London Colney and Colney Heath have finally had a resolution in their will they, won’t they move to Essex Senior League – and both are delighted with the outcome.

The pair will remain in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division, partly thanks to the decision of Hadley to voluntarily move to the Essex Senior League.

The sorry saga has dragged on for almost a month after the clubs were initially laterally transferred east when the allocations for clubs at step five of the non-league pyramid were announced.

Appeals from both were upheld, with the case kicked back to the national league committee, however, the Blueboys and Magpies were left gobsmacked when the same decision was reached again.

The decision from Hadley though settles the worries with the Essex Senior League running with 19 for this season and the SSML containing 21 teams.

Colney Heath admitted relief that they can now focus on the playing side again while London Colney co-owner Gareth Davies said the issue for them was never about geography.

Speaking to HertsAdSport he said: "We were all for it but we would have lost a major amount of money if we moved and would have struggled to keep the club afloat.

"We're almost there but we're not in a position to be self-sufficient and still rely on sponsorship money to survive and pay the bills."

Davies had sought help from the court for arbitration in their fight but they too are now looking ahead to focusing fully on the playing side ahead of the new season.

Two new players have already signed, Ibrahim Camara and George Brinkman, and Davies says they are ready to push on with plenty more new faces.

He said: "We took the decision this week to start signing players who wanted to come in to the club and we have 11 or so to announce in total.

"Pre-season training starts on Thursday.

"The Spartan League is a tough league but we have some solid and dependable players coming in."

Both clubs, however, have been warned that they could face the same move next season.

But both have said that is a worry for another day.