Football clubs' very survival has to be top priority

Bognor in action at Cheshunt earlier in the season - and manager Jack Pearce has been talking about the issues facing all clubs in lockdown / Picture: Trev Staff

He says clubs’ long-terms futures will become more important than discussions over what should happen to the current season.

Pearce is involved at FA and league level in discussions about the effect the latest sporting shutdown is having on attempts to get the 2020-21 non-league season finished.

And he has been among FA figures lobbying the government for financial assistance that will be vital to some clubs in making sure they can tick over until they can play again and welcome back fans.

Pearce, who was one of the first even before the initial 2020 lockdown was introduced to warn that football could be stopped for a year, said: “We won’t be playing in the immediate future, but I think over the next two or three weeks we will see if leagues might be able to resume or the season will have to cease.

“It’s a fluid situation but I think the same will happen at all levels from National League downwards.

“You have to accept that in a global pandemic, football, although it is important, is not the be-all and end -all.

“The bigger picture is that we have to do what we can to make sure clubs survive and come out ready to play again whenever that is permitted.”

Pearce said Bognor were okay financially but were still facing a big hit in the event of 2020-21 being written off.

“A lot of the money we have brought in at the start of this season, through season-ticket sales, sponsorship and advertising would have to be rolled over to next season, so that would be a lot of funding we would not be getting in to set us up for the new season as normal,” he said.

“If this season is declared null and void, clubs will be talking to players about their situation and contracts. It’s not straightforward but clubs won’t be able to spend what they haven’t got.”

Pearce’s comments came as Isthmian League bosses expressed frustration they had heard no more about a £14m government package coming the way of step three to six clubs. There are fears it will come only in loans – which many say they won’t be able to pay back.