DELIGHT, THOUGH ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL...

WE’VE been working on getting fans back for weeks and are delighted to have got the green light. We spent the earlier part of this week working on ‘Plan B’, which was the contingency start dates and scenarios.

We sent that out to clubs and got some very positive responses to the alternatives, which was nice. But we’re really pleased we’ve got something definite now and on September 19 we’re back.

The negative is the percentages. We’ve got clubs like Worthing that will struggle to get in all their crowd. The sad thing is, we have been pushing for some time now to say you can’t just go by a Step provision because one size doesn’t fit all. That’s our disappointment, I think.

We just wish whoever makes the decision would understand it creates more difficulties. There are other clubs who would have substantially more than would be permitted.

They then have to work out how they do that fairly, it’s quite a difficulty. What happens if more than allowed turn up? We’ve also got the problem of away fans and how we do that, and know they are going to turn up? If the clubs are allowed 150 in, they will want to get 150 paying spectators in because they are the lifeblood of the clubs. That’s why we were saying we wouldn’t start without paying spectators. We’re working on that.

As far as the FA competitions are concerned, it’s a massive help for the early rounds to have even limited numbers because they have winners’ and losers’ money as well.

We’re hoping to get fixtures out shortly.

Recently, I went along as an assistant referee, after receiving a call through my referees’ society, to go to an Isthmian club that had a match against a Step 5 club.

I wasn’t there in an official, league capacity, I wanted to learn and see how our clubs were dealing with this. They were absolutely fantastic. I think clubs are really taking it seriously and they realise that to get the games on, they’ve got to do it.