Damian Irvine: Proposal approval was the toss of a coin

The Fleet chief was one of the spearheads of the group who put a plan together they hoped would allow them to continue the season and play for promotion to Step 1.

Fleet were relegated from the top-flight last season by just 0.002 points after a points-per-game formula was adopted to decide the final placings when the season was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Irvine told BBC Radio Kent: “It was always going to be a bit of a toss of the coin as to whether it would be approved. We were part of a strong alliance of South clubs who wanted to play on and a group of the North clubs as well.

“We worked very closely with the National League and Mark Ives, the general manager, to be fair, guided us in the best way, I guess, to put forward a proposal that consulted everybody – those that weren’t playing and those who wanted to and all the stakeholders involved.

“Surprised? I didn’t want to get expectations up because people want to play football and staff look forward to playing in the league. So we were quite measured in our expectations. I wouldn’t say surprised at the outcome but, I guess, disappointed the work didn’t come to fruition.”