Coronavirus

[Darlofan97]

It's no coincidence those voting for a suspension are in the bottom half and those wanting to crack on are near the top. Like Turkeys voting against Christmas.

I support Chesterfield not Man City so i'm well aware of the importance of having fans in the ground, and there's no chance that is happening this season in my opinion. Nulling and voiding just kicks the can down the road, they need to lobby the government to sort out the funding issue with the DCMS, Lottery or whoever is having their bit of the pie to get involved and help out.

The lack of testing has been common throughout and never been an issue before and the funding has been inadequate all the way through. Boreham Wood have made about 5x more revenue than they do with fans in the ground, it's been a joke and some clubs have been shafted, whilst some clubs have benefited.

I don't agree we should play without funding, I think we need to find a way to get the season finished with a similar support package in play to what was on offer Oct-Dec. There's no reason a package can't be negotiated rather than simply chucking the towel in, furloughing 30 odd staff each and it costing the government more in furlough than it would just give some grants/0% loans anyway.

5/12 of the NLN clubs that signed the letter have a good shot at the play-offs.

Darlo are also calling for promotion & relegation to be guaranteed.

So sorry, this idea that clubs are only doing this to avoid relegation holds little weight. You have 50% of the cohort that have a good chance of making the play-offs and/or are calling for relegation to be a certainty.

The bigger issues at play is the funding and the testing.

You cannot expect these clubs to take on loans, trade insolvent or accept a cut to their funding over the next 10+ years.

You are also forgetting that these clubs are part-time, so whilst full-time teams will be able to manage their players better in “bubbles”, we have players that mix with each other, then will go and work for the NHS or the local bakery, or the local school!

Obviously this is a bigger issue for the smaller clubs that it is for the full-time ones? How many permanent signings have Chesterfield made over the last, say, 4 weeks?

 

[MrGloverLover]

If the R rate is below 1, which it now is, then we can only assume that the lockdowns are working. The biggest problem right now is poor isolation rates for those who test positive, which is down to zero controls on those people.

I am not sure which final warning you are referring to.

The one that Priti Patel have on live tv a couple of days ago. While there are 400 people attending weddings nothing is going to get better.

 

[#Beebot]

The one that Priti Patel have on live tv a couple of days ago. While there are 400 people attending weddings nothing is going to get better.

That wasn't a final warning, that was just a rehash of every government speech telling people to follow the rules.

 

[PuB]

The infections won’t be as high as the areas of the north are not as densely populated, whilst the local rare might be high the actual number won’t be like a few weeks back. Hospitals are on the knees every winter with people who should be In homes or at home receiving care they’re and are now where they should be but are now replaced by covid patients. Days are gone where the old or frail would take up beds for weeks on end.

I live in a fairly rural area. The new variant came from this borough and we were top of the national league of cases for weeks.

Kent and the south east are now ahead of the curve nationally. Some parts of the nation are now playing catch up, the south-west, the midlands and the north-east in particular.

Don’t compare what is happening now to a normal winter, or you’re very much in danger of saying ‘oh, this happens every year’. And if that is your opinion then I admire your idiocy.

 

[Bluandwite]

Option 2 - League taking the loan is now off the table. Now reliant on a DCMS u-turn.

 

[Bee sting]

Option 2 - League taking the loan is now off the table. Now reliant on a DCMS u-turn.

If DCMS does a u-turn for football, then they would have to do it for every other sport, so i can't see it happening.

 

[#Beebot]

Option 2 - League taking the loan is now off the table. Now reliant on a DCMS u-turn.

Source? Cannot see this anywhere.

 

[Bluandwite]

Source? Cannot see this anywhere.

They've confirmed it to clubs. One of our board members has tweeted it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1352730041495543811

 

[#Beebot]

They've confirmed it to clubs. One of our board members has tweeted it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1352730041495543811

Ollie Bayliss says this applies to Step 2 only.

 

[Bluandwite]

Ollie Bayliss says this applies to Step 2 only.

He's not clear about that really but I'd guess it's likely off for all.

 

[Stocky]

Get it cancelled. Absolutely wank without fans. I say that as a supporter of a team who's 4th. The season hasn't been a proper season by any stretch of the imagination and even if we stumble through, it will be all on PPG.

 

[#Beebot]

He's not clear about that really but I'd guess it's likely off for all.

Your board member says step 1 will continue and also seems to imply that the NL have finally admitted that the DCMS only "intimated" that grants would continue.

Just as I suspected, it looks like the NL have horribly misled their member clubs. Totally unfit for purpose.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Fucking Furious. National League board's position is untenable. They must resign immediately

 

[AJS]

It's an absolute shambles. Almost certain season will be called off in the next few days. Can't see how the NL could continue but not the North/South. What would be the point of teams at the bottom like Dover etc playing as there would be no relegation. They could just put out a team of kids and ruin the integrity of the competition.

 

[Bee sting]

Your board member says step 1 will continue and also seems to imply that the NL have finally admitted that the DCMS only "intimated" that grants would continue.

Just as I suspected, it looks like the NL have horribly misled their member clubs. Totally unfit for purpose.

If the loan is only available for NL clubs and not N/S then surely the NL has a duty to represent all clubs and not just the top division. It will also lead to an unlevel playing field as clubs like Notts County could go for a loan to aid their promotion push, while part time clubs like Sutton & Wealdstone couldn't afford to put their club in jeopardy.

 

[Bluandwite]

Your board member says step 1 will continue and also seems to imply that the NL have finally admitted that the DCMS only "intimated" that grants would continue.

Just as I suspected, it looks like the NL have horribly misled their member clubs. Totally unfit for purpose.

Only that Step 1 continues in the interim and that there is no temporary suspension. Unless there is a DCMS u-turn (unlikely) then I think it's game over for the season.

 

[Darlofan97]

I wonder if all of these, “I’m all-right, Jack” clubs that were willing to play on under option 2, now won’t be so willing to take on hundreds of thousands of pounds of loans on their balance sheet from Sport England under option 1?

 

[Chief Rocka]

I wonder if all of these, “I’m all-right, Jack” clubs that were willing to play on under option 2, now won’t be so willing to take on hundreds of thousands of pounds of loans on their balance sheet from Sport England under option 1?

Of course they won’t be willing, the goalposts have been moved less than 24 hours after teams have made their choice, option 2 was the only viable choice to get the season finished regardless of the future terms and conditions applied, if the options were only 1 and 3 I’d hazard a guess the majority would’ve chose 3 and we’d have a suspended/cancelled season.

All the time money and effort clubs have put in this season is just going to be wiped away with nothing to show for all because of one inept organisation.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

If I was a player, I think I might be giving today’s games a miss.

 

[Pinner Stones]

NLS/NLN is now more or less finished for the season. No relegation from NL, so wondering what is the point in carrying on at all. No sane club, especially one that has no debt like Wealdstone, will take on the loan, whilst the mainly BELT clubs, many already heavily in debt, might think its worthwhile.

if NL carries on, can you furlough your contract players and play academy or youth ones instead especially if there isn’t any relegation?

 

[doveranddover]

the need to carry on is for promotion. I'm sure the FL & their teams would love excuses to keep NL teams out

 

[Darlofan97]

Of course they won’t be willing, the goalposts have been moved less than 24 hours after teams have made their choice, option 2 was the only viable choice to get the season finished regardless of the future terms and conditions applied, if the options were only 1 and 3 I’d hazard a guess the majority would’ve chose 3 and we’d have a suspended/cancelled season.

All the time money and effort clubs have put in this season is just going to be wiped away with nothing to show for all because of one inept organisation.

I was more poking fun at the selfishness of those clubs that voted for option 2, to be honest.

There’s a wider-picture at stake.

Having the National League in debt by £10m-£11m plus interest for the sake of another 18 weeks of football was never going to end well, was it?

 

[BornUnderTheElmslie]

NLS/NLN is now more or less finished for the season. No relegation from NL, so wondering what is the point in carrying on at all. No sane club, especially one that has no debt like Wealdstone, will take on the loan, whilst the mainly BELT clubs, many already heavily in debt, might think its worthwhile.

if NL carries on, can you furlough your contract players and play academy or youth ones instead especially if there isn’t any relegation?

Cannot see how you could do that. That would be like companies furloughing their most expensive staff to get them off the wage bill at the taxpayers's expense, whilst getting low paid staff or volunteers to do the job instead. The whole point of furlough was to save jobs that may not be required during the pandemic.. shifting the cost of expensive footballers to the taxpayer but the game carrying on would be totally unacceptable.

 

[Chief Rocka]

I was more poking fun at the selfishness of those clubs that voted for option 2, to be honest.

There’s a wider-picture at stake.

Having the National League in debt by £10m-£11m plus interest for the sake of another 18 weeks of football was never going to end well, was it?

I know you were, I think the National League will have some serious explaining to do to their member clubs who they have basically duped into getting the season started, knowing full well that after the initial allocated grants, there was to be no more coming.

We've all basically pissed money up the wall for nothing.

 

[OneDecentLester]

We’ve announced this morning that we’ve voted for option 1 (To take the loan from Sport England directly into the club) of the National League proposals..

 

[Kenneth Dodd]

We’ve announced this morning that we’ve voted for option 1 (To take the loan from Sport England directly into the club) of the National League proposals..

That’s another ten new players for you lads

 

[EnglishRed]

That’s another ten new players for you lads

Do Gloucester have anyone left to take?

 

[#Beebot]

Cannot see how you could do that. That would be like companies furloughing their most expensive staff to get them off the wage bill at the taxpayers's expense, whilst getting low paid staff or volunteers to do the job instead. The whole point of furlough was to save jobs that may not be required during the pandemic.. shifting the cost of expensive footballers to the taxpayer but the game carrying on would be totally unacceptable.

It might be unethical but it is not actually against the rules. The furlough rules only state that those who are furloughed must not work while on furlough. There are no restrictions on hiring for the business.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Is it possible for a group of National League member clubs to table a vote of no confidence in the NL Board?

 

[Chief Rocka]

DC in his post match interview said the club were emailed late last night by the NL stating, options 1 & 2 were now both off the table, but the league are meeting with the government to try and find a way forward.