Fleetlands chairman Iain Sellstrom on non-league football in limbo – ‘I would love some clarity, but the reality is somewhat different’

Those are the views of Fleetlands chairman Iain Sellstrom as he faces up the possibility of a second successive Hampshire Premier League null and voiding.

The 2019/20 season was cancelled by the FA shortly after the first national lockdown was announced towards the end of last March.

Now, following another lockdown until mid-February at the earliest, there has to be a doubt over whether the 2020/21 season can be completed.

‘My gut feeling is not positive,’ he said.

‘If we don’t restart in February or March it’s going to be a real struggle to complete the season.’

Sellstrom believes the appetite among the clubs challenging for the title - and the one promotion place available to the Wessex League - to complete the season would be high.

The same might not be said of the clubs at the other end of the table.

‘There’s been talk about extending the season. If we restarted in March, there’s better weather lighter evenings,’ said Sellstrom.

‘If you extended the season by four or five weeks, it could be done.

‘You could always see if you could use the facilities at Havant & Waterlooville and Stoneham to get games played.

‘I’m sure the bigger clubs would be comfortable with that, it’s whether the smaller clubs would have the same appetite.

‘I think the top clubs would want to play, but some of the lesser ones … they could struggle to get players to play midweek games - some struggle to find players to play on a Saturday.

‘It would be feasible for the top half clubs to complete their fixtures, but if others don’t want to the league will have no option but to pull it.

‘I do feel the season could be over. I would be gutted if that’s the case, because we’re in a good position on and off the pitch.

‘I genuinely feel we are in the best position we’ve been for years - we’ve got a good squad, a great gaffer, we’ve got the floodlights now.

‘If we went up, we could build our new clubhouse and we’d be climbing Sunshine Mountain.

‘If the season is pulled we’ve got one or two players who might decide to retire, and another couple who are better than the Hampshire Premier League and who might decide they want to play higher.’

Sellstrom, a former chairman of Gosport Borough FC, knows whatever decision is taken will split opinion.

‘There are really difficult choices to make. Whatever you do, you’ll get some clubs who aren’t happy,’ he remarked.

‘Some clarity would be good, because it would give us time to prepare.

‘The bottom line is that we would have to accept whatever decision is made - whether that’s null and void, pausing the season, or starting again in August.

‘Having some clarity would make things slightly better.

‘But it’s too early to call at the moment.

‘I would love clarity, but the reality is somewhat different.’