Holbeach United will not be promoted this season – even if they finish in a top spot.
The deadline for applying for promotion passed on Monday, with the Tigers deciding to sit tight and stay put at Step Five of the non-league pyramid.
Chairman Dave Dougill said the decision boiled down to the extra financial strain of playing in a higher league and the board was not prepared to put the club’s long-term future at risk for a short-term gain.
He said: “The costs of going up are a big consideration. There’s the extra travel, players expect more reward and sponsorship plays a bigger part.
“I wish everybody well that goes up but for us it’s not financially sustainable to be playing at a higher level.
“The future of the club comes before anything else.”
In 2012/13 season when the Tigers won the United Counties League Premier Division title, they had not applied for promotion and second-placed St Ives Town went up to Step Four.
Last season Holbeach did put things in place to go up but, on the field, things did not go to plan and it was champions AFC Rushden and Diamonds who left Step Five behind.
Dougill says Carter’s Park is “80 per cent” fit for the necessary ground grading and getting it into the required position would not be a problem, but the club’s decision was made with a longer view in mind.
“At the moment we’re F grade and we have got to be E grade [to be promoted],”he said. “We would then need to be D grade within 12 months whether we were to go up or not,” he said.
He added: “The cost of being promoted isn’t worth all the hassle. To be honest, I think Spalding United are finding that.”
The Tigers chairman was also peeved about ground grading inspections, claiming standards at Carter’s Park which were good enough a couple of years ago were now deemed not to be.
He also thinks there is some disparity within Step Five, saying: “There are grounds in the UCL that have not got half of what we have yet we are supposed to be at the same standard.”
On the field, boss Darren Jarvis and assistant manager Tom Roberts have fashioned a side capable of challenging for the title.
The Tigers have lost just twice in 17 league matches this season.
Key matches against leaders Leicester Nirvana and unbeaten AFC Kempston Rovers – who have both applied for promotion – are the first two fixtures of 2016, after a run of six matches in December.
That sequence starts with a trip to one-from-bottom Oadby Town on Saturday and continues on Tuesday when the Tigers travel to high-flying Deeping Rangers (7.45pm). The match was postponed from this midweek as Deeping’s Lincs County Senior Trophy quarter-final tie with Boston Town took precedence.
Dougill is happy with the Tigers’ progress in the first full season for Jarvis and Roberts.
“After last season [when they finished sixth in the table], we’re doing better than expected. The challenge is keeping that up on the heavy pitches to come.”
Kirby Muxloe and, it is believed, Wisbech Town have also applied for promotion.
