I could do nothing to save Nuneaton Borough. But I was being blamed – to my face and behind my back – for the club’s demise. In 2005 I had had enough – I decided to approach the Football Conference to again challenge the Boro’s illegal relegation in 1987.
I wanted nothing financial, just acceptance that they had wrongly relegated Nuneaton, and confirmation that I was not responsible for their decision to relegate.
From the outset I met with resistance and denial. I was confused – why couldn’t these people do me the small favour of looking back at the situation and making a simple statement?
Frustrated, I approached the Football Association. As controllers of the game – Britain’s national sport – the FA is ultimately responsibility for proper running of the game at all levels. Again, I was stonewalled. I put my case on a website (www.noelkellyforjustice.co.uk) and contacted all the Conference club chairmen. But that achieved nothing – I was told privately that an order had gone out from the League to all Chairmen and directors, not to support me.
I continued to press for an apology, and the Conference continued to dig in its heels. For years, the message from Conference management was “what is past is past, any wrongdoing was done by people no longer involved in the Conference… We have moved on, repeat of such actions is not possible today…”
I jumped on that last comment. “So you admit it was wrong?” It seemed to do the trick.
After years of ignoring me, the Conference Board gave me an opportunity to meet its members. Encouraged by Tony Kleanthous, Chairman of Barnet, and others who knew of me and my record with the league, such as Ben Robinson, Chairman of Burton Albion, they agreed to hear my version of events.
In July 2005 I met the Conference board, accompanied by John Evans. He had been Chairman of the Conference rules revision sub-committee for all but twelve months of the period 1979 to 1986 and, crucially, had helped write the rules under which the league had expelled the Boro’ in 1987.
The greeting we received was civil, if cold. Their legal adviser had told them to continue to ignore me, and several of the men around the table clearly felt that they should have taken his advice.
There was even a wrangle over whether I had actually purchased the “Noel Kelly Trophy” – the league championship trophy. It was claimed that I had paid just 25% of the actual price. The Conference Secretary/CEO, John Moules, shrieked his denial of my claim to have paid for the whole thing. Then John Evans pointed out that he was sure that there would be a minute in the record books, dating from 1979, which proved the point. These minutes were not available at that moment. If needed, I could prove that I designed and paid for the trophy.
The meeting moved on. Bill King, Conference Chairman, proclaimed that the expulsion of the Boro’ in 1987 had been carried out “fully in accordance with league rules”. But it hadn’t, and we said so. Again John Evans intervened, and said quite simply that he believed that, given thirty minutes of their time, he could demonstrate that the club had been treated in a manner that was in total contravention of the rules.
After a few seconds of silence, one member, Jack Pearce, from Bognor Regis, said “I am prepared to have a look at this.” Several others nodded and made similar comments. King and Moules looked furious, but it was too late and a group of about five was designated to investigate. But they needed me to provide them with a copy of the rules as they stood in 1987 together with relevant correspondence. The League itself held none of the documentation.
The sub-committee met over the next few weeks. The injustice was so clear that they had no need to call upon either John Evans or myself for clarification.
They met us again, and confirmed that everything that I had been saying for years had been correct, and that Nuneaton Borough should not have been ejected from the Conference in 1987.
On the question of my donation of the League Trophy, the group had asked Mr. Moules for a copy of the appropriate minute we had referred to, only to be told that it had “disappeared”.
Eventually, I received a letter and ‘draft’ statement to the effect that the Conference was finally prepared to issue an apology, and in doing so clear my name. But they insisted that beyond their brief statement, the whole affair must remain secret!
Having been through so much, and still in the hope of obtaining justice one day, I couldn’t accept. If their apology was genuine, why prevent me from discussing the circumstances with anyone, ever?
I asked them to remove the requirement to keep the apology confidential. They refused, and withdrew the apology immediately. So I published the letter and statement on my website.
Those members who had continued to oppose me and who had disapproved of the intervention of Jack Pearce and the others saw their chance. They claimed that I had “gone running to the press”, which I hadn’t, and declared that this showed bad faith on my part. They forced a motion through the full Board withdrawing my Life Membership. A spiteful revenge by spiteful men.