OUR CLUBS DESERVE TO HAVE THEIR SAY
NLP: WHY DOES THE NATIONAL LEAGUE FEEL IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO LET CLUBS DECIDE WITH A VOTE?
BB: There is no silver bullet on this situation. We are in the middle of something nobody has experienced before, nobody can say this is how we did it last time because there isn’t a last time, certainly not in the last 200 years. We’re in something that’s extreme in terms of not just the sporting life of the country but the complete social life of the country.
Anything we do has to be seen in the context of the bigger picture – and the bigger picture is the health of the country. Any decision we’re making is put alongside that. I don’t think anyone involved in this sequence thinks we’re going to come up with a perfect solution, we’re just trying to come up with the best solution we can given the unprecedented circumstances.
One of the ways we felt was appropriate to go along was to engage our clubs in some of the key decisions. We believe it’s the right way to go about it to get our 68 clubs affected by this pandemic involved in the process. We felt it was the right way to take an element of the decisions to them.
HOW MUCH DOES THE CONNECTION THE LEAGUE HAVE WITH THE EFL COMPLICATE THINGS?
It is a complication in one respect but, equally, it’s an ambition for our clubs in our senior league to make that step forward into the EFL. When you’re interlocking with another league, you have to be conscious of where they are in any process they’re doing and not only sit near or alongside it but be aware of it.
In that respect, we don’t just have a self-contained competition because one of the key prizes for teams in our senior league is potentially going into the EFL. I think it’s also right to give clubs the opportunity to have their say.
One of the ways we can do it has been to speak to them and our executive is speaking to a lot of them a lot of the time and also on this occasion to give them a vote in terms of defining the next stage of the process.
The vote is the next step in what is a critical path in somehow coming up with a solution, which hopefully minimises the disappointment across the clubs. I don’t think anybody can come out of this absolutely smiling but we’re hoping to minimise that disappointment.
COULD THE EFL REJECT THE PROMOTION PLACES FROM THE NATIONAL LEAGUE?
We talk to the EFL and with The FA all the time so you can imagine our ambition remains where you’d expect it to be. They also have a heck of a lot on their plate as well.
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF CLUBS DECIDING TO WAIT BEFORE THEY VOTE?
They have a democratic right to do what they want. We’ve tried to make it an inclusive and democratic process. The vast majority of clubs understand the National League board and its executives are trying their very best to come up with the fairest solution possible with the help and aid of the clubs.
This is completely unprecedented and what we’re trying to do as a board and as an executive is to get to a position that is as good as it can be in these unique circumstances. We have a lot of support amongst the clubs and we have a level of criticism amongst the clubs, and both of those are reasonably legitimate places to be. We are not suggesting we have all the answers, what we’re trying to do is make the best of what is a very, very difficult situation.
WHEN WILL CLUBS KNOW THE OPTIONS FOR THE SECOND PHASE OF THE VOTE?
We’ve got to get through the first phase and then we’ll have a second. The logical sequence is they’re voting on that resolution. That will give us a very good steer as to the level of support or otherwise. Then, as a board, we will work through the potential options. There have been no formal conversations about potential options at board level, but at the right time, in the right way, we’ll put back to the clubs in the different divisions what we believe is the potential range of options.
WHY HAS THE NATIONAL LEAGUE SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM STEPS 3-7 IN MAKING A DECISION AT THE SAME TIME?
There is a recognition on the Alliance Committee that the National League is significantly different to some of the others. We do have a television contract, we do have some major commercial sponsors, we do have a promotion path into a different level of the game. There’s an understanding of that at The FA level and I think amongst our friends at Steps 3-7. We have a different set of objectives that live within where we are in the football pyramid essentially.
We are at the top of the National League System, therefore we are nudging the professional game system. There’s an understanding amongst our colleagues on the Alliance Committee that we are just a little bit different in terms of our relative profile and positioning within the game, our interlocking with the league above us and also some of our commercial aspirations.
HOW CHALLENGING HAS THIS BEEN FOR YOURSELF AND THE NATIONAL LEAGUE BOARD?
I would say the first call I take every morning is about this and the last call I take is about this. I get my hour’s exercise and watch a bit of television but, broadly speaking, I am completely immersed in it. I’ve spent so much time on this, Monday is suddenly Friday and Friday is suddenly Sunday. I wouldn’t underestimate how challenging I, or the board or the clubs have found it.
DO YOU HOPE THERE WILL BE ANY MORE MONEY FROM THE PREMIER LEAGUE GIVEN TO NON-LEAGUE?
The Premier League’s advanced money will be welcomed. I’m hoping we will be able to build a fighting fund up to help clubs out. We’re making lots of phone calls to try and raise some more money but these are real tough times, everyone else is suffering as well. I have an aspiration that we try to find some more money from somewhere to try and help our clubs. The great ambition I have is we have 68 clubs going into it and we have 68 clubs coming out of it. If we do that, the whole of our group of clubs and ourselves can be pretty proud.