Chichester City relegated - but no-one told them

CHICHESTER CITY are set to appeal to Sussex League bosses against relegation '“ after finding out by accident they had been put into the second division.

City did finish bottom of division one but are unclear if that’s the reason they have been sent down.

There is talk they are being relegated because they failed to fulfil a couple of fixtures – but City bosses say other teams who did the same should then be similarly punished.

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The confusion comes as league officials tinker with the make-up of their three divisions for 2012-13.

Chichester vice-chairman Sean Forry discovered the side had been relegated when he attended a meeting of top-flight clubs in Ringmer on Monday.

He said he was told when he got there he shouldn’t be involved as Chichester were no longer in division one.

But he stayed and did his best to get his arguments across.

Forry said the club had not been told before the meeting they were down, and added they were now confident they had good grounds to appeal.

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“It was said we were being relegated because we failed to fulfil all our fixtures. We were unable to play two games after Adie Girdler resigned as manager because a number of players left too,” he said.

“But there were two other clubs who had to call off games at short notice and they’re not being relegated.

“If in fact we’re being relegated for finishing last, that doesn’t seem right either because they are increasing the number of teams coming up into division one and are having to promote a number of teams who didn’t finish in the promotion places.

“We feel we have a good case for an appeal.”

It was a troubled season for Chichester, who went months without a win then lost Girdler and most of the team. But they appointed Alex Twitchen and Neil Sherlock as joint managers and attracted new players.

They feel they’re ready to start again and stage a strong league campaign – in one division or the other.