The Next 6 Months?

Might just pause the season?

Would depend on how quickly crowds can return.

I think that’s the best solution for the lower levels who have barely started their seasons. Restarting them in August would probably mean restricting the matches to just Saturdays - no hardship there. But for the NL it would be a very sparse programme for most clubs. Even the three in our division who’ve only played 11 would have just 29 to complete.

Sorry Pete, just reread your post and realised you meant a pause of maybe a few weeks before restarting hopefully with crowds back. Personally I think if the likelihood is that we can get a full season in for 21/22 that should be the priority even if it means giving up on the present one.

As I’ve said before this is a time for the NL Board to stand up and show real leadership. We all know that canvassing clubs will just be an exercise in self interest.

According to Ollie Bayliss the NL board is meeting today to discuss this. They are apparently then going to meet with clubs in each division separately tomorrow to gauge opinions on the way forward.

Meanwhile the National League has tweeted Slough’s winner from Saturday...

They are priceless.

stillmanjunior wrote:Meanwhile the National League has tweeted Slough’s winner from Saturday...

They are priceless.

And a couple of hours ago they tweeted that the F A Trophy draw had been released!

Some interesting posts on Twitter this afternoon from a number of clubs about the funding issue. Does appear that they were given the impression by the NL board in September that there was £20m available, with half of it payable October to December and the other half from January if fans not allowed in. No mention was apparently ever made of the second half being in the form of loans.

Perhaps not surprisingly the DCMS is denying that they had ever said that the second payment would be grants and not loans - at this stage the NL board appears to be silent. It is fair to say that a few of the clubs feel that they were misled - it would be interesting to hear from the City end what they thought the arrangement was.

Could be an interesting meeting with the clubs tomorrow!

Can’t disagree with this bloke...

https://nonleaguedaily.com/no-care-in-the-world-for-anyones-safety-southport-boss-watson-urges-decision-makers-to-call-it-quits-on-season/

comrade powell wrote:Can’t disagree with this bloke...

https://nonleaguedaily.com/no-care-in-the-world-for-anyones-safety-southport-boss-watson-urges-decision-makers-to-call-it-quits-on-season/

He clearly has a point.

There are a large number of positive test results, creating havoc with club fixtures, even in the top flight.

There are FAR more injuries even in the Premier League.

OK. Fans are wanting to watch football, but, at whose expense?

Agreed. Players and staff at the highest levels are tested regularly, something which most NL clubs could never afford.

As this unfolds it seems more and more that the DCMS never did give the assurances regarding funding that the NL board supposedly had to enable the season to start back in October. If it turns out that the clubs were misled, whether deliberately or otherwise, this will be another nail in the coffin of the board's credibility after the way they handled the play offs and the distribution of the National Lottery funding.

I will be following Twitter for updates from Ollie Bayliss today as unlikely to get anything out of the league!

I don’t know how powerful the NL board is and what it would take to force their removal. A simple vote of no confidence from the member clubs or intervention by the FA?
Perhaps the interim CEO can lead the organisation in a more transparent fashion but his time at the FA does not suggest that the newly titled chairman, Brian Barwick, is the sort who can sort the mess out. Certainly time for the recent calls for his resignation to be repeated.

Colin Voutt wrote:

comrade powell wrote:Can’t disagree with this bloke...

https://nonleaguedaily.com/no-care-in-the-world-for-anyones-safety-southport-boss-watson-urges-decision-makers-to-call-it-quits-on-season/

He clearly has a point.

There are a large number of positive test results, creating havoc with club fixtures, even in the top flight.

There are FAR more injuries even in the Premier League.

OK. Fans are wanting to watch football, but, at whose expense?

Not sure who is supposed to be protected. All the players want to play and scientifically the risks of serious illness are incredibly low for young fit men and women.

Deleted

tovid wrote:

Colin Voutt wrote:

comrade powell wrote:Can’t disagree with this bloke...

https://nonleaguedaily.com/no-care-in-the-world-for-anyones-safety-southport-boss-watson-urges-decision-makers-to-call-it-quits-on-season/

He clearly has a point.

There are a large number of positive test results, creating havoc with club fixtures, even in the top flight.

There are FAR more injuries even in the Premier League.

OK. Fans are wanting to watch football, but, at whose expense?

Not sure who is supposed to be protected. All the players want to play and scientifically the risks of serious illness are incredibly low for young fit men and women.

Understood. Yes, play! But NOT with the current fixture congestion. Listen to players who have been/are out with injuries long term

Ok understood.

As I said before why not just extend the season? Possibly over two seasons.

tovid wrote:Ok understood.

As I said before why not just extend the season? Possibly over two seasons.

Certainly a possibliity!

Ttransition back to "normality" needs to be taken into account.

Ollie Bayliss has tweeted that the league has given the clubs until tonight to decide which of these three options they favour:
Clubs take on long term low-interest loans with initial payment holidays;
The league takes on the loan and gives clubs grants, with future league central payments to clubs then reduced;
Suspend the season.

The board will then meet again on Friday to decide a way forward - their least favoured option apparently is to suspend the season.

The clubs have been told that they are expected to fulfil Saturday’s and next midweek fixtures.

On the face of it the second sounds best, but with the way the £10m lottery money was allocated a lot of people are questioning whether they should be trusted to do this properly.

Could they be trusted to run a raffle? I wonder how much they will be swayed by clubs’ opinions this time. I’d guess the majority will be in favour of suspension.

Perhaps option 2 would be favoured by many NL clubs as they see themselves as short term members.  Perhaps if the league took on the loan they could take a %age of each members FA Cup/Trophy prize winnings over a number of years to cover repayments rather than reduce each Club's central payment allocation.

In my opinion, the ONLY sensible way forward is to TERMINATE the season forthwith. I am not a pessimist any more than I am an optimist, but I am a realist. I cannot see us returning to anywhere near normal, as far as football is concerned until the Autumn - and, if I was a player who was selfish enough to want to continue playing, in the midst of a very serious pandemic, I would never forgive myself if I carried the virus, even unwittingly, and spread it others who perished as a result. This danger amongst ALL sports today is now too much of a risk to take. (e.g. What the hell is rugby union playing at!)
The question of the increasing difficulty of fulfilling the League fixtures is also pertinent, but is far more minor. Lets all take a deep breath now, and look forward to the chances of Season 21/22 taking place.
If the consensus of the Clubs is to abandon the season, I will be praying that the NL Board are not so stupid as to insist that it continues regardless - what would have been the point of asking for the Club's views in the first place! The other options all result in Clubs incurring a debt in one way or another - something that the majority of them will not be able to face - and it is the last thing that Bath City wants!

If there were to be grants for the next 3 months then there would be some reason to carry
on this season. What is not clear is did the relevant government department give an indication this would be the case.

If the season is suspended/terminated then players would need to be furloughed with a consequent cost to the public purse. On this basis a DCMS grant could be close to being almost cost neutral.

Peter Newman wrote:If there were to be grants for the next 3 months then there would be some reason to   carry
on this season.  What is not  clear  is  did the  relevant government department  give an indication   this would be the case.

If the season is suspended/terminated then players  would need to be furloughed with a  consequent cost to the public purse. On this basis a DCMS grant could be  close to being almost cost neutral.

According to the Concord chairman on Twitter this morning as far as both the league and the FA were concerned all of the money going to the NL was to be in the form of grants. One of the problems here of course is that none of the organisations involved - including the DCMS - are ones on whose word you would rely! It doesn’t appear that there is actually a record of what was agreed though.

I think somebody worked out that if all clubs furloughed all of their staff and players it might well cost more than the £11m at stake here but at present furlough finishes at the end of April but contracts run until the end of May.

I agree with Steve that there should be a 4th option for clubs to consider - end the season immediately. I’m frankly amazed that Government have not put a stop to untested players and staff travelling across the country to mix with same in order to play matches in near empty grounds with no income coming through the turnstiles. Tovid may be correct in his argument that young players are less likely to be severely affected if they catch the virus although some of the reporting on the BBC this week suggests otherwise. And anyway they return to their families and possibly workplaces to pass on the infection and before we know it more vulnerable people die. All for the likes of Torquay to gain their precious promotion and the League to retain their sponsorship rewards.

However as LB suggests, the problem for clubs with ending or suspending the season lies with players’ contracts.

As for the two loan options I assume that no sensible club is going to even consider the first. And would they really trust the NL to handle the second after what went on in the Autumn? Once bitten twice shy!

Something I don’t understand about the option of The League taking on the loan & gives clubs grants, with future League central payments to clubs then reduced is how they would deal with the problem of clubs leaving and entering the NL. In normal seasons two clubs are promoted to the EFL and six relegated to level 3. So it’s possible after just three years for 24 clubs who would  ‘benefit’ from this option being outside the jurisdiction of the NL. They will be replaced by clubs relegated from the EFL and promoted from level 3 who will presumably pick up the tab. I’m sure there is a logical solution which has been carefully thought through by the NL.

I did have to laugh at Martin’s final sentence! I think we can guess at the answer to that.

Interesting looking at Twitter this morning to see what different clubs think. Tonbridge and Slough are both going for option 3, Eastbourne are in favour of 2 but with certain assurances, and AFC Telford are going to vote for a minimum 3 week suspension to give time for a more acceptable plan involving grants to be agreed. Chester have got their MP to write to the Minister for Sport and he has used words like betrayal!

The Concord chairman has written to the league today to say that they won’t play again until they have further information about the funding for the rest of the season and also funding for regular testing of staff and players, pointing out that we are the only ‘elite’ competition not doing this.

Can’t wait to see the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting, although I won’t be surprised if they decide not to come to a decision!