JOHNSON: TIME IS NO FACTOR
WILY Gary Johnson says the time is right for the National League’s top tier to become part of the Football League.
The Torquay United boss hopes this enforced break could give football’s authorities the chance to consider the case for Non-League’s cream to move up.
“When I was first in the Conference with Yeovil, half the teams were still parttime,” said the 64-year-old.
“Nowadays you’ve probably only got two or three teams that are not full-time. You’ve got big clubs like Notts Country, Wrexham and Chesterfield. “It might not help your Non-League Paper, but the League is ready to become part of the Football League.
“It just makes sense to me that it comes under the same rules and regulations as the Football League and I would like to think it’s something that’s being discussed.
“It could become a division of the Football League, though you could still call it the National League if you wanted. What’s important is that it’s in line and has the same regulations as a fully professional league.
“We already have to travel from Torquay to Hartlepool, so it’s a proper national league already.”
As for the thorny issue of how this season should be settled, the former Bristol City and Latvia boss has no doubts.
“However long it takes,” said Johnson, who led Torquay to the National League South title last term. “I wouldn’t like to discount results, great games and goals from this season.
“Players, managers and supporters all have to have hope that the virus is going to finish. When it does we will all feel a lot more comfortable.
“As a club, we were ringing round all our mature supportNational ers and season ticket holders. The general consensus was that they need their football back as quickly as possible.
“The club is a big believer of finishing the season when the government and FA says it is safe to do so.
“Some clubs will think it’s better for themselves if we finish now, but there are still a lot of clubs that can get into the play-offs positions or be relegated – and we are one of them. We can go up or down.”
Indeed, when play stopped, the 15th-placed Gulls were ten points adrift of the playoffs and six points above the drop zone. Crucially, they had played just 36 games, with only Barnet (35) having played fewer. It means Torquay, on 48 points, have ten matches to play if the season resumes.
“Look at that mid-group, unless you have 50-odd points, you can still get dragged into relegation problems with a losing run,” said Johnson, who has racked up more than 1,000 matches as a manager.
“On the other hand, a winning run can take you to the verge of the play-offs. It would take a hell of an effort and some very good form, but at one point this season we did have a very good run.
“I would have thought most people would like to finish the season.”