‘PREMIER AND FA NEED TO HELP UP’
WE HAD a board meeting on Monday to decide what we can do. We agreed a plan for the next six weeks or so. At the moment we’re ok to pay the wages in March and then we’ll have to see what happens to work out the rest of it.
Until we know when we’re restarting we can’t plan much beyond that. The news that we can get a grant from the government is obviously very good and can cover another month’s wages.
The Premier League through The FA have got to look after NonLeague football. If the government are sticking to what they’re saying, that takes into account some of the shortfall everyone’s going to have, then hopefully the Premier League and The FA will contribute some as well. It may not be as bad as everyone first thought.
We are in a slightly better position than most clubs because of our facility and what we’ve got here. There are other income streams but unfortunately most of that has been shut down as well. It’s now swung the other way where we’ve got extra overheads and no income. Our overheads are more than just the football club. We’ll have to review it on a weekly basis.
We took the decision on Monday to remain open as long as people want to turn up and use the facilities taking into account the government guidelines.
We had the very poor start but once we got Steve (King, manager) in everything changed. We’re top of every form guide over the last ten, 15 and 20 games. The performance on Saturday against Chelmsford was probably the best we’ve played this season. The feeling afterwards was if we are shutting down that was a good way to go out!