National League looks unsustainable

[Snowman]

Dover just announced that they have furloughed their entire staff and wont play any more games this season. Others are expected to follow.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/sport/dover-and-out-we-cant-play-anymore-242471/

The North and South divisions look a complete shambles with some clubs refusing to play

I cant see the league continuing this season

[George Street-Bridge]

A few weeks ago Chesterfield furloughed a few players the manager said had no future at the club. Very crafty. Obviously once it's whole clubs, the competition is fecked.

[faerun exile]

Barrow have furloughed injured squad players.
Edit: it’s out of favour players not injured. They brought in a few new players in Jan window like Devitt and to pay for it have furloughed 6 players the manager didn’t fancy. Get the taxpayer to pay for their squad.

[pembsexile]

It seems that some organisations will try and take advantage of the pandemic for financial reasons. Why don’t people just ‘play the game’, no pun intended.

It’s not just football, loads of stories about companies starting up, grabbing government (our) cash and then applying for bankruptcy.

I hope the lot of them rot. Set up a task force to get the money back. Bas****s.

[mad norm]

Spot on Pembs
Too many chancers, parasites and downright criminals.... all of whom will expect free hospital treatment for covid. Shop the lot of them

[Percy plunkett]

I bet Southend,Stevenage etc fans will be livid if Barrow are allowed to get away with this.Offload unwanted players onto the taxpayer whilst bringing in nine new players.

[Snowman]

National League will continue but the North and South divisions will be declared null and void

https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/national-league-statement-outcome-of-written-resol-65151

Not sure how that is going to work out since Dover have already thrown in the towel

Also cant see much incentive for teams near the bottom of the league to continue to field a competitive team now that they know they cant be relegated to the North or South

[Percy plunkett]

Our former landlords must be gutted,they were top.

[Special branch]

Yes: a great little club , a good gesture at the time and good memories of Meadow Park.

[George Street-Bridge]

What will this mean for Leadbitter's loan? And would any NLS or NLN players who might be targets for next season now be free agents?

If future emergency funding for the NL will be loans rather than grants, would it make more sense for clubs to furlough staff rather than take on debt? And if that happens, can they have valid promotion if between now and April some points will be easy pickings against youth and amateur players?

And can the FL relegate in those cicumstances?

Edit: And three of the last eight in the FA Trophy are from either NLN or NLS.

[Snowman]

Leadbitter's loan to Gloucester will now be terminated and he will return to us.

I am not sure if he can be loaned out again this season so he may stay with us until his contract expires this summer. We could also buy out the remaining part of his contract and then he becomes a free agent

[County-at-the-races]

And it gets a whole lot worse!
If the National League Board thought its announcement yesterday evening of the voting results for the resolutions posed at the beginning of the month would have everyone wandering happily off into the sunset it has already been disappointed.
Dover Athletic hasn't even bothered to publish the press release sent round by the NL to all clubs on its website. Instead owner/chairman Jim Parmenter has issued another statement attacking the Board, triggered by the club receiving two separate charges of a failure to fulfil fixtures:
"We are clearly very disappointed that the National League seem to be sticking to their guns and applying rules of the competition with no proper awareness or consideration for the exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in. It is clear that the agenda is to finish the season at any cost.”
There is no indication he intends to back down:
"We do have a right to deny charges on a game-by-game basis, but with the cost of a personal hearing for each charge being £150, clearly this is an additional financial burden and limits our options. We will, however, make our submissions in writing, based on our firm belief that the failure of the National League to ensure the promised funding was made available has resulted in us taking the only possible action to avoid insolvency.”
If part of the Board's thinking in pursuing Dover was to discourage other clubs from following its lead that may not be working as well as they might have hoped. King's Lynn, who happen to have Dover on their fixture schedule tomorrow so won't have to play then, has issued a statement saying that it does intend to fulfil its fixtures (against Barnet and Weymouth) the following week, but is "unable to confirm that we will play any further fixtures after February 27th".
Meanwhile Dorking Wanderers, Gloucester City and AFC Fylde have issued statements vehemently attacking the decision to null and void National League North and South, with the first two asserting they have contacted their lawyers.
And the Board's woes don't end there as Chester, which is on the other side of the fence and did want the season to be null and voided, is demanding a full investigation into how the NL executive got the league into this situation: "it is vital clubs and their supporters receive an explanation for the decisions and actions that contributed to the disastrous collapse of the 2020/21 season."

[Snowman]

Another club considering their options

https://www.wealdstone-fc.com/post/an-update-from-our-chairman

As I predicted clubs with nothing to play for will end up putting a non competitive team on the field creating a mockery of the competition.

[Amberexile]

Maybe the EFL could put another cat among the pigeons by telling the conference no relegation, no promotion.

[excessbee]

Maybe the EFL could put another cat among the pigeons by telling the conference no relegation, no promotion.

Just thinking the same myself. Last year, Stevenage and then Macclesfield were hanging on to the lifeline given by the statement from the EFL that they would not relegate a club into a League which could not guarantee to start the next season. That could be applied to the situation which seems to be developing.