Club Statement: Forthcoming Fixtures

Following yesterday’s announcement from the NPL, our forthcoming home fixtures with Brighouse Town (Tuesday 22nd December) and Ramsbottom United (Saturday 26th December) have been postponed. Tickets purchased through Skiddle will be refunded.

We know supporters may be disappointed, but this is not a decision we have taken lightly. In our original statement we said we did not support the restart of the league season on the proposed dates and we stand by this. Doing so would have meant reduced crowds, no secondary income, no away supporters and operating at a loss.

To those clubs and officials who called into question our integrity by us not supporting the restart but then planning to play, the consequences of not fulfilling fixtures – financial and sporting penalties – have been made very clear to us. We could have been loss-making or loss-making and deducted points.

The full correspondence that clubs received from the NPL shows little regard for the long-term futures of clubs.

To those who took the lead and stood together, thank you. The ‘competition’ is nothing without its clubs.

We will continue to conduct our own feasibility reviews on a fixture by fixture basis and act accordingly.