Moules interviewed on Alty points deduction

The Director of operations at the Conference, John Moules, has been interviewed about the Altrincham points deduction on Five Live this evening. Below are the main points.

Asked about how he viewed the Robinson situation Moules said:

"James Robinson has never appeared on any registration form or teamsheet in the Conference other than that of Altrincham and unfortunatly the rules that we have to go by are those rules laid down by the FA. We have to follow them religously.

"I'm an absolutely reasonable man and so are the board that had to make this decision. And I have to tell you they had no grounds of moving either way. They had to apply the rule as it was written. And it isn't our rule as I keep stressing. It's the FA's rule and we had to follow it by the letter. Otherwise of course there could have been other people who would have said you haven't done your due duty of diligence and applied your own rules."

Asked whether he had been put under pressure by some of the other clubs struggling against relegation Moules replied:

"No comment. Let me put it this way to you - obviously other clubs were having a keen interest in what was going on but it was the Conference that brought the charges."

Asked why Altrincham should look into the background of a player who had come from just fourty miles up the road (Accrington) Moules commented:

"Because that's what the rules says. It says whenever you sign a player you must look to see whether he requires international clearance."

Geoff Goodwin, the Altrincham chairman, was also interviewed.

"I don't blame Mr Moules - he's just done his job. He's had to sit around a table with his board of directors. He's making a decision.

"But the FA told us we had no charge to answer. So it's pretty confusing for me."

The point that the FA has said to them (Alty) there is no case to answer and why haven't you gone down that line was put to Moules.

"We have been down that line. We asked the FA to show us their evidence and they refused and therefore we had no choice but to carry out our own investigation because the FA refused to supply us with the evidence they based their decision on."

Moules was then asked if he thought the FA have let him down as director of operations in the Conference

"Yes I do," replied Moules.

"Fortunately Altrincham do have somewhere to go and that is the FA."

Moules conceded that the Conference are likely to want to change the rule but any change had to be approved by the FA.

He then appeared to suggest that the FA may reconsider the points deduction.

"I am a fair minded man. Let's see what happens in the near future."

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