‘Suspend the season’

The National League are coming under increasing pressure to suspend the season in the wake of a funding crisis.

Twelve clubs - out of 22 - in the North division have signed an open letter calling for the ‘immediate suspension’ of football across all three divisions.

That has come in the wake of news that clubs will be funded via loans as part of the Government’s £300m Sport Winter Survival Package rather than grants for the next three months, including this one.

‘We have now been asked to consider loans and are we are quite simply not prepared to trade while insolvent,’ said the letter.

The National League held a series of zoom meetings on Wednesday and gave clubs three options - take the loans, via Sport England, let the National League take on the loans but central funding would be cut - or suspend the season.

The league is due to make an announcement today, with a suspension looking likely.

In the South division, Slough Town, Concord Rangers and Tonbridge Angels are keen on a suspension.

‘We are not prepared to put our club into a long term financially unsustainable position by taking loans or a grant which is repayable,’ a Slough statement said.

‘Given the need for a speedy decision on the part of the clubs, we would expect that a similarly quick decision will be taken by the board and any suspension to be in place before Saturday.

‘By playing fixtures on Saturday, clubs will have to pay their players an additional week and in our case, incur the biggest travel cost of the season. As soon as the decision is made to suspend, we can move our players to furlough, thus avoiding further costs,.

‘If the decision is to suspend, it MUST be made immediately.

‘As a club we will go as far as to say that we do not propose to travel to Eastbourne on Saturday to fulfil a fixture which could be meaningless, incur unnecessary costs and put our players at risk.’

‘We will have a separate discussion regarding Saturday with the fixtures team and also with Eastbourne, but our position is clear. The issue can be avoided, by making your decision prior to the weekend.’

Has health been the National League’s priority? Pages 42-43