Sense prevails with
SOUTHPORT FCs National League North season has been declared null and void and ceased with immediate effect when the announcement was made late last week.
Playing on during the Covid pandemic – with many clubs concerned by the financial implications and health and safety issues – was simply not right. Calling the season null and void was, as Sandgrounders boss Liam Watson suggested, the only option.
In the National League North, Southport were among 15 teams who voted in favour of the resolution, with seven voting against.
The National Leagues national division will continue after clubs voted 7-13 against declaring campaign null and void.
Only seven National League Clubs voted to end the season at Step 1, with 13 against and two clubs yet to cast their ballot.
In National League South, only 9 to end the season with 12 against. There are already clubs talking about taking legal action in relation to the decision with regards to whether or not they should promoted and relegation matters should still apply.
Southport made their decision clear – they were in favour of the league being made null and void after releasing statements expressing their concern regarding the health and safety of their players, staff and volunteers.
Director and majority shareholder Ian Kyle said: “One of the major problems has been communication, there’s been very little communication between the National League and the clubs, since the pandemic started.
“More recently, we’ve had communication on the need for tests on a regular basis, but we are still in a position where, two or three weeks ago, we were told there would be a vote by all the clubs regarding whether or not the league will continue.
“Three weeks into the 28-day resolution, the clubs, in particular the Northern/Western clubs, were struggling financially and we’ve had to pay January’s wages without any income, and we’re very close to having to pay February’s, and for some clubs that’s just a step too far.”
At the beginning of the 2020/21 season, a Government support scheme was announced in partnership with the National Lottery to provide grants to National League clubs throughout the season.
The £10 million funded by the National Lottery helped kick-start each leagues’ season in October – however, only three months in and the grants switched to loans.
For those clubs in the National League and the National League North and South reliant on matchday revenue streams, they were not willing to continue the season with the uncertainty of not being able to pay-back the loans.
The Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport released a statement stating, clubs can apply for extra grants ‘if their imminent future is at risk and they can demonstrate loans are unaffordable’.
Clubs would have been assessed on the basis of needs, with grants available where loans are demonstrated to be unaffordable for individual clubs, in-line with the support offered for other sports.
However, for some clubs, this was too little too late.
“From the start of the pandemic we have been very sensible in relation to the finances and controlling the finances and we are confident as to where we are” Kyle said of Southport.
“However, we know that there are other clubs around us who are in very precarious financial positions and this is where it starts to get a little bit muddy.
“There are teams in the National League North who have thrown a lot of money at this season and who want to carry-on to fight for promotion.
“There are teams like ourselves, who are saying that actually, that shouldn’t be happening at the expense of other clubs going bust and that’s where it starts getting difficult.
“We’ve come out and released a statement to say that we don’t want to continue at the expense of clubs who simply cannot afford to play.
“Most clubs in the sixth tier of English football do not pay their players a full-time wage. Not because they don’t want to, but because they cannot afford to.
“For the majority of the players in both the National League and National League North and South it is a part-time job and they work other jobs alongside their club commitments.
“It’s difficult for the players because although they are parttime, this is a huge part of their lives and there is a lot of uncertainty for the players.
“This call from the League for the season to be null and void has been going on since early January, they don’t know if they’re playing or if they’re not playing.”
Reacting to the National Leagues decision to null and void the remainder of the season with immediate effect, Kyle said: “It is all about the priorities and the priorities of each club.
“We have been clear since day one that our priorities are the health and safety of our players, staff and volunteers of Southport FC and then the financial stability of the club.
“When we started the league in October, it was shouted around that 66 teams should start the league and 66 teams should finish but if we didn’t go null and void, 66 clubs would not finish this league, they simply wouldn’t survive.
“It is difficult for everyone involved at the club, especially the players when we’re setting up preseason games without knowing when the season is going to start.
“Planning-wise it was an absolute nightmare, we didn’t know what finances we would be getting, when the season would be starting, getting the stadium ready for fans and then we couldn’t have fans, it was a logistical and financial nightmare.
“Effectively, we’ve had 12/15 months of absolutely no income whatsoever, so to plan last season on the back of that was difficult. Liam (Watson) and I spoke lots of times about the need to keep it sensible, we didn’t know what was around the corner, we didn’t know what was going to happen. Even when the grants were coming in, those grants covered wages only. You’ve still got to pay VAT, National Insurance, running costs for the stadium. We had to fund all of that with no income at all, bearing in mind we had prepared for the season based on the income we used to get plus new hospitality income. It was very difficult.”