Paul Wotton has hit out at the FA after Truro City were denied a potential promotion when their league season was dramatically ended on Thursday.
Former Plymouth skipper Wotton had guided Truro to the top of the BetVictor Southern Premier division in his first season as a rookie boss.
Elsewhere, South Shields led the Northern Premier by 12 points and were nailed on for the title with just nine games left.
Below them, Worthing top the BetVictor Isthmian League by seven points but now won’t go up either.
All will have their results expunged after the FA and authorities decided all divisions below the National League North and South will end immediately.
(Image: Getty Images)
The dramatic development due to the Coronavirus crisis stunned Wotton, whose side top the highest league affected.
The ex-Argyle stalwart, 42, reflected to Mirror Sport: “It is a feeling of numbness.
“I don’t agree with the decision. We have suffered a big blow by not getting promotion.
“It feels like the easy decision because we won’t have the money to appeal it.
“I don’t understand how they get to a cut off point where other divisions have promotion and relegation and we don’t.
(Image: TCFC_Official/Twitter)
“I get it is a difficult decision for the FA but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with it. Perhaps they thought it wouldn’t matter but it does matter.”
Wotton added: “I am confident we would have gone on to win it. I am gutted for my players and our supporters who travel hours.
“Some of the journeys are epic – it is quicker to get to France.
“I was fortunate as a captain at Plymouth to lift two championship trophies and won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with Southampton at Wembley which was great.
“But I do think it would have been right up there and might have surpassed it.
“It would have been sweet and I want that feeling again.”
Wotton is trying to put the decision in perspective amid the national crisis but has still found it hugely frustrating.
He just hopes his side can bounce back to go up next season using more talented youngsters on loan after Plymouth forward Luke Jephcott and Nottingham Forest’s Will Swan thrived at Truro.
He added: “I appreciate there are more important things going on in the world at the minute.
“It is trying times for everyone. There are so many more people worse off than me.
(Image: SouthShieldsFC/Twitter)
“I am watching the news the same as everyone else and it is scary times.
“We are all fully aware of how serious the times we are living in are but it doesn’t mean we can’t feel hard done by.
“Hopefully the world we are living in improves and we can get back to some sort of reality and use that anger next season.”
