Brighouse boss Powell sets out plan to return to pitch

BRIGHOUSE TOWN manager Vill Powell has invited fellow West Yorkshire clubs to join his club for a competition with a possible commencement date of Saturday, April 3.

Powell has moved forward with the dates and rules for the competition involving Campion, Eccleshill United, Emley, Golcar United, Ossett United, Steeton, Thackley, Liversedge and Garforth Town.

The clubs will each play home and away games and then the top two from each section will play semi-finals ahead of a final on May 29.

The first three games for them will be over Saturdays. They will also then bring in midweek games and be able to have 16 players on duty for each game and use five substitutes.

Once the Town manager knows for certain the competition can go ahead, hopefully with spectators present and clubhouses open, he will send out the fixtures with each game worth three points for a win, a point for a draw and zero for a defeat.

Goal difference will come into play after the final games if teams are level on points. The semi-finals and final, if tied on 90 minutes, will go straight to penalties.

This gives the players something to look forward to after months of inactivity for a second season running and also referees and linesmen who have also been without fixtures since December.

Powell will be able to play his suspended wide man Shiraz Khan, who still has four games top serve of a five-match ban, with it not being a NPL or FA competition.

The competition gives each manager the opportunity to look at their playing registers ahead of a short closed season, with talk of extra preliminary and preliminary round FA Cup ties being scheduled for the first week of August or even the last week of July.

The players involved in this competition would probably only have three weeks of June off before being called back in for pre-season training.

With the NPL’s ground grading team due for a visit to the Yorkshire Payments Stadium, work recommenced on Tuesday morning under Ray McLaughlin’s guidance after 10 days of inactivity owing to the freeze-up.

LOOKING FORWARD: Shiraz Khan can play in the local competition, despite his suspension. Pic: Bruce Fitzgerald