AFC Mansfield manager not getting too hopeful for September start date

English football’s governing body said that a best-case scenario could see non-league football return little more than a month later than the original start date of 1 August.

“To be honest, I had no idea what was going to come out of the meeting,” said Bulls boss Matt Chatfield, “I thought August wasn’t going to be realistic start date.

“September seems realistic, however I still think there are more hurdles to overcome before this is confirmed.”

The Northern Counties East League, along with all over Step 5 and 6 leagues, met with the FA via webinar on Friday 19 June to discuss potential scenarios for the new season.

With the cancellation of the 2020/21 season still on the cards if the situation deteriorates, Chatfield said he is happy with the outcome of the meeting but feels more needs to be confirmed soon: “Currently there is nothing concrete, so we are still guessing.

“We have a lot going off behind the scenes and a start date would help us get a date to complete these so then we can concentrate on getting the players back to pre-season.”

The FA did provide one piece of concrete news, however, as they ruled out any possibility of playing behind closed doors.

“It’s a relief to me and I think it’s the correct outcome – teams at this level rely on fans as a main source of income along with sponsorships.

“I just hope that we don’t lose too many more teams as it’s a very hard time for some clubs.”