National League Clubs concerned over costs

National League clubs are growing increasingly concerned about the financial implications of completing the season.

The 2020-21 campaign began in October after a promise of significant financial support from the government.

However, an initial £10m grant to cover the first three months of the season has now run out and clubs have not been told what funding is available for January and beyond.

BBC Sport understands there is particular unease around hints that future payments – either in full or in part – may be made up of loans.

Most clubs think that would be unacceptable given they would not have agreed to start the season behind closed doors had they known it involved taking on further financial obligations.

The matter has not been helped by the exit of National League chief executive Mike Tattersall at the end of last month, following a long-running dispute over the method that was used to allocate the cash that was received.

Former Football Association head of judicial services Mark Ives has stepped in for the next three months.

A review commissioned by the National League into the allocation of funds, headed by former FA chairman David Bernstein is still to be published.

On 22 December, Bernstein said the review had been “pointless” and said National League executives themselves had tried to undermine its credibility.

The National League said the report would “be shared with all interested parties” once they had received clarification on some of the content of the report from the review panel.

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