Warrington Town are in 'a really precarious position'

MT: So can you outline the club’s position on getting the season started again as soon as possible?

TM: We’re willing to play games. We’ve got people who have bought season tickets, which was much-needed revenue coming into the season, and we took that money on the basis that we’d be playing matches.

We’re doing everything we can to do that but unfortunately, there’s some opposition that don’t want to play games.

I can understand it for some – they are in Tier 3 areas, bars are closed as ours is, and crowds are reduced to 300 so they’re not taking much money on the gate.

I get that, but the world of football has changed now.

We’re not going to be able to fully open bars in March and probably not in April either. Attendances aren’t going to go above 300 or 600 for the foreseeable.

There’s the government loans which people are unhappy about, but my view is you won’t get that as grant funding if you’re not operational.

It was given to the National League as an operational top-up because they were playing.

If we’re not playing, why would they give the money to us? We’ve got to be prepared for that money not coming in grant form.

The club is in a really precarious position. We need these games on.

The FA Trophy win over Lancaster City on October 31 was the last game Cantilever Park hosted. Picture by Greig Bertram

Come March, the bar will only have been open for 15 weeks out of 52. Outside of myself, it’s one of the main sources of income for the club.

We don’t want to be in a position of transfer-listing players to get us through the season, but week by week it’s changing for the worse.

MT: The concern for a lot of clubs at the moment is that staging home games under the current restrictions would see them operate at a financial loss. Would that be the case here?

TM: To stage a home game at the minute, we wouldn’t be making a loss.

We wouldn’t be making a great profit but it’s a profit all the same. In these times, any sort of profit is better than none.

You want to try and get your home games played as you don’t want to be in a position of having to refund season tickets.

We just want to be playing. We picked up some new supporters because of what Covid has done to football higher up the pyramid and we want to retain them.

A lot of people need football – they come to non-league because it’s part and parcel of what they do.

MT: I read some comments from Basford United chairman Chris Munroe saying that as well as the fans, there is a duty to the mental health of the players to keep playing. Does that come into it for you as well?

TM: It does because it’s their jobs at the end of the day. A lot of players at this level will play while doing a part-time job. You’ve got their families to think about as well.

Chris was dead right in what he said in that when he walks around the ground, he was inundated with fans thanking him for getting the games on as they had missed it so much.

Outside of the financial implications, it’s important to get games on for that side of things as well.

MT: What do you foresee in terms of the whole picture and the endgame of this, then? On the face of it, everyone would want to avoid a second null-and-void season in a row but if the can gets kicked down the road any longer, is there any other choice?

TM: For every week without games, we are staring down the barrel of null and void. Last season was null and voided in a better position than what we are in now.

Across the three divisions of the Northern Premier League, there are more than 700 fixtures outstanding.

Regardless of playing Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays between now and the end of May, there will always be an issue with ground shares somewhere or other things that get in the way – and that’s without frozen or waterlogged pitches are taken into account.

Something needs to be done and a statement needs to come to warn clubs that we are looking at an early end to the season.