Gillingham boss Steve Evans has confirmed to KSN that he has joined the ever-growing number of managers who have taken pay cuts to assist their clubs through the current suspension of League football.

He told us, “I think it was something (deferrals and wage reductions) that was muted exceedingly early on. I know our players are in conversations with our Chief Exec about having a deferral themselves. I’ve had a separate conversation and I’ve taken a sizeable wage cut for a period so it’s not a deferral – I’ll never get that money back whilst the players will.

“That’s not to give me any credit but in any walk of life in terms of equal salaries of some of our players, I don’t see those outside the game taking wage deferrals – I see them being at home and isolating and being furloughed and being paid salaries. It’s hard for the young men – they’re not old men – they’re young men making their way in life, they’ve got young families, they’ve still got commitments and bills. But at the same token they are well paid, so it’s probably a chance where football can get a realism going forward hopefully.”

What happens next is of course a question no-one knows the answer to. The Gills boss told us, “At this stage from everything I’ve heard from our Chairman, who’s involved with all the other Chairmen in the EFL on a daily basis, I think that the overwhelming majority want to finish the season and I certainly do.

“Look at my ex club Peterborough – they’ve probably got ten million pounds invested in their team this season and I personally do think that they will get promoted whether automatically of through the Play Offs I think they’ll be there.

“But at the minute if the season is just expunged all that investment to that football club means nothing and that’s exactly the same at Sunderland where you’ve got an owner who’s put in twenty-five/thirty million and you can’t just say that goes!”

“That’s on the basis that we can play football closed-doors based on the principal that clubs can afford to put on the games closed doors and based on the principal that everyone wants to do it. Now as time goes on that gets more difficult to achieve and as we sit here in the third week of April I’m still hopeful we can have nine games played in three weeks quite simple in June – we can play every third day and that’s all the clubs.

“I don’t listen to Paul Lambert when he said “let’s have eleven substitutes if we do that” because that’s nonsense – and we don’t have the squad that they’ve got so that’s rubbish! We can play all this in three weeks and then the Play Offs – instead of two legged – can be one legged on a neutral ground and then the Finals played – we could be done and dusted in a month!”

The National League cancelled the rest of their fixtures and the point wasn’t lost on the Gills boss, who told us, “I would assume that the Football League would accept Barrow anyway. I’ve seen them three or four times live in the last season – they’re an excellent side with a good manager and have big investment with a guy who I think lives in the States but is of local descendance but the point of it all is they’ll come up as rightful Champions, I’m not sure what else will happen. 

“If the Football League made the decision that it stops now, I wouldn’t think anyone would be getting relegated because the principal would be unfair. But it’s a big, big decision for the Football League to take that decision. I look at a club who are very much in my heart – forget Peterborough they’re in my heart but we’re fighting with them – if you look at Leeds United top of the Championship having a brilliant season under Marcello – I’m so desperate for them to be in the Premier League! 

“You can’t expunge the season unless it gets to the point where it’s just getting ridiculous with regards to the time scales – I think we go as far as July and then there needs to be a revenue decision made that by a certain date if we’re not playing then this happens and tell everyone what happens and let everyone raise their head accordingly.”

Evans then thanked the supporters who were part of his online forums recent. “I think it’s just nice to play a part in people’s lives,” Evans said, “especially some of the older generation that are at home on their own.

“They love Gillingham Football Club, they love the Gills, they love talking about it, they’re missing it, we are, and I think it’s a great idea to come together and talk about players and talk about plans and talk about systems, it’s just a real good feeling when you put something back!”