Scarborough Athletic chairman Trevor Bull worried action may not return until 2021

Scarborough Athletic chairman Trevor Bull is worried football action may not return until 2021 in the Northern Premier League.
Boro chairman Trevor BullBoro chairman Trevor Bull
Boro chairman Trevor Bull

The Premier League is set to re-start behind closed doors on June 17, with rumours the following campaign could follow in a similar way with no fans allowed back into stadiums.

However, with that not being financially viable at lower levels without the safety net of television rights funding, Boro chairman Bull is worried the start of the next campaign could be delayed.

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"I'd be surprised if we saw any football at our level this side of Christmas," declared Bull.

"With the latest government briefing maintaining the importance of social distancing, I just can't see fans being allowed into stadiums any time soon.

"Clearly I hope I am wrong and we are waiting to hear more from the FA on the matter.

"What is important is that as a club, we are ready to go should the season get under way as normal, and we are doing everything possible to achieve that.

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"We are having virtual board meetings every week at the moment and we are all working very hard to make sure we're ready."

Some clubs have released season tickets for whenever the next campaign gets under way and have also announced a list of retained and released players, while also drafting in a host of new signings.

Boro have signed Kieran Weledji and Kieran Glynn, while Michael Coulson has another year to run on his current contract, while Jack Johnson has announced he has left the club.

However, no further players are yet to be retained or snapped up for whenever the new campaign should get under way.

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Bull was quick to defend Boro's cautious approach, adding: "We won't do anything to put the club in jeopardy financially.

"At the moment we just don't know just how much Covid-19 will hamper us. We rely enormously on our sponsors and a lot of local businesses will be struggling at the moment.

"We need to see how they come out of all this, how much, if any support we get from further up the football pyramid, and also when games will get under way.

"Some have released season tickets, but we don't know when the season is going to start so we can't really start selling them when we can't guarantee when games will begin.

"If we have a reduced season, we could then find ourselves in a position to have to refund people as well."