Stocksbridge Park Steels concerned about future following postponement

Unlike some, they do not have a rich benefactor to lean on with gate receipts taken away for the foreseeable future.

The Northern Premier League played at the weekend while the Premier League and Football League were called off. The main reason was to safeguard the financial futures of its clubs and attendances were up 89.7 per cent, but now the seventh and eighth-tier divisions have “reluctantly” fallen into line, postponing games indefinitely.

“The games are all budgeted for at the start of the season,” explained chairman Graham Furness. “It will eat into our reserves and that impacts on what we do in the summer with ground repairs. Last year we had 10 weeks from the end of pre-season to the start of next season.

“If the season is delayed, we don’t want it eating into pre-season because that’s when we play the pro clubs and that puts the wool on the back.”

Vice-chairman and commercial manager Roger Gissing says: “We’ve been able to do very little planning because it’s come on us overnight.

“A big drop of money comes in at the start of the season through sponsors and advertising etc which just gets drained as the season goes on.

“But every time we get a bit frustrated, something crops up.”

As in most leagues, Stocksbridge are trying to compete with clubs on a different financial footing.

“In the last three or four years the spare income’s been used up,” said Furness. “A lot of these money men who own other clubs have got their own business, I’ve sold mine and I’m hoping I’m going to have to spend it a bit longer.

“I want the club to be self-sustaining.”