Allen will respect any ending decision
Keynsham Town manager John Allen will respect any decision made on how this season ends after appreciating how difficult it will be to come up with a solution that would please everybody.
With the FA in discussions with non-league step 3-6 clubs and leagues on how to finish the campaign, it’s becoming increasingly likely that a second null and void season may take place. The Southern League has already given their backing to that decision with the realistic view that the remaining games cannot be played in time come the end of the season which is unlikely to be moved back from May.
With very few games played in some leagues this season, it is understandable that another null and void season is being discussed, but that is complicated by the FA’S adamant nature in making the scheduled pyramid reshuffle - which has already been postponed from last season - take place this year.
Speaking on a recent Western League podcast with Ian Nockolds, Allen said: “At the end of the day we’re football people and I’m sure every manager, coach, player all wants to play football. Let’s not forget that we’re volunteers, this is a hobby essentially we’re not professionals and we want to be playing week in, week out. It’s our release, it’s what we do, it’s our passion.
“But I think more so recently we have to start looking a things morally a bit maybe. We’re in a crazy situation, this is the most challenging of challenging seasons and years that I’ve had and I think morally as a club we’re starting to look at things maybe as if it was to end, I think we have to respect that even though it’s grossly disappointing obviously because we’ve all worked so hard to get to where we are now.
“But I think morally there are so many different facets to any decision made like this. You can’t do wrong from right sometimes, you can’t please everyone. If it is to cancel and was to finish then that’s got to be the case. These are big decisions for people above me and our clubs and these decisions should come from the very top. If that’s the case and that’s what’s got to be done because it’s right to do so then we’ll have to respect that.”
If the pyramid reshuffle does take place at the end of this season, despite a second null and void option, it could see four teams promoted from Division One of the Western League based on their results from between 9-11 games - less than a third of their scheduled games in a season.
If that was to be the case, Allen would be very disappointed if his side were involved in any promotion/relegation decision.
He said: “If you’ve played more than 50 per cent of your games then I think it probably creeps in a little bit more, perhaps morally better. I think at 75 per cent of games completed would give you a better average of points but I think after ten or 11 games to start deciding promotion or relegation would be harsh personally.
“I know the league are desperate to get this pyramid sorted out. I think looking back they probably had a better opportunity to do it last year, not knowing what was going to happen this. It’s a difficult one, personally if I was relegated after playing ten games I’d be fuming, that wouldn’t sit well with me.
“And probably if you’ve won the league and got promoted after ten, 12, 15 games, you’ll probably sit back at some point and go yeah we done it but it probably won’t feel as good either.”
As for Keynsham, they entered the third national lockdown 14th in the Premier Division with four wins from 13 games and Allen is pleased with the project he’s building at the AJN Stadium.
He said: “I think we’re quite individual sometimes as a club. Financially we’ve worked behind the scenes really, really hard away from the pitch to try and put ourselves in a position to try and compete in this league and stay in it.
“Huge credit must go to the people behind the scenes at the football club who have just worked a lot on sponsorship because obviously with Keynsham Town and our ground, it’s our ground, it’s our club it’s been there for well over 100 years, but it is a facility.
“Believe me, I guarantee we’ll be in the bottom two or three of budgets in that league. But from a standing start from not paying out any money in ten years to now pay the smallest of budgets made a huge difference to us in this league.
“Coupled with what we’re trying to do on it, we’re working alongside the people off the pitch and the think the ambition we’ve shown with some of the signings we made in the summer; we got Jack Dancey from Larkhall a Southern League player, Jordan Metters was a huge signing for us from Manor Farm another Southern League player.
“So we’re kind of trying to shop in Harrods with a Budgens budget if you see what I mean and our job is to persuade players to come to the club to enjoy what we do and at least give them an environment where they feel like they’re really enjoying their football and we’ve pretty successful at that.
“We reminded ourselves that we’re still one of the newest teams in this division still, we haven’t fulfilled a full season in the Prem yet from our promotion a couple of years ago, so we are still the newest team in it. We’re expecting certainly not to be challenging in the top six or eight, we’re expecting not to do that although we have standards, but I think where are right now - certainly with the last two wins - is probably we’re more comfortable there.
“I can look back over the season before lockdown and we had some good results. To be around your Bradfords and your Shepton Mallets, very well-established teams in this league, yes we’re pleased where we are now especially after those last two wins. That’s certainly, given our league position, made it look a lot healthier than what it was beforehand.”