Carlisle City boss Jim Nichols has every sympathy for Kendal Town after they were told the club was being moved laterally to the Northern League.
Nichols, who spent about eight years at Parkside Road in two stints working with both Lee Ashworth and Dave Foster feels very sorry for his old club.
“I know what they are going through and it’s not nice,” he says.
But Nichols, in charge at City for the last six years, believes it is very unlikely anything will change as a result of Kendal’s appeal.
Nichols says: “City had four years in the North West Counties and I took over towards the end of their last season there. No sooner had the season finished and we were informed that we were being moved into the Northern League.
“I remember the appeal and our chairman went down to Wembley for the hearing. He presented our case but I think it didn’t take long for him to be told that the appeal had been rejected and we were being moved.
“I can see what a problem it will be for Kendal with all their players from the North West, down as far as Manchester, Wigan and Liverpool. They aren’t going to be keen on travelling up to the North East for matches.
“Then there’s the cost of transport, which will be greatly increased from what they have to pay now.
“We had to rethink our strategy on players and where we looked for them but that might not be as easy for Kendal given their geographical position.”
City have adapted over the years, however, to life in the Northern League and this season just ended had their best ever finish in Division One of eighth, after looking potential play-off contenders for a while.
They had started in Division Two of the Northern League, winning promotion three years ago but if their appeal fails Kendal Town would go straight into the First Division.
