questioned the legitimacy of the continued leadership challenge that is being pursued by various club affiliates.

The group supporting Mark Trott to replace incumbent Neville Tyrrell as president has called for a special general meeting at which they intend to confront alleged constitutional hitches during the annual general meeting in July.

However, Marshall suggested further argument about the matter was unnecessary and unjustified and will have a detrimental affect on football.

And he argued that football's future should not be left in the hands of "narrow-visioned'' BFA affiliates.

Trott's supporters are questioning the validity of the election after presiding officer Eugene Blakeney was able to make deciding vote after Trott and Tyrrell finished tied -- Blakeney opting to support the latter.

But Marshall was on hand and reckoned that what transpired was all above board and the result should therefore stand.

"The nomination from the floor took place and there was no dissenting voice whatsoever, not one peek from the affiliates, so I truly cannot understand why there is all of the fuss,'' said Marshall.

"The elections that took place were certainly democratically done. The chairman during the elections, Mr. Eugene Blakeney, when the question was asked what happens if there was a tie vote and who casts the vote, he made it quite clear on numerous occasions during the discussions that he did not wish to cast the deciding vote if there was a tie.

"The affiliates who were present did not accept that, since he was the chairman they felt that he should have the right to cast the deciding vote.

"After much discussions and deliberations there was not one dissenting voice from any of the affiliates or any of the proposed opponents that he not be the chairman and that he have the deciding vote -- so the election went on.'' According to Marshall, having an honorary vice president as the chairman of the election was nothing new and at the time nobody questioned having the current vice-president act as the returning officer.

"I know the constitution has changed a bit now because there are still officers still in power or still eligible to vote, which these two persons did, but at no time did the general body show any dissent of Mr. Blakeney having the deciding vote,'' said Marshall.

He added: "When it came down to a 12-12 tie, Mr. Blakeney had to cast a deciding vote and he voted what he felt was in the best interest of association football and they accepted it. Nobody got up and said "no way'', they congratulated Mr. Tyrell and everybody else who was elected.

"But then to come back later and bring null and void into the picture is really concerning. It's not a constitutional requirement, it's the standing orders of the association, not the constitution, the constitution is quite clear of what you have to do, and that was all followed in accordance to the rules.'' The former president suggested that the matter should be left alone and the current administration should be allowed to get on with business. Any additional infighting, he reckoned, could have a negative affect.

"My advice to these clubs is that Mr. Tyrrell is the president of the BFA duly elected by those responsible for it and I would say that those who are dissenting should get on with what has been duly been done in the democratic process and support Mr. Tyrrell and the executive body to bring back football to what it should be in this country and that is a major sport.

"If they keep fighting, keep throwing obstacles into the development of the sport it can only go backwards more than it already has and they will be doing a great injustice to future footballers in this country,'' he said.

He also believed the business sector would be concerned about giving financial support if the controversy continued.

"When business managers sit down and allocate funds out to an organisation they are not going to even consider football when they are constantly in the news and it's all negative, because they have to answer to their board and shareholders.

"I am convinced that as long as football and the future of the game is left in the hands of the affiliates, or the clubs as they call themselves today, we will never advance to the level that we should be at because we are too closed-minded and too narrow-visioned in our little club atmosphere -- we must open the vision, the vision must be big and beyond these shores.'' Charlie Marshall: `election was fair'.