Embattled Farsley Celtic were in sporting limbo today after dropping out of the Football Conference.
Farsley Celtic in crisis: Click here to read what six former managers have to say. The Conference yesterday announced that Farsley had effectively resigned by asking for their players' registrations to be cancelled.
Conference bosses said they had accepted Celtic's decision, which followed months of financial problems at the club.
* Click here for latest Leeds United news.Farsley's results in this season's Football Conference Blue Square North division have therefore now been expunged.
The announcement was greeted philosophically by Philip Morris, spokesman for Celtic's supporters' club.
He said: "It's been coming, put it that way. I'd like to thank (manager] Neil Parsley and all the players for their loyalty in what have been very difficult circumstances."
Conference side Chester City were wound up in the High Court this week over tax debts. If Farsley suffer the same fate, then their president,
John Palmer, will try to form a new club that would seek to join a league further down the football pyramid.
The 'phoenix club' would play at Celtic's Throstle Nest ground, should a consortium fronted by Mr Palmer succeed in a rumoured move to buy the site.
Farsley went into administration last July and are reported to owe more than £500,000 to the taxman and other creditors.
They have been unable to fulfil fixtures since the latest rescue deal proposed by the Palmer consortium was rejected by administrator, accountancy firm Mazars.
Mazars announced on Thursday that it was prepared to let the supporters' club start running Farsley on a not-for-profit basis so it could complete this season's league campaign.
That offer was dismissed as a publicity stunt, as Farsley would almost certainly have been kicked out of the Conference for failing to fulfil
fixtures if they had not chosen to 'resign'.
The club's junior and women's sides are continuing to play in and around Farsley. Leeds Carnegie Ladies FC's first-team games at Throstle Nest have been unaffected.
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