Null and void season only option: McNally
United boss believes NWC will follow lead of National League
SKELMERSDALE FC manager Paul McNally has said he expects the North West Counties Premier Division to declare the season null and void.
McNally, who has been manager of United since November 2018, said that he expects the league will follow in the footsteps of the National League North and South which voted in favour of voiding the season last week.
Though some clubs expressed their desire to continue playing and see the campaign out, the majority cited financial reasons and concerns over the health and safety of their players, staff and colunteers in fulfilling fixtures during the Covid pandemic.
While the National
League’s national division voted to continue, clubs a step below that opted otherwise.
And McNally believes they have set a precedent.
“With them setting the precedent I don’t see any other options,” he said.
“Our league, I think, will null and void it because I don’t think there’s much else to do.
“I wouldn’t like to be the powers that be deciding things.”
Skelmersdale had a poor start in the league, losing three of the four games that they had played before the league was suspended in December.
Despite that, the club had been on a historic FA Cup run, reaching the First Round Proper where they were knocked out by League Two side Harrogate Town.
McNally said that even at that time the league had not been his team’s priority.
“When we were on our FA cup run in the early stages, the team was good enough to be in the top five.
“They [games in the league] didn’t really hold any value, we were always looking at the bigger picture.”
McNally also expressed some frustration with how the league had been managed and said that the division had not prepared for a second lockdown stopping play.
“These things could have been avoided,” he said.
“We could have played a local league, we could have put all the local teams in no matter what level; Southport, Marine etc. and played up until Christmas. I just think there wasn’t a plan in place for this to happen again, they just thought we’d get through the league.”
McNally did say that him and his team would be prepared to finish the season if the league decided to do so.
“I can’t see how we can finish unless they extend the season, which I’m not overly averse to. We’ve only played four games, but we can easily make that up, it’s other teams that might not want that.
“We’ve put a lockdown programme up for the boys to follow while we’re not together.
“We all love football, and we want to get back to playing.”
With them setting the precedent I don’t see any other option Paul McNally