‘Crazy’ to expect Govt to bail us all out ...

A National League chairman has hit out at one of his counterparts for suggesting the Government should help bail out England’s leading non-league clubs.

Dagenham & Redbridge managing director Steve Thompson on Tuesday called for a £15-20million rescue package to help the 67 clubs across the three divisions of the National League survive.

That was after the Government pressed the pause button on pilot events aimed at getting supporters back into ‘elite’ sports stadia by October 1.

The National League is due to start two days later, with Hawks playing their opening South game against Maidstone at Westleigh Park on October 10.

‘I can’t keep listening to people saying the Government have to bail us out,’ said Boreham Wood chairman Danny Hunter.

‘There is one London chairman (Thompson) who says the Government have to give us £15-20million to bail us out.

‘You can’t do that and then pay a striker £2,500 a week and then think the Government is going to bail you out.

‘That is just crazy. We all have to cut our cloth accordingly. You can’t spend huge on budgets and then complain you’ve got no money.’

With the National League and North and South divisions falling into that ‘elite’ category, the options for starting the season now come down to starting behind closed doors with matches being streamed - or for it to be suspended until fans can return.

Kettering Town owner Ritchie Jeune is backing the second option.

Jeune, whose club play in the North division, said: ‘My personal opinion is that they will suspend the league until we can have fans back.

‘That’s the only rational thing for them to do.

‘I don’t see any other choice unless there is some sort of Government support but, again, I am not sure how the Government can afford to do that.

‘It’s not just us, it’s sports like rugby and others.’

Earlier in the summer, National League South and North clubs like Hawks and York City argued that because they paid their players step 2 should be included under the ‘elite’ sport umbrella.

They got their way and, as a result, the play-offs were allowed to take place behind closed doors.

Now, though, the ruling is penalising the South and North clubs who are being lumped in with clubs five divisions above them in the Premier League. In the league below at step 3, spectators are allowed in.

Jeune said: ‘The whole ‘we’re elite’, which is something Kettering as a club never agreed that we are elite at the level we’re at, has come back to bite people on the butt.’

The EFL, meanwhile, has warned its 72 clubs will collectively lose £200m in matchday revenue and other benefits if the whole 2020-21 season has to be played behind closed doors.