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Maidstone United co-owner Terry Casey has accused the National League of misusing National Lottery funding.
Casey says he is “utterly confused” by the league’s allocation of a £10m grant to help clubs through the Covid-19 pandemic, branding it “scandalous”, “stupid” and “possibly corrupt”.
The lottery money was designed to compensate clubs for lost revenue as a result of playing behind closed doors.
But average attendances for last season have been ignored, which means while some benefit significantly, Maidstone are one of the biggest losers.
Top-flight clubs are to share £6m over the next three months.
That’s £95,000 a month for ex-Football League sides Notts County, Stockport, Wrexham, Chesterfield, Hartlepool, Yeovil and Torquay and £84,000 for the remaining 16.
Maidstone are one of five clubs in North and South to receive £36,000 a month - Dulwich, York, Hereford and Chester the others - while the rest are awarded £30,000.
Casey is staggered at the league’s distribution of funds which leaves the Stones 50 per cent down on anticipated income, based on last season’s average crowd of almost 2,000.
On the other hand, top-flight Boreham Wood receive £84,000 a month despite averaging just over 700 last season.
Casey, whose fellow owner Oliver Ash has called for an inquiry, has hit out at the National League over “one of the most extraordinary cases of the misuse of grant funding that I have ever witnessed”.
Writing on the Stones website, Casey says: “The distribution of the £10million grant from the National Lottery to the Vanarama National League has left me utterly confused and bitterly disappointed.
“The Government was specific in that the money they brokered for our football clubs, via the National Lottery, was designed to 'replace lost gate revenue'.
"Clubs agreed to start the season, taking on trust the promise to cover these lost revenues. This has not happened.
“Our average gate over the last two seasons has been 2,000 per match and our club will receive 36k per month from the National League.
"This is some 50% below our estimated monthly shortfall! It is also nearly £50k per month less than Dover who attract just over 1,000 per match.
“On the face of this it looks stupid but when it becomes clear that those sitting on the Board making the decisions are heavily biased towards their own financial wellbeing, then it's not just a stupid decision but possibly corrupt.
“For the Board of the National League to arbitrarily decide the first thing that they will do is take 60% for their own clubs and give the South and North just 20% each looks stupid, especially as they have no mandate to keep the money for themselves as they should be representing the interests of all of their member clubs.
“We are sure that the league sponsors such as Vanarama, BT Sport and the National Lottery will be carefully reconsidering their sponsorships on the back of this scandalous decision!
“This is a clear case of the Board not serving the membership and a clear misuse of the way that the money was supposed to be spent."
“This is one of the most extraordinary cases of the misuse of grant funding that I have ever witnessed.
“The FA and National League had a clear mandate to spend the money on lost gate revenue.
"What they have done is ignore this and instead allowed National League Board Members to favour some clubs with outrageous amounts of money that far exceed their gate receipts.”
