DO THE RIGHT THING!
Bluebirds boss Evatt makes pre-vote plea
IAN EVATT has called on National League clubs to “do the right thing” and reward success not failure at the expected vote for how the 2019-20 season should be concluded.
The National League have now suspended their three divisions indefinitely to fall in line with the EFL and are continuing to weigh up what happens next.
It’s thought the reaction to Step 3 and below being declared null and void – as well as records expunged – has made league chiefs determined to consult their member clubs individually as a planned board vote earlier in the week was postponed.
Evatt’s Barrow were enjoying a fantastic campaign and dreaming of promotion to the Football League before the coronavirus pandemic halted the season in its tracks. They sit four points clear of Harrogate Town with both sides having played 37 of the 46 scheduled games, although they still have to face each other.
Clubs are due to be asked to have their say this week and
Evatt hopes Barrow will be rewarded for what they have done on the pitch.
“We’ve all put a lot into 37, 38, 39 games – financially, emotionally,” Evatt told The NLP. “The stars are aligning for us to be promoted. That might not ever happen again. We may never get another chance at this. “It’s just crazy Barrow were voted out of the League 48 years ago. Now it looks like we’re going to go down to another vote…if everybody in the interests of fairness is honest with themselves – some may find that more difficult than others – we’d all say you should reward success
and performances and not reward underperformance and failure. I think everybody would say that. Otherwise you are in the wrong game, the wrong walk of life.
“When the vote does come about, however it is worded or whatever happens, I do hope that people do the right thing.”
The National League’s preferred choice is to complete the season if the EFL do but it throws up a number of complex issues and Evatt concedes finishing is looking more unlikely with no sign of when the government will let football resume amid the global health crisis.
“Nobody knows the answer to that question,” Evatt said. “Obviously with the survival of clubs and cash flow etc, I would think we probably need to draw a close to it now.
“There are all sorts of complications. Everyone keeps mentioning and talking about the integrity and spirit of the competition. You cannot restart in, say, August or September and finish off with teams potentially having completely different squads. That’s not in the spirit and fairness of competition.
“Then you’ve got the fitness aspect – pre-season up to a nine-game season where at the start of every season you get strange results as it is. For me there are far too many complications and ifs and buts to restart.
“Then it comes to the next point. Null and void, when you’ve played over 80 per cent of the season, for me, is a shambles. All it does is reward teams who have underperformed. It might sound harsh but it’s fair.
“Teams have played 37, 38 – in some cases 39 – games in our league, you are where you deserve to be, there’s no doubt about it. We need to look at it and go off fact and how you’ve performed so far and not off fiction in terms of, ‘We’ve got eight games left and we could win all eight’. Well, hang on a minute, you’ve not won eight games all season!
“So what are we doing? Are we rewarding teams for underperforming are we going to reward teams that have performed, not over a short period, but over a length of time?
“Obviously there’s going to be teams with different opinions. For me, the bigger picture here is how the National League is viewed. The EFL and Premier League look like, at the moment, they want to complete. We’ve had to fight pretty hard to get two-up, two-down as it is – why would we want to sacrifice that now?”
Evatt believes it is a seminal decision for football.
“I just don’t understand how null and void can even be a process,” Evatt said. “Are they null and voiding exams? No, exam results are going on what grade you’ve got to date. Why is it any different? Why are we hell-bent in this society of rewarding people who have underperformed? No matter what way you look at it, null and void rewards teams who have underperformed.
“It just can’t happen. Where it has failed lower down the pyramid is they made this call, I believe, without consulting the clubs.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of people in this league and the leagues below and the general consensus is null and void isn’t a fair option. That’s even coming from teams who are in a relegation position.
“No matter what you say, everybody has self-preservation and their own club at heart – there is no doubt about it. Everyone will have an agenda. If they say they haven’t, they have. But I would like to think I have ethics and morals and that is to reward people who are performing well.
“We’re not talking about playing half a season here. How can you even consider null and voiding with so few games to go.”