Notts County and Dover bad blood continues amid second call-off, chairman's rant

Notts County and Dover Athletic's war of words continued after their proposed league meeting was postponed for a second time.

The National League clash at the Crabble Athletic Ground was called off five hours before kick-off on Tuesday, despite the pitch passing a lunchtime inspection.

It drew plenty of ire from Notts, who saw the original game also called off at even shorter notice.

Following that decision to cancel the January 8 game, due to a waterlogged pitch, Magpies' boss Ian Burchnall labelled the decision as a "disgrace" due to a lack of information relayed to travelling fans.

Now, the two clubs are again involved in a spat after the latest call-off.

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In a video message posted on Tuesday, Dover's chairman Jim Parmenter claimed that the National League had called the game off and said he would be lodging a complaint.

"It's unbelievable," he said.

"It's inconceivable to me that somebody sitting in an office in London can call a game off where the pitch has just been inspected by a referee and has been passed as playable.

"It was passed as easily playable and at 2.15pm the game is called off by somebody sitting in an office in London in conjunction with Mark Ives, the general manager of the National League.

"One minute they are charging and fining us for not completing fixtures, the next they are calling off fixtures unnecessarily to prevent us from completing fixtures.

"This can only be due to undue pressure from Notts County on the authorities.

"We had the pitch inspected by a referee. They said it was due to the weather forecast.

"It's an absolute disgrace and we will be making a formal complaint about this. I've never known a game called off before anywhere because of a weather forecast and a perception of what might happen in five to six hours' time.

"There are no hurricanes forecast - it's a rain shower."

Notts then posted a lengthy, 600-word statement on their club website.

In it, they said: "It is hugely disappointing and frustrating to once again be addressing issues regarding a postponed trip to Dover, not least due to the inconvenience and cost to supporters - many of whom had set off on the understanding that the Crabble Athletic Ground pitch was 'perfectly playable'."

The statement added that "Dover's communication to us following the inspection was either misjudged or misleading".

With regards Parmenter's comments, the statement also addressed these.

It adds: "We vehemently reject Parmenter's inference that we were seeking for the match to be postponed.

"Not only have we once again incurred considerable team travel and hotel costs, but this week's training schedule has now been severely affected.

"We have already experienced severe disruption to our season for various reasons and were desperate to play this evening's match."

The National League said the decision to postpone the match would have rested solely with the match referee. A new date has yet to be announced.