Andy Hessenthaler has been talking to KSN as his Dover Athletic squad have been asked to join the Government’s Furlough Scheme in a bid to financially save the very future of the National League club.
Speaking to KSN on Saturday, Hessenthaler told us, “We had a meeting with the Chairman – my staff and I along with Kevin Loko and Michael Wells (the captain and vice captain) – and the players have all received a letter, and with the financial problems in football at the moment, the Chairman has asked us to go onto the “Furlough Scheme” that the Government have set up.”
“We’ve all got to do that as it’s the right thing to do for the Football Club. The way things are for the moment, football’s second to everything with people dying around the world.”
“The Chairman’s been honest about the finances and how tight they are – he’s paid us this week, but I don’t think he can pay us for next week or the week after which is why we’re going to go on the scheme and then that covers that situation where we’ll get eighty percent which will help us.”
“We had a good honest chat and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Issuing a chilling warning to those who doubted the move, Hessenthaler went on, “If we didn’t get this, I honestly don’t know where we’d be to be fair as we’ve got no income coming in as we rely on gate receipts and sponsorship people will probably be laying people off as well so we’re probably not going to get any money coming in from them.”
“Add to that the functions that we can have at the club have all been cancelled and all the money goes towards the Football Club and paying the wages of all the staff.”
“In the scheme of things, it’ll help us get through the three months or four months. It can take some of the pressure off everyone in football because at the moment with the way things are financially there’s a lot of pressure on everyone.”
“Football’s secondary – I’m missing it; I’ve been in it for a long, long time and I am missing it, but you’ve got to say with what’s going on in the world, it’s at the back of my mind and I’ve got family as well, and if the Government tell us that we’ve got to stay in, stay safe and go through the guidelines and that’s the most important thing at this time.”
“And when football comes back, we’ll start again – football won’t go away, it will come back, but these times at the moment we have to pull together and have to look after each other… and that’s what we’ll do!”
The National League still hasn’t finalised what will happen to the remainder of the season unlike the authorities in the BETVictor and SCEFL who this week declared their respective seasons null and void.
For many including Hessenthaler there was surprise at that decision. “The decision came pretty quickly in my view,” the Dover boss admitted.
“The problem that we’ve got with the whole pyramid are the number of contracts to deal with. I do feel really sorry for some of the teams who are running away with their Leagues who have been cancelled – it’s tough!”
“I’ve been at this level and been at the other level as well so it probably had to happen because of the finances, but maybe it is a little bit quick and I just really don’t know how they’re going to resolve the situation in terms of the pyramid, and if our League is cancelled, because there’s still talk about that in all three divisions and it becomes null and void, the repercussions of that I really don’t know what’s going to happen!”
“It’s going to be interesting but I was surprised – I thought they might have waited for a little bit longer! We are going to get out of this situation – I really believe that we will do, but it could take time.”
“I would not like to be in the FA’s shoes I can tell you because they’ve got to make some decisions at some stage, whether we’re definitely going to finish the season or it’s going to be null and void; and if it’s null and void the repercussions that comes with in terms of promotion and relegation – it’s going to be tough!”