Nuneaton Town have been deducted six points and fined for fielding an ineligible player on two occasions.
Chairman Ian Neale was amongst the representatives of the club at the hearing at the offices of the Premier League in London, regarding the loan of Andy Brown from AFC Telford and his appearance in two matches, for which neither the Football Conference or Football Association had received any paperwork regardng the loan.
Nuneaton accepted full responsibility, admitting to two charges of fielding an ineligible player.
In a press statement, Nuneaton Town manager Kevin Wilkin said: “It is of course disappointing, but I am aware of the circumstance giving rise to the charges and have been in communication with the Chairman throughout.
“It is a regrettable situation but one I understand being appraised of the facts.
“I am pleased moving forward steps have been taken for the better.
“From the perspective of the team we pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down and look to ensure we secure our play-off place. There is still plenty of football to be played and we now have an even greater incentive to win games to make up the lost six points.”
Ian Neale, Club Chairman, said: “On behalf of the Board we apologise unreservedly to all the staff, players and every supporter of this fantastic club. We have now changed procedure adding in more failsafe measures on the administration procedures and look forward. The deduction of points is a massive blow but we are well and truly still in the hunt for a play-off position. This still remains our goal and in the face of adversity we will look to close ranks and focus on achieving that. We now have a massive game at the weekend against Altrincham and every game after that we will treat as a cup final!”