It’ll be Ell on wheels if stands are shut
LEAGUE TWO clubs are in nervous mood as 2021 draws to a close, particularly after restrictions were placed on attendances in Scotland from December 27.
They fear that a similar move south of the border could stretch some clubs’ finances to breaking point.
Only four matches were played in the most recent round of games.
The Boxing Day programme has also been decimated as the Omicron variant continues to surge.
During what should be the busiest time in the football calendar, the situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
And, for clubs still feeling the aftershock of the pandemic, the steep rise in cases country-wide couldn’t have come at a worse time.
One club already counting the cost is Sutton United, currently sitting third in the table in their first season in the Football League.
They were the only club in London to host a match last weekend, but, despite a gate of almost 3,000, bar takings were considerably down as fans took the decision not to go inside for a traditional pint.
With events over Christmas and the New Year being cancelled, the club has already seen its non-football income take a sizeable hit.
And Bruce Elliott, the club’s chairman, believes that further restrictions would have a catastrophic impact – not just on Sutton, but on clubs across the Football League.
He said: “We’re meant to be at Bristol Rovers on Boxing Day, but that’s off because they can’t field a side. It’s all out of our hands at the moment – who knows what’s going to be happening after Christmas? It’s not making life any easier, let’s put it that way.
“If what has been introduced in Scotland was introduced here, then that would have a disastrous impact on every club in the Football League.
“We want to be playing football matches, that’s what we’re about.
“The worst-case scenario would be that we’re playing games behind closed doors, with no bar and no matchday income. It would be better from a financial aspect – I’m not saying from a footballplaying aspect, because you want to be playing – not to play games rather than play games behind closed doors.
“At least if you don’t play the game, you can play it later, when you can have spectators in. You’re paying your players and you pay them regardless of whether you’re playing or not.
“Playing in front of 500 people would be the same. You’ve still got to open your ground, you’ve still got to have your stewards.
“Where you make your money is the extra money coming in.”
As things stand, there are few in the lower league prepared to speak openly about the prospect of the season over-running. What’s increasingly clear, though, is that fixture pile-ups, in League One and League Two in particular, look inevitable.
After two years of uncertainty, this wasn’t the situation clubs were expecting when the vaccine rollout appeared to promise an end to the Covid crisis. As it stands, Football League clubs are in desperate need of a shot in the arm.