AFC Fylde chief anticipates a decision over football’s future soon

With football in limbo as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, there are plenty of differing views as to how the sport’s authorities should deal with the situation.

Haythornthwaite is ready for a decision to be made some time this month.

As part of a video posted on social media, he said: “Over the coming weeks, there’s a couple of things going to happen.

“One is, I think, a decision is going to be made within the next two weeks whether or not we’re actually going to continue in the leagues above and I’ve said that’s going to drive everything.

“The second thing that’s going to happen is a big showdown between the clubs, the players and their agents on contracts.

“Without any income from anywhere – no gate money, no sponsorship money, no bar money – then a lot of clubs will go to the wall if they have to continue paying players on their current contracts.

“I know the players don’t want to hear this, and I know some of my players think I’m a bit of an ogre about this, but I’m just telling the truth.

“That cannot continue so something has to give and I think again, once we see the first brick out of the dam go and the water start to seep through, I think a lot of others will follow.

“We’re going into unchartered waters here, we’ve never been here before, so it’s going to be interesting to see what develops in the next two weeks but I think you’ll see some major developments.”