Moneyfields chairman ‘won’t burden the club with debt’ just to take advantage of the Government’s ‘Winter Survival Package’ aid scheme

Moneyfields in action against Cray Wanderers in this season's FA Cup. Picture: Martyn White.

Pete Seiden has welcomed the funding that has been made available for football clubs at grassroots level as part of the government's 'Sport Winter Survival Package.'

Yet the Moneyfields chairman admitted he is unaware whether the club will qualify for any of the £14m that has been granted to teams at steps 3-6 in the English pyramid.

'Non-elite' clubs had previously received no funding support prior to the lockdown amid the pandemic, although they were allowed to welcome supporters back to matches this season before the current football shutdown.

But now the Government has included teams operating below National League level down to step 6 the opportunity to receive some much-needed money.

Moneyfields chairman Pete Seiden. Picture by Malcolm Wells

It still remains unclear how the funding could be distributed while it has been reported that the £300m 'Survival Package' will 'largely be composed of loans.'

Seiden is pleased to see 'grassroots get a mention' as part of this latest financial aid package.

But he remains unsure whether Moneyfields will be able to access any of it.

'We’re reading up on it at the moment (the £14m made available),' said Seiden.

‘It’s a good step at least, for the first time it looks like grassroots are getting a mention.

‘It looks like they’re doing something, it’s just going to be interesting to see what they do on Thursday (when tier levels are announced).

‘As I’ve read it, it’s for more community stuff. You’ve got to be a genius to understand it all.’

Seiden is hopeful any money would be in the form of a grant, rather than a loan.

‘That’s what I’m hoping it will be. If it’s like that, it will be a godsend,’ he said.

‘There always seem to be quite a lot of criteria you seem to have to jump through to get any sort of grant at this level.

‘The difficult thing with this level is everyone is a volunteer so the more paperwork and information they need the more time it takes volunteers to gather that information.'

Seiden does not wish to 'burden the club with debt by taking any loan that was offered.

‘It’s only worth getting a loan if you need it,' he assessed.

‘It’s a struggle at this level anyway and I wouldn’t ever look to burden the club with any debt.

‘If you had another pandemic and we were saddled with debt, we’d go under.

‘We’ve got the big development going on next year, so it wouldn’t be something we were looking at from a loan point of view.

‘But if it’s help from a grant then you’d be silly not to take it, because you always need something at this level.'