The club were informed by The National League at 9.31am this morning that, after a committee meeting last night on the 5^th August, they have come to the decision to suspend the club for the first three matches of the season.

The first three league matches will be postponed as a result and rescheduled for a later date.

Obviously, for our playing group, management, staff and most importantly supporters, this has come as a shock and is extremely upsetting.

The League wrote to the club owners last week in response to the HMRC winding-up petition and requested assurances around the debt and other liabilities and asked for a response by midday yesterday (August 5^th).

We had been advised these debts would be satisfied in time and our statement of August 4^th outlined that.

The owners’ letter of response to the League yesterday proposed the HMRC debt would be cleared by the end of August once a full transfer of ownership had taken place and the League in their letter this morning have highlighted that inconsistency in undertakings by the ownership.

The League’s letter today also identifies their concerns around the club’s budgeting for the coming season and debt position, although that information was presented on July 10^th with the club’s budget pack to the League within compliant timelines. Vetting and financial checks for the new proposed ownership and takeover have taken place over the last 12 months and were approved by the League on May 1^st in writing. However, with the recent overturning of the Northfleet Harbourside development, the League have also raised concerns around the club’s financial viability, debt that has been placed into the club and how it is treated.

The League have provided the owners until 10am on August 19^th to rectify its position and demonstrate this to the League.

Obviously our players, staff and supporters have taken a number of blows in the last week, none of which is within their control or a result of their work or actions, and we ask for understanding and care during this time while the ownership situation is solved. Everyone has worked so hard and completed an excellent pre-season and we look forward to this being rectified and demonstrating the results of that hard work throughout the season.