US Portsmouth boss Turnbull fears another Wessex League season will be declared null and void

And he fears that could lead to promotion heartache for a second year running.

US were top of the Division 1 table in 2019/20 when the pandemic placed its stranglehold on society in mid-March.

They had played almost 80 per cent of their league games, winning 20 out of 28, but were denied promotion for the first time in their history due to the Football Association cancelling steps 3-6 of the non-league pyramid.

Fast forward almost nine months and they are lying fourth - with seven wins in 10 games - in a Wessex season which is currently paused until a review on January 18.

With only a third of the 2020/21 campaign currently completed, and with Covid cases rising as the winter months progress, there are growing fears it will be scrapped as well.

‘My gut feeling is the league will be pulled,’ said Turnbull. ‘What happens then? Again, my gut feeling is it will be null and voided.

‘Do I think that will happen? Yes. Do I want it to happen? Absolutely not.’

Armed with the glorious benefit of hindsight, the FA should have rolled last season into the current one. Had they done so, the 2019/20 fixtures across steps 3-6 would have been completed by now.

As it is, two seasons could now be ‘messed’ up and declared null and void. So while USP - having won 27 of their last 38 league games - could again be denied possible promotion, a club like Amesbury (bottom of the Wessex Premier last season and currently bottom again, having lost 34 of their last 40 league games across two campaigns) could again avoid the drop.

‘For me, there was absolutely no logic in what the FA did last season,’ said Turnbull.

‘With the amount of games that had been played, and the amount left, they could have rolled it over to this season, completed it, and then said ‘let’s start again in August 2021’.

‘Now they have potentially messed up two seasons.’

Turnbull believes another null and void could see clubs disappear off the non-league football map.

Players would find it harder to carry on, and sponsors would be harder to find.

‘We messaged the players asking ‘I know it’s hypothetical, but if this season was scrapped would you still want to carry on next season?’’ revealed Turnbull.

‘If 10 of them had said no, then we as managers - myself, Fraser (Quirke) and Barto (Paul Barton) - would probably say that’s it for us as well.

‘United Services would still carry on as a club, though - they’d get someone else in to manage the team and some more players.

‘But all the players have said they will stay. On paper anyway, we’d go again next season with virtually the same squad.

‘But I could see some clubs not surviving (if another null and void). I don’t think they’d all be in the same position as this club.

‘We are mentally prepared for the worst, so anything better would be good news.’

Regarding sponsors - the lifeblood of most non-league clubs - Turnbull added: ‘If they null and void this season it’s going to be hard to go to someone and say ‘thanks for that £2,000 you gave us a few months ago, can we have another £2,000 for next season?’

‘They’re going to say they haven’t had value for money this season, and I would completely understand that.

‘Not everyone is going to have a main sponsor like we have. MTEC phoned me up and said next season’s money is fine, don’t worry about it.

‘Other clubs won’t be so lucky.

‘It’s about building the business, rather than getting people in through the gate. That’s what non-league clubs are turning into, even at our level.

‘Getting people in through the gate should be looked at as extra money.’

The Wessex League are one of a number of leagues who asked their clubs earlier this month whether they wanted to carry on playing.

At a higher level, the Southern League has been paused since early November after the majority of clubs - but not Gosport Borough or Moneyfields - voted to continue with the suspension in early December.

At the same level, the Western League had returned to action, but following the new tier changes have now suspended the season until January 22. Before that, some clubs were happy to carry on playing while others wanted to remain inactive.

Split opinion is what you will get when you ask clubs for their view. As Gosport boss Shaun Gale told The News last week, it should be up to the leagues to be proactive in making decisions, rather than reacting to a club vote.

‘The only solace I have got is the FA will be desperate to avoid null and voiding again,’ Turnbull continued.

‘They also desperately want to bring in their reorganisation of non-league football, and another null and void will push them back another 12 months.

‘If they took the PPG from last season and added them to this season’s PPG, we’d be top of our table. But I don’t think that would be a fair way, that’s just me being selfish!

‘Clubs will vote with self-interest.

‘The clubs at the bottom will be happy with null and void, the ones in the middle probably couldn’t care less and will go with the flow.

‘It’s only the six or seven teams at the top that wouldn’t want null and void.’

Horndean boss Michael Birmingham last week told The News he favoured null and voiding the Wessex season, while Baffins Milton Rovers assistant manager Danny Thompson said: ‘Maybe the best option is to scrap it now before it gets too far.

‘Who knows, if we got going again we might have another situation where we get locked down.’

Turnbull said: ‘I can understand Tommo’s point of view. They’ve got a two-year plan so this season was a free hit for them, they’ll come back stronger next season.

‘I can’t understand Birmy’s point of view, though - his side are second or third in the table. For the life of me I can’t understand why he would want null and void.’

In addition to the league, US Portsmouth are also through to the fourth round of the FA Vase and the Wessex League Cup semi-finals - both club record achievements.

They were due to host Wessex Premier side Christchurch in the last 32 of the Vase on Saturday week, January 9.

But the FA yesterday emailed all clubs still in the tournament to say all ties are postponed until further notice.

‘I don’t know what the Wessex League will do with their cup,’ said Turnbull.

‘If they scrapped it that would be another kick in the teeth for us as we’ve beaten higher division teams to get there.

‘The Vase is different. My gut tells me that is a highly regarded competition and I would hope that some pragmatism and common sense is shown.

‘But as we know, football authorities and pragmatism rarely align.’

The 2019/20 FA Vase final, between Hebburn and Consett, has yet to be played - and last season’s FA Trophy final, between Harrogate and Concord Rangers, is another fixture still awaiting a date.

Including the last 32, there are five rounds of this season’s Vase left.

Even if league seasons were to be scrapped, surely the Vase could be played to a conclusion in the spring months?

‘There’s plenty of options, plenty of time,’ Turnbull insisted. ‘They could play the two Trophy finals over one weekend at Wembley and the two Vase finals the weekend after.

‘I know the competition would be massively devalued if they threw out the teams in tier 4 areas.

‘We’d be punished because of geography, but I can’t see them doing that because of the ramifications.

‘Hopefully there will be pragmatic ways around it.’

Christchurch booked their trip to Portsmouth with a penalty shoot-out win against Falmouth - like USP, a step 6 club - in Dorset last Sunday.

‘Christchurch will be confident, I’m sure they will feel they are in the last 16 already, but we have nothing to be scared of,’ declared Turnbull.

‘They’re in the Wessex Prem, not THE Prem!

‘They are definitely beatable.’