Wealdstone vote to null-and-void the season as Guiseley, Curzon Ashton, Southport all call a halt – but Tonbridge youngsters play for free

Wealdstone celebrate promotion to the National League last summer – but now they are voting to bring a premature end to their first campaign in the top-flight

Wealdstone have revealed they have voted in favour of ending the National League season.

The newly-promoted Stones, who surprisingly parted company with manager Dean Brennan a fortnight ago, say that they “do not believe it is appropriate for the club to take on debt to complete the season”.

Meanwhile, Guiseley are the latest club to confirm they will not be playing any further fixtures in National League North until the outcome of the current season is determined, joining Curzon Ashton and Southport, whose game tonight has been cancelled.

Wealdstone are one of only a handful of top-flight clubs to have stated their intentions with chairman Rory Fitzgerald expalining: “We, like others, clearly believed that we would be supported in covering lost revenues via grant funding until we were able to welcome supporters back to game. We continue to lobby for this outcome so we can complete the season without undermining the long-term future of the club.

“The club has now incurred close to two months of costs without any meaningful revenue and this cannot continue for further months if the club is to survive in a recognisable form. We therefore do not feel it is possible for the board to vote for anything other than ending the season whilst there is no clarity on future financial support and what form this may take.

“We are in the process of applying to the DCMS Winter Sports Survival fund to assess our eligibility and the level of loan funding that may be available. However, we reiterate that saddling the club with debt is something we will seek to avoid.”

Meanwhile, Tonbridge Angels have vowed to play on despite putting their entire first-team squad on furlough until a decision has been reached.

Angels manager Steve McKimm has managed to put together a squad of 16 players to play for free ahead of Saturday’s trip to Hemel Hempstead Town in National League South.

McKimm tweeted: “After the disappointing but correct decision and in the best interest of our club @tonbridgeangels to furlough our squad Saturday, the staff have worked hard to assemble a squad of 16 in two days to play @hemelfc this coming Saturday in the
@TheVanaramaNL #playingforfree”