After National Leagues North and South were paused for a fortnight, the uncertainty hanging over the National League continues as the loans instead grants debate gathers pace.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport have announced a £10million winter survival funding - which will be available to clubs at Steps 3-6. Clubs at Steps 1 and 2 will receive loans but can apply for grants if their future is at stake and loans are unaffordable.
How many clubs in the National League will meet the new criteria for the loans no one can be completely sure at the moment. A number of the local MPs for National Leagues, including Torbay's Kevin Foster (Torquay United/Conservative) and Toby Perkins (Chesterfield/Labour), have written letters to the Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport urging him to make the support for National League clubs available as grants rather than loans.
With no matchday income coming into each of the 23 clubs in the National League - save for money raised from livestreams, any advertising and sponsorship earned through them and merchandise available for sale online - they have limited means of earning any income.
Initially, the funding in the autumn had been made available through loans which saw the better supported teams in the National League, which include Torquay United, received £95,000 a month for October, November and December.
If the funding issue isn't resolved then it could result in the early suspension of the National League, which, in turn, would lead to clubs furloughing their players - at the expense of the taxpayer, which would be of a potentially greater expense to the government.
The danger with any decision to suspend the season would be that it isn't clear how many games would need to be have played in order to determine the outcome of the campaign on PPG (points per game). The number of games completed in the 2019-20 National League season, which was suspended following the UK government's first lockdown ranged from 35 to 39, but in the current season it ranges from 14 to 19.
