Non-league football will not return this year, says club chairman
BOREHAM Wood chairman Danny Hunter does not expect non-league football to return this year – as he claimed misguided advice from the National League had already cost him more than £100,000.
Hunter announced late on Monday the club would not be releasing season tickets for the 2020-21 campaign as he could not envisage play resuming before the turn of the year.
“Realistically I think football for all things Boreham Wood in 2020, is over,” Hunter wrote on the club’s website.
“Let’s hope I’m wrong, though I don’t think I am. I suppose I could pretend that non-league will be back by August, September or October, a bit like the National League Board and some of the member clubs are doing, but that’s not going to help us.”
With playing behind closed doors not a viable financial possibility for non-league clubs, Hunter added he believed competition could not return without a vaccine.
“No matter what way I look, no matter how I interpret the government guidelines, I just cannot see how any football at our level in 2020 will be possible until a vaccine is found,” Hunter said.
Hunter called on the National League board to accept that as reality and develop ‘Operation Survival’ to help clubs stay afloat, rather than push for a more immediate return.
On April 22, the National League announced all remaining fixtures for the 2019-20 season would be cancelled, but prior to that several options were on the table.
Hunter said that three weeks ago he was advised by a league official to prepare for the playoffs to go ahead, but added that ‘was, of course, wishful thinking on the League administrator’s part, which I stupidly listened to it and in truth it has already cost me over £125k in contract extensions’.
“The administrators at the top of non-league now need to be very transparent with the clubs and the die-hard supporters and tell them the truth that we’re not coming back anytime soon.”