Chairman of Hull City women puts relegation request amid allegations of mismanagement of funds from players.
Chairman of Hull City Ladies, Daniel Johnson, has submitted a request to the Football Association for the club to be relegated from the third tier.
Following a 72-hour period in which a number of squad members publicly lambasted Johnson on social media, with players voicing concerns that their team “might not exist in a few weeks,” various club insiders have claimed that Johnson’s relegation submission is an attempt at vengeance.
Several people who are familiar with the club’s financial situation have claimed that there is a “black hole” of at least £200,000 missing from the club’s books for the previous five seasons.
The FA is reportedly assisting the club in resolving the issue after other club employees submitted suspicions of misbehaviour to them.
Johnson is one of two directors who co-own the parent company of Hull City Ladies with an equal 50% stake, and it is understood that Johnson acted alone. As a result, Johnson’s relegation request is unlikely to succeed because the FA only considers such requests if they are submitted by a club with supporting documentation from their board or committee members, not by an individual.
With one game left, Hull City Ladies, who are not connected to the men’s Championship team Hull City, are in ninth place in the Northern Premier Division, 14 points above the relegation zone, and safe from the drop.
The lack of medical insurance at the club is another issue that the players are not happy about. There is no strength and conditioning coach on staff at the club. According to reports, eight of the team’s players have suffered severe knee injuries in the last 18 months.
One Hull player, Hope Knight, wrote on Facebook: “That’s not a coincidence. That’s what happens when footballers are treated like an afterthought – when ambition is replaced by greed.”
Knight also wrote in her Facebook post: “We can’t stay silent any longer. This is our reality, and it’s time people knew. As players and staff, we’ve seen it with our own eyes – we’ve been lied to, manipulated and bullied.”