Oxford City‘s finance director Paul Lyon is warning that it could take years for football to get over the coronavirus as the club recovers from a mindless attack by vandals.
Lyon spoke out after Easter weekend vandals broke into the press box at Court Place Farm and left the locked down National League South club with a repair bill of up to a £1,000.
The Hoops director hit out at the vandals before giving a lukewarm response to Tuesday’s confirmation from the Premier League that it was bringing forward the annual solidarity payments to the English Football League and National League.
The National League – currently suspended ‘indefinitely’ like the Premier League and English Football League – released a statement welcoming the move to support the top two tiers of Non-League with an early pay-out of the competition’s £2 million pound share of £125 million.
National League Statement | Premier League Advance Payment
?? https://t.co/2o7w23qYPj pic.twitter.com/RrGcibZWL6
— The National League (@TheVanaramaNL) April 14, 2020
In total, National League clubs are set to receive £58,333 each with £13,636 going to clubs in National League North and National League South like the Hoops.
Lyon told the Oxford Mail: “Someone smashed up our press box at the weekend. People are probably bored, but that’s no reason to come in and cause damage. We are totally frustrated about that.”
“We get £13,000, which is roughly a fortnight’s wages. It helps things now, but they’re not giving us anything we wouldn’t have had normally.”
“I think there will be a big adjustment in terms of wages and transfer fees [next term]. It might take a number of years to come back again.”
Make sure you get your copy of The Non-League Paper from this weekend for the latest news on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on football after Step 3 & 4 sponsors BetVictor announced they were terminating their title sponsorship and the National League told clubs they could vote on how to conclude their campaigns.
In shops on Sundays and Mondays, The NLP is always available as a pound-busting digital edition and full replica of the printed paper from midnight on Saturdays. Save cash on single issues, even more on longer deals and the pages still rustle too!
Image courtesy of manygameshaveiseen.blogspot.com
