...but in all seriousness, this can't continue. The league finishes in a few weeks, with April showers on the way. Dock 'em 10pts.

Taunton's next scheduled home match is on 1st April against Bath. 1st April? Bath? Got to be a wind-up. More rain coming this week. The pitch looks terrible in places but let's hope they can get something sorted out, somewhere, somehow.

Reminds me of our good friends Sutton who had terrible trouble with their pitch when it pissed down with rain. They got the 3G installed which did the trick but then had to remove it approx 5 years later after gaining promotion to League 2. They now have the hybrid pitch which definitely seems to be the way forward. As Dave says, clubs should possibly be given some assistance from the FA as this problem will affect more clubs in the future.

Shame Taunton cam't play at Huish Park, although I guess they may get a lot of clashes on home game dates

Jimmie wrote:

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Poor old Taunton are screwed. Truro are ok to play at Gloucester, but Taunton can't play elsewhere as they need to play their home games at Taunton as they need the revenue from home games to get money coming in, as after all these cancellations they can hardly have any money, apart from the charity given by other clubs.

After their home April fools day fixture they have another home game two days later, if both of those are postponed they'd have 10 games to play in the last 14 days of the season, under a transfer ban.

I never thought such a thing could be possible, but their situation is even worse than ours with Warren!

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 As mentioned previously Johnny, Taunton had the transfer embargo lifted enabling them to sign two new players. They beat Worthing & Torquay but have not won since. They have now signed three additional players to boost their chances of survival and there is a possibility that they may play their 'home' games at Gloucester City. We await any official announcement.

Obviously, their own ground would be the number one choice but fulfilling their fixture list is the number one priority.

 

The strange thing with Taunton is how the league are being so flexible with them, as their owner announced he would no longer fund them, then they ran out of money so couldn't pay wages, had a transfer ban imposed. In February they paid part of the players' salaries, but didnt pay anyone else. Then other clubs helped them raise £20K to pay bills.

But they can't keep relying on other clubs to help them out, and dont seem to have any long term sustainable plan unless someone buys them. So unless someone buys them I really doubt the league will accept they are a financially viable club that can complete its fixtures next season, and so would kick them out of the league next season.

There is supposed to be automatic relegation for clubs in their situation, and if those rules are applied if they finish out of the bottom 4, which is quite likely, they could still go down, and so save whoever actually finished fourth from bottom, which could well be either Eastbourne, Dartford, Hemel, or us. So once that summer NLS league meeting decides who plays where next season, Taunton's fate could have a massive impact on us, though hopefully we will be so high up it doesn't affect us one way or the other. Their third two week window to find a buyer is nearly over, the league cant indefinitely keep giving them these extensions.

The weather forecasts are so bad it looks as if the decision to move their home games will be forced on them, once more postponements happen, as they will simply run out of time to play their home games at Taunton. Aaaand... cue Gloucester!

Taunton's game tonight against Maidstone has been moved to Gloucester. Feel for the season ticket holders.

Chicken Wing wrote:

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Taunton's game tonight against Maidstone has been moved to Gloucester. Feel for the season ticket holders.

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 Not just their supporters but any Maidstone fans who booked train tickets, hotels etc. Just think how we would feel if one of our away games was switched this late and we had a coach booked. 

The Poet wrote:

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Jimmie wrote:

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Poor old Taunton are screwed. Truro are ok to play at Gloucester, but Taunton can't play elsewhere as they need to play their home games at Taunton as they need the revenue from home games to get money coming in, as after all these cancellations they can hardly have any money, apart from the charity given by other clubs.

After their home April fools day fixture they have another home game two days later, if both of those are postponed they'd have 10 games to play in the last 14 days of the season, under a transfer ban.

I never thought such a thing could be possible, but their situation is even worse than ours with Warren!

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 As mentioned previously Johnny, Taunton had the transfer embargo lifted enabling them to sign two new players. They beat Worthing & Torquay but have not won since. They have now signed three additional players to boost their chances of survival and there is a possibility that they may play their 'home' games at Gloucester City. We await any official announcement.

Obviously, their own ground would be the number one choice but fulfilling their fixture list is the number one priority.

 

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 The official announcement took far too long. Surely they would have had a reasonable idea with weather forecast plus condition of pitch after the Bath game. Frustrating for supporters.

Peter Mason wrote:

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Peter Mason wrote:

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For Maidstone it is a shorter journey (both in time and distance), so no doubt those travelling by road will be ok (but not those who have train tickets - but would you honestly now buy them in advance for a match away to Taunton.  Maidstone will also be happier playing on a "plastic" pitch.

Taunton still have 4 home matches after tonight to play - planned for Thursday 11th (Slough Town), Tuesday 16th (Torquay United), Thursday 18th (Weston Super Mare) and Saturday 20th (Hemel Hempstead Town).

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 Just to add, there might/will be a problem if there is further rain and matches have to be moved.  Gloucester have their remaining home match on 20th April, and Truro have already booked Gloucester City's ground for their home matches on 11th, 16th and 18th April (and also 8th and 10th April).  Whilst there are still gaps, it would not be fair on any opponents if they ended up having to play on consecutive nights because of the issue with Taunton's ground.

Would the National League insist on the games being switched to the opponents ground? 

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 If all other options had been exhausted, this would be the last resort. Unnecessary burdens would be looked at favourably, especially on the club who were the unfortunate recipients of such a burden. There was talk of Maidstone reversing the Taunton fixture but fortunately they were able to play at Gloucester (which worked out well for Maidstone and the twenty travelling away fans).

Hats off to Gloucester City for getting these games on. They are all too familiar with waterlogged pitches after their own ground was submerged under eight feet of water. Remember us travelling to Evesham's ground to play Gloucester & we won 1-0. Bizarrely, there was a Worcester fan in our end who didn't like Gloucester & was singing along with us Welling fans!

Unfortunately Gloucester are going down this season & Taunton are looking decidedly dodgier by the minute.

 

If the Wings...