Jeff Newman, manager of North West Counties League First Division South side Maine Road, says voiding the season is “the only outcome”, describing the past 10 months as “a bit of a rollercoaster”.
A questionnaire has been sent to clubs by the Football Association asking their opinion on how to proceed – with options including trying to finish the season in full, deciding promotion and relegation by points per game and starting alternative, smaller-scale, competitions.
The FA itself said: “We are working closely and in consultation with the relevant leagues, clubs and committees to explore various scenarios for this current season, in response to the complex situation presented due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
‘We don’t want any deaths because of football’
The Isthmian League board, along with the Northern League and Southern League equivalents at the top levels of the non-elite game, think this season should be declared null and void – but member clubs will get their say.
Isthmian League chairman Nick Robinson says the board are “really concerned about overplaying players” and “very concerned” about the prospect of players spreading the virus through football.
“We don’t want any deaths because of somebody playing a game of football,” he told BBC Sport.
“We knew at some stage there was going to be a second wave. We just didn’t know when it would be. Throughout my time with the league I’ve been really anxious not to play matches that won’t count.
“The view of the boards was ‘let’s work towards the second Saturday in August, let’s work towards having a really good 2021-22 season’. We put two bad seasons behind us and we really work positively towards that.”
How are clubs surviving?
During the first lockdown there were several warnings that clubs in the English Football League would go out of business, let alone smaller teams further down the pyramid.
Thankfully that has not yet materialised, but concerns remain.
“Back in March I was very pessimistic, I genuinely felt there would be carnage in terms of the ability of semi-professional football to survive this crisis but that, so far, hasn’t happened,” said Poole Town chairman and member of the FA alliance committee Chris Reeves.
“One of the reasons, I suspect, that hasn’t happened is that clubs are such important parts of their local community and there are so many people who care so deeply about the clubs’ survival that each club will somehow find its own way of surviving.
“I suspect there will be clubs that go to the wall and I suspect there will be a considerable number of clubs that will have to lower their horizons.”
Maine Road boss Newman says his side are “teetering on the brink of folding”, but like most are hopeful of surviving.
In November the government announced that clubs at the four levels below the National League would receive £14m of emergency funding to get through the pandemic, though how that will be broken down is not certain.
“We are waiting to hear what that will be,” said Isthmian League chairman Robinson.
“It will be a lifeline – what we’ve said is that loans are not good, loans have to be repaid. Grants are needed as most of our clubs have paid out a lot of money.”
The final word goes to William Nash, who plays for Faringdon Town in the Hellenic League.
“We’re in such a serious situation all day, every day at the moment – it’s work and, when you’ve finished work, lockdown,” he said.
“Just for that 90 minutes, two hours, when you’re at the football match, you forget about what’s going on.”