Whilst we find ourselves in Lockdown 3 and sport on hold again for the forseeable future, Ian Nockolds catches up with Chair of the Toolstation Western League, John Pool, to give fans an update on the situation via the League Podcast, the transcript of which Ian shares with us here. Part 2 continues next week . . .

Ian Nockolds: “Last week, we heard from Richard Palette, he was talking about the league’s decision to suspend fixtures until January 22nd. Obviously, the situation in the country has moved on significantly over the past week, can you give us an update?”

John Pool: “The situation is certainly worse than it was at the beginning of January.

“We are waiting for a survey to be conducted, which initially was going to go to steps three and four, then five and six were going to be copied in to said survey.

“We’ve discussed the position that we’re in, because what we’ve been doing is making statements based on every review of the Government. We cannot give any indication as regards to when we can see football commencing again.”

IN: “You’ve mentioned this survey that the FA are going to undertake. Have you got an idea of what options they might be concluding?”

JP: “No, I wish we did. What exactly is going to be in those surveys, I don’t really know. It looks like it’s going to be a null and void. This is what they term as the trident leagues, the Northern Prem, the Southern and the Isthmian Leagues. They’ve made a board decision to say that null and void is their favourite option. But the survey says that it is going out on the basis of anybody with alternatives? What those alternatives are going to be, I don’t really know. There aren’t too many options you can come up with. The ones that have been the subject of discussion for five and six, at the Chairs’ meeting that we’ve had, have been very much along the lines of null and void as against a carry over to next season. In other words, suspending this season and starting again, next season.”

IN: “If we look at those two options, then, at the moment, John, does the Western League board have a preferred option on how to conclude this season?”

JP: “We’ve talked about it a lot – that’s not to say that we all agree. As regards to putting anything out to the clubs in the way that steps three and four have done, we don’t agree with it – to be honest, we don’t think it’s the right way to go. We believe it’s their decision. You’re damned whatever you do and it’s not a question of ducking the issue; it’s got to be the club’s decision. It is the FA that are conducting this, not the leagues. And there’s enough experience now, from what’s gone before, for the clubs to be able to form their own conclusion.

“I think this is the time to start thinking about what has gone on with regard to the reaction from clubs, we’ve had clubs that, understandably, have not wanted to continue, their financial viability has been in question. Even morals have been in question with regards to whether it’s morally right to continue.

“I think, in fairness, you could understand those situations, but it’s even more understandable now, because the situation has got considerably worse. So, I think it’s absolutely right and proper that the clubs are allowed to make their own decision. Because it’s the FA that they’ve got to appeal to as regards to how they feel about conclusion of the season.”

IN: “And do you have a feel for what sort of time span we’re looking at for the surveys to be distributed and for the FA to take note of the responses? I know in the past, that we’ve assumed that the FA will take a long time, and they’ve surprised us with their speed. And on other occasions, I think people have expected decisions far sooner than they’ve actually come. So, have we got any indication at all about the timescale for this?”

JP: “Nothing’s been forwarded to us. There was an article in the non-league paper from the Chair of the Northern League. He was saying early February before the alliance committee formulates our next recommendations to the FA Council.

“I think if you adopt a view that null and void is what you’re looking for, then you can take as long as you want to take, because they’ve suspended all fixtures now until March 6th anyway.”