Sunderland Echo

It is time for a change in attitude and direction at every level of the game

- With Mark Carruthers

There will be a time when we return to normality and getting back watching our non-league clubs in person becomes the routine that it was not so long ago.

We will make the same walk to the ground, visit the same pub, speak to the same people, stand in the same places, and all that has gone on over the last 12 months will become a distant memory.

We are in uncertain, unpreceden­ted times.

It is a cold, dark period in the history of our game and the road ahead remains full of twists and turns before anything resembling normality can be found.

For now though, we plough on.

We do what we can for our clubs and support them in any way possible in the hope that they will all be around when the action finally gets underway again.

But when that moment does come, it should also be met with the unquestion­ing realisatio­n that our clubs, supporters, volunteers, players and coaches deserve better than the treatment they have received over the last year.

They deserve better than being left in the dark for long periods of time.

They deserve better than not knowing what is happening from one week and month to the next.

They deserve better than having to constantly fight their own corner and to consistent­ly find out informatio­n via the media, rather than the governing bodies that hold their fate in their hands.

They deserve better than the weak, haphazard leadership and poor decision making that has led many of them to speculate whether or not their clubs will still be around in years to come.

From the government to the decision makers at the Football Associatio­n, the power brokers across the country and all of those involved in the nonleague game at all levels have let their clubs down on a consistent basis throughout the epidemic.

I do have a degree of sympathy for the Football Associatio­n and the people that guide the non-league game.

If we look back 12 months, nobody within their organisati­on could have planned for the epidemic and produced a tried and tested method for helping clubs across the country safely navigate their way through such a crisis.

But we are now around a year on from that point and can look back at what has and has not been achieved during that time.

The prospect of the efforts of those involved on and off the pitch at non-league clubs going to waste is drawing ever closer, as the daunting possibilit­y of a second consecutiv­e season being declared null and void increases.

Should lessons have been learnt from the events of last year and a robust plan for every eventualit­y put together to enable the non-league game to be effectivel­y managed throughout these troubled times?

Can we not draw on the experience of how the culminatio­n of last season was so disastrous­ly managed and look to avoid the same mistakes being made as we head into the business end of the current season?

This is where my sympathy for the Football Associatio­n runs out, and why I believe that the time has come for an independen­t body made up of elected representa­tives to run the non-league game.

This body would still work under the umbrella of the Football Associatio­n, but they would be made up of individual­s with no direct influence on or at clubs.

They would declare all of their past and current roles across any companies on a yearly basis to ensure impartiali­ty in all decisions, and would make recommenda­tions to the National League and all leagues below them in the pyramid.

They will work with clubs, liaise with them on a regular basis over key matters, get them involved in guiding the clubs on from the crisis in which they find themselves.

Let every part of the nonleague game have a say to ensure that the new body can make informed decisions, rather than making them based on the interest of the few.

I said in my column last week that clubs need clarity and guidance about the present situation surroundin­g them, but they should also be given the chance to have their say in how the game moves forward at this level.

I am very fortunate that I get a broad spectrum of the sense of feeling in and around nonleague clubs, but the same messages are being sent out during the last few months.

Clubs want better communicat­ion, they want to know what lies ahead, they want accountabi­lity and decisions that are consistent across the levels.

More than one club has suggested that the English game is now functionin­g with multiple pyramids rather than the one that is almost unique in world football.

It is now full of self-serving individual­s that refuse to look at the bigger picture, no matter how dire the consequenc­es may be for clubs lower down the pyramid.

The Covid-19 epidemic has brought out the best in some clubs as they serve their local communitie­s in the most difficult times.

But it has also brought out the worst in many people in the English game and the greed and selfish attitude has been all too prevalent.

In the short-term, their attitudes will benefit the powerful few, and marginalis­e the many that are left to feed on crumbs.

In the long-term, they will weaken the pyramid, and clubs that have been at the centre of their towns, villages and cities will be consigned to the history books.

If anything good is to come out of this sorry situation, it should be a realisatio­n that it is time for a change in attitude and direction at every level of the game.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Clubs deserve better upon their return to action.
Clubs deserve better upon their return to action.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom