The Football Conference reached a new low yesterday when they released the fixtures for next season – by giving ten different clubs a blank Saturday.

One of those clubs is Oxford United, who have no fixture on Saturday, March 6.

United’s general manager and secretary Mick Brown admitted to being “speechless” at the news, while chairman Kelvin Thomas revealed his dismay at the potential loss of revenue.

As well as Oxford and Grays twiddling their thumbs on Saturday, March 6, York and Histon are without a game on Saturday, February 20, Stevenage and AFC Wimbledon miss out on Saturday, February 27, and four clubs – Chester, Kidderminster, Salisbury and Hayes & Yeading – are idle on Saturday, March 20.

It is believed to be the first time since United turned professional in 1949 that a league that has left them without a match in an otherwise full Saturday programme.

Brown said: “I’m staggered. I was speechless when I heard, but it’s indefensible.

“We did not even receive a courtesy call to inform us, we just discovered it by default.

“It’s just illogical and will disadvantage us because we’ve got an additional midweek match,” he added.

The Conference, who came under fire last season because of their poor working procedures and inconsistencies in deducting points from clubs, seem to have got in a mess after agreeing to requests to avoid certain dates or too much travelling on a Tuesday.

Conference general manager Dennis Strudwick says the blank Saturday problem has come about because they do the fixtures manually.

Conference chairman Brian Lee agreed it was “not ideal”.

Lee said: “It’s just worked out this way and it’s not ideal.

“It’s been pointed out to me by different people that this has happened and I agree, it’s the first time I’ve known it.

“It’s not ideal, but we do the best we can.

“We’ve been trying to avoid clubs having too much midweek away travel, but I take on board people’s complaints about this and they’re noted.”

Oxford kick off next season at home to York, followed by away games at Kettering and Histon, and they have been handed a home match on Boxing Day, against Rushden.

U’s chairman Thomas said: “I’m very, very surprised that lucrative Saturday games are missed off the fixture list, whether it be home or away.

“Not having a Saturday home game will definitely have a big impact on somebody.”

Brown, who resigned from the Conference Board towards the end of last season, said: “All clubs should have Saturday matches – that is a fundamental of the fixtures.

“How you can comply with clubs’ requests at the expense of not filling every Saturday is beyond me.”