Tranmere is so rooted in the community that I realised this club had to be symbol of hope for our fans when Covid hit

EXCLUSIVE

So when the pandemic hit, the former chief executive of the FA and chairman of Tranmere Rovers went into overdrive.

“A lot of clubs facing Covid decided that what they wanted to do was to hibernate and survive,” he said.

“My view was entirely different. My view was that we needed to manage through this and thrive. A lot of people in the office told me they had never seen me so animated.”

Given Palios’ background in finance and disaster recovery, the then- League One club were in the safest of hands.

Despite a crisis that resulted in the longest peace- time hiatus for the national game in history.

While others reached for the panic button, Palios and his colleagues at Prenton Park took a deep breath and began the process of laying a new pitch.

“We played our last game

ADMIRABLE Marcus Rashford helping in his local community on March 10. By the 16th, we had put together our plan and, on the 19th, on the Thursday evening, I approved ever y thing with the contractor and we started the process of installing a new 3G pitch,” he said.

“I said to the guy, ‘It’s a fiveweek build and a seven-week growth – that’s three months’.

“At the time, we were told that we would come back to training on the 3rd of April and that the season would re-start on the 29th.

“I told him I didn’t think that was going to happen, so I asked him if he could do it in two weeks. After a bit of haggling, we stood up and shook hands on it.

“We had planned that, if we were going to have a l ock- down, the n the contractors were going to be locked down in the ground. We were putting beds in for them. Everyone was laughing when we did it, but that pitch became a symbol of hope for the fans. It showed that there was a future after Covid.

“It also showed, to all our staff here, that we were going to carry on with our projects. It sent out a clear message.”

While Tranmere cracked on – modelling scenarios based on no fans and no football for the foreseeable future – many others in the Football League sat on their hands and waited nervously for the cavalry to arrive.

The pointsper-game method used to deci d e the finishing places for the 2019/20 season added insult to injury for Tranmere, sending them back to League Two after a single season in the third tier.

While Palios remains unhappy with the way the season was decided, events off the pitch have dominated.

And if the pandemic has shown us anything, it is that football in this country is fractured, with the Footbal l League, FA and Premier League c o l l e c t iv e ly failing to offer the leadership that clubs up and down the nation were crying out for.

“Professional football has clearly failed at the leadership level in terms of who should have done what in a coordinated approach to the problems that the game faces in this country,” said Palios, who took over the running of Tranmere, alongside wife Nicola, six-and-a-half years ago.

“On an individual level, the game has succeeded.

“We’ve seen what certain individuals have done in the pandemic, individuals such as Marcus Rashford, the Premier League captains and lots of clubs like ourselves, who have done so much good work in the communities that have been suffering with Covid.

By Sep tember,

in conjunction with our partners on the Wirrall, we had delivered 35,000 meals to vulnerable people in the area.

“This is a club rooted in its community and we can do things that other organisations can’t.

“The classic example is to give alternative provision to kids who want go to school – they come to the football club to be educated. They even want to come here in summer when it’s the school holidays.”

There has been precious opportunity for the latter in 2020 and going into Christmas, life seems as uncertain as ever, not just on the Wirral, but also in the corridors of power at the FA.

So how does Palios feel the organisation he once led have handled everything thrown at it in 2020?

“The FA has been absent without leave and the lack of leadership they’ve shown, means that self-interest fills that vacuum,” he said.

Few would disagree, as English football’s problems continue to be played out on a very public stage.

At Prenton Park, though, they are keeping calm and carrying on.

On their brand new hybrid pitch and off it, too.

The FA has been absent without

lack leave and the of leadership they’ve shown, means that

fills self-interest

that vacuum