Self sustained…we will move, no accelerate, away from that core aim with this initiative.

Transparent….apart from communicating that Lewes have been given a tier 2 place, Lewes FC have not at any point explained the thinking behind it, how it will be paid for, what it will do for the club and how it will all work. All pretty crucial stuff, at a club supposedly owned by the fans.

Community Club….wow, nobody in the community or club members have been consulted and as far as I am aware, the interest of the local community is firmly in support of our recently promoted men’s team who seem to be taking a backward role with all this focus on a Ladies tier 2 league and all that comes with it.

Almost certainly this is a mere marketing gimmick from Lewes FC to help raise our profile for development and branding purposes. Being the first club to pay men and women the same, albeit a paltry £80,000 per annum for last season, was obviously the bait for the FA to include us as the token minnow in the top divisions. We must enjoy our one or two years in this division as Lewes FC and the FA can crow about how politically correct they are. The rules are however, that in season 2020-21 Lewes will need 800 people to attend each and every home game. That just won’t happen EVER and I guess the FA realise that.

Good old Lewes, the embarrassing FA patsies, have merely given credibility to an FA shake up using Lewes Ladies, but ultimately this shake up will prevent many other ladies teams competing at a higher level because of cost and expectation. Lewes FC have been included and are now like turkeys voting for Christmas.

Strikes me that Lewes FC are turning the club upside down, I guess at the moment searching for the minimally required qualified NINE backroom staff, for a punt at playing Manchester United whom we all knew were going to be involved. Thankfully, one positive thing to come out of this is the previously useless marketing regime has been replaced. I believe, with board members brilliant at marketing they will be hoping to vastly improve on the dismal sponsorship income we were told would pay for budget parity last season but scarcely raised a penny. Otherwise, the 3 years we were told it would take to become self-sustained, will in reality be eight years and running the risk of accruing the yearly debts we were posting under Martin Elliott. Of course, it is likely that Charlie and Eddie, the two main club benefactors who seemingly underwrote the Budget Parity initiative, will pick up the tab and our founding Community Club principles of self-sustainability will be lost for another short-term gimmick.

Whilst this is all going on, our ladies under the new FA guidelines have to be paid the minimum wage of £8/hr, as the men’s equivalent in the Championship pay £1000/hr. Not quite pay parity is it? Jumping into this league is not Lewes, the town; including Lewes FC should never have been sanctioned by the FA, it is unsustainable, unprincipled and will end in tears.

So we await the high grade communications, media and marketing department at Lewes FC, and they really are high grade, to tell us how we have got it all wrong and to put that ‘spin’ on it all. Who can forget the ‘ground breaking’ deal with Skins. Ground breaking in the sense of underwhelming. It appears we are only allowed to hear what they want us to hear.