Knight threatens to quit after Racers kicked out of cup

Racers were due to meet Gornal Athletic in the final at Solihull Moors on April 4 after a superb 2-0 win over West Midlands Premier Division leaders Black Country Rangers in their last-four clash.

But it has emerged that centre-back Marvin Gourlay was ineligible having played in a Birmingham Senior Cup match against Banbury United in October.

And at a closed hearing of the Birmingham County FA last night, the semi-final tie was awarded to Black Country Rangers.

It is the second successive year Racers have been found guilty of a breach of cup rules following last year’s elimination from the Coventry Telegraph Challenge Cup and the manager said lessons have not been learned.

“I’m absolutely gutted for the lads,” said Knight. “We’ve had some really tough games to get to the final and have beaten the first and third in the West Midlands League.

“But we’re making administrative errors time and time again.

“It’s a waste of my time.

“We’re useless behind the scenes and these things are always going to rear their head.”

Knight, who texted the players this morning to inform them of the news, now faces a difficult task to lift them for their Les James Challenge Cup first-leg tie at Knowle on Saturday.

However, he said that had Racers not had the carrot of two more cup final appearances, he would have walked away already.

“We’ve got a big game on Saturday and then a Coventry Charity Cup semi-final against Stockton on Tuesday.

“After that I’ll sit down with the management team and we’ll see where we go from there.

“But if we go out of the cup competitions it’s a no-brainer.

“In fact, if we weren’t in the two semi-finals my resignation would have been handed in this morning.”

Racing Club secretary Pat Murphy, who was not at the club at the time of last season’s error, declined to comment when approached by the Courier.