We pick up with last week’s article as the Chair of the Toolstation Western League, John Pool, catches up with the League’s Podcast host, Ian Nockolds.

JP: “In fact, it’s been said that they want another two weeks after that to get everybody prepared again. Well, if you look at the league tables, that pretty much tells you exactly where they’re coming from. They recommended null and void, and the longer it takes to come up with a conclusion, the closer you are to achieving null and void. They are already in a position whereby they’re going to have clubs playing, probably two, three times a week. I mean, there’s a lot at stake at three and four, isn’t there? Because you’ve got contract players, you’ve got wages that have got to be paid, one assumes that everybody’s furloughed at the moment.

“I don’t like to keep quoting three and four but, unfortunately, our view is that they’re going to lead the way on this. It would be very interesting if our survey at five and six said that we would like to continue as soon as, if at all possible.

“But will we be in a position to be able to complete a season? No, not when we’ve got a club – one club has only played eight games. It’s just not going to be possible to do that. So, in answer to your question Ian, February/March is what has been indicated. But we’ve had no official information with regard to when we’re going to see the survey.”

IN: “Picking up on the last point you made there, John, obviously, we know the National League is still playing, even now. If steps three and four were to decide to void, could you realistically see a situation where the FA would allow three different solutions across the pyramid?”

JP: “[It would] be unusual. Normally, they seem to make blanket decisions. Looking at the league tables throughout the country, they all pretty much look similar. So, I really would have no take on how they would arrive at a decision with regards to promotion and relegation, because that’s the key to it all. That is the problem that we have sitting at five and six; if they null and void their season at three and four, our season becomes somewhat pointless if there’s no promotion or relegation.”

IN: “Just one final question for you, John. Are you surprised that the FA didn’t form a plan or at least consult on a plan for another Covid-affected season, before this season began? We got about a third of the way through, certainly the Premier Division season, but isn’t it a bit late to be doing this now?”

JP: “There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from this year, because they didn’t learn them from last year. I think when we spoke before, I told you that the Western League asked a question before a ball was kicked, as regards to, again, a repeat of the Covid situation, what steps have been taken or what decisions would be arrived at, if it reoccurred. Never even had a reply, and that was actually asked at a meeting of all the leagues, one of the very first meetings that we had with the FA, at the start of all this. And here we are now, obviously in a considerably worse situation, but no decision has been made.

“Again, repeating the reference to that article, what was being suggested there – that there’s emergency rules created that can be implemented quickly, so that everybody knows exactly where they’re going. The decisions, if you like, would be made and that is written into the standardised rules. But why they didn’t do that, when they had the opportunity? I suppose they thought things would improve. They’ve certainly got to do that, they’ve got to arrive at a decision on the back of this, because it’d be very easy now to sit down and say, ‘Oh, well the vaccinations will take place, everything is going to be tickety-boo going forward.’ It’s a brave man that’s going to do that.”

IN: “John, thank you very much again, for your time. It’s a very difficult position to put you in because the FA are one step behind the Government, and obviously, you’re one step behind the FA, with regard to knowing what’s going on.”

JP: “To be honest Ian, it never sits easy with people does it? You’ve got keyboard warriors, people that love social media and all the rest of it. We get all that, we understand that, but we’re as frustrated about it as anybody else. It’s probably at least every other day, when we’re communicating with one another, we’re trying to keep on top of it all, and if there’s any position we could find ourselves in where we could actually say to the clubs - look, this is the route that the League’s taking - but at the moment, we’re just so sorely lacking in information.

“I think it’s been explained before that, rightly or wrongly, you can’t just change the rules as you go along. People think you can, but the FA, they’ve got a set of rules, they stick with those rules. They faced all manner of legal charges last year for the decisions that they made. They aren’t going to go down that route again, and this is why a lot of these things take such a time, because they have to go through what they term as ‘legal.’

“So, it’s in the form of an apology to the clubs but we do say to them, you’ve got to understand that our position is not really any different from yours. We are lacking any guidance; we’re lacking any leadership and we’re certainly lacking information.”