NINETEEN non-league football players and their management team - hailed as heroes when they made it into the second round of the FA Cup - voted last night to resign from their club in a row over pay.
Harrogate Railway, North Yorkshire, scaled new heights in the competition this season, when 3,000 turned out to see the televised match which they lost 3-1 against high-flying Bristol City.
Railway's first team squad were expecting £1,000 each as their share of the £100,000 Sky TV money.
But they said they had since been told the cash was offered as a winning bonus and, as they lost the match, they have no claim.
The players subsequently reduced their demand to £500 each but, after they were offered £200, the players decided to meet at Harrogate hotel last night, where they voted unanimously to turn their backs on the club.
Last night, manager Paul Marshall said: "I am distraught. I hope I can keep the side together somewhere else. But at this moment I feel disillusioned.
"I think I will be taking a bit of a rest, then I'll look for another job in the game. I just don't want to see these lads not playing football."
In normal league matches, the players said they had been paid £25 a week.
The team's spokesman, Ian Hart, said: "We met for a sombre meeting but were united we would all leave the club.
"We're all just gutted. But we decided that we would resign together - the manager, assistant manager and player coach, along with all the first team squad."
Club secretary Mick Gray confirmed that the players were on a £1,000 win bonus if they beat Bristol City, but had since been offered £200 as a thank you for their efforts.
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