'A very sad day for football' - Institute boss Sean Connor on possible Premiership relegation

Institute manager Sean Connor has described the inclusion of automatic relegation in the solution to end the Irish Premiership season as a "very sad day for football".

The Northern Ireland Football League ruled that the campaign will be curtailed with a mathematical formula used to determine final standings.

Stute were bottom of the table, three points off 11th-placed Warrenpoint Town, when the season was stopped in March.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Connor said he felt his club were being denied the chance to retain their top-flight status.

"From day one, I advocated that I didn't think any club should be punished unfairly, or lose out, because they were stopping the league," said Connor.

"We investigated a 14-team league. That way you were rewarding the teams below the league who had fought to get promoted, and you weren't punishing the teams that were at the bottom."

The mathematical model that will be used to determine final league standings is to be decided by an independent football data consultancy "in accordance with Uefa principles".

Tuesday's decision by the board of league organisers NIFL brought to an end weeks of meetings between the clubs, NIFL and the Irish FA.

A number of proposals and counter-proposals were made, with the Premiership clubs trying to agree the possible distribution of around £1m of European money provided by Uefa.

It is believed last-ditch talks to find a solution broke down on Monday morning and it remains unclear what will happen to the European money.

"You're talking about a mathematical formula, but football is played on the pitch," added Connor, who was appointed Institute boss in September.

"Sometimes it's dictated by the bounce of a ball or a refereeing decision. So, after 38 games if you deserve to get relegated, but we were denied the opportunity to keep this club in the Premiership, which is a very, very sad day for football.

"Surely there could have been a more positive, productive series of talks to sort the situation out without punishing Institute the way we have been punished.

"I have been in football for a long time in this country. I've had some fairly high-profile sackings and I've had a couple of tough times at clubs, but yesterday was really the saddest day for me in my whole time as a manager.

"In those other situations, I was probably complicit in the problems, whereas the decision that was taken was out of our hands. So that's the frustration.

"The game has been hurt more than anything else."

Connor's comments come after Institute's statement on Tuesday night in which the club said they were "both saddened and dismayed" at NIFL's decision.

"The club has consistently argued for the Premiership Committee and the NIFL board to comply with the principle of sporting integrity and we believe that principle has been severely compromised.

"Our club position has also been to encourage the league to stay true to the concept of solidarity.

"Adherence to this principle means that the league should work collectively to avoid decisions that would impose unnecessary or disproportional consequences on any individual club.

"For this reason, we supported the promotion of teams from lower divisions but opposed the enforced relegation of teams who statistically may have survived if the season had been played to a natural conclusion."

Stute said in their statement that the inclusion of relegation in the final solution for the season outcome went against what the 12 top-flight clubs had verbally agreed.

"Confusingly, all 12 Premiership clubs verbally agreed against enforced relegation but the NIFL board have chosen to reject this opinion," the club's statement continued.

"Options were presented to expand and/or restructure the Premiership for the 2020/21 season and whilst there would have been some minor issues with these options we believe that they would still have represented a 'least harm' scenario.