PERSHORE Town has withdrawn its appeal to join the Hellenic League having had “no grounds” to proceed.

Chairman Paul Loader confirmed the West Midlands (Regional) League (WMRL) outfit would not be asking the FA to review their league allocation at a hearing scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday), despite a post on the club’s Twitter account stating they had been “extremely confident” of victory only four days ago.

Clubs seeking a lateral move must make their case known to the FA by March 31 in the previous season, a sticking point for Town bosses.

They had been keen to join Malvern Town and three Herefordshire clubs in switching to the undersubscribed Hellenic League Division One (West), which seems set to run with only 14 teams.

“While we thought we had a good case and it made sense for the club and potentially the Hellenic League, it was agreed with the FA that we had no grounds to appeal,” said Loader.

“At the time they asked us the question, which was before March 31, we did not know how the restructure might look like or which teams may move.

“It was one of those things. Did we throw ourselves into the bear pit or sit tight to see what happened?

“We chose to sit tight, thinking it was better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

“As it transpired there were a couple of other clubs that did the same but they got moved and we didn’t.

“Geographically it would make sense to go into the Hellenic League. Does anyone think Pershore is in the West Midlands? Probably not, we are on the edge of the Cotswolds so from that perspective moving made sense.

“From the perspective of the Hellenic League not having many teams it would appear to make sense.

“I would imagine the FA is trying to do it gradually and next season, as they continue to restructure, it might look different again so we agreed to focus on the football rather than trying to come up with reasons why we could appeal.

“We are looking forward to next season and the focus is on doing as well as we can in the West Midlands (Regional) League.”

On the prospect of getting in an early application during 2019-20, Loader said: “It depends how the FA continues to restructure. We will review that nearer the time when hopefully we will know more.”