York City being kept in limbo

The National League, which governs the old Conference Premier, North and South divisions, decided on April 22 it would not be able to complete the regular season because of the coronavirus pandemic but until it decides what happens about promotion and relegation, the Minstermen are in limbo. The National League is waiting to find out whether the Football League will relegate a club from League Two.

York topped Conference North when the football finished, but second-placed Kings Lynn Town were second. Two teams were due to go up, but only one automatically.

Two points behind with two games in hand, Kings Lynn will get the automatic promotion spot if the title is decided on points per game, York if it boils down to just points. Then what about the second promotion spot? The league has not definitively ruled out play-offs, so City have to be ready.

“Right now, all our employees are furloughed,” points out vice-president Richard Adams. “It’s only because our directors are not paid by the club that they can keep working, so they are having daily conversations about what we can do.

“When we know the play-offs are cancelled, we have decisions to make about who to keep. We have three players under contract for next season, two goalkeepers and a midfielder. If we knew the play-offs were not taking place, they would remain furloughed but the rest we would have to make decisions on. Some of the clubs in our league got rid of their players way back in March.

“We had certain players out on loan and may need them back if we have a play-off.

“If the league was to say, ‘We hope to have play-offs at the end of June,’ we as a club would have to decide whether to keep players on furlough so we have a squad for those games. You cannot take them off furlough now and bring them back into the club later.

“If I was a player who had been cast aside and the club came back to me later and asked if I would come back to play in the play-offs, it would be a very short conversation!”