Bognor: This is as serious as it gets - but fans are rallying round

Bognor will not be in action until April 4 at the very earliest / Picture: Tommy McMillan

With all Bognor matches suspended until at least early April, the Nyewood Lane hierarchy is putting together a battle plan to try to minimise the effect on the club's finances.

And Cook has revealed that fans have inundated the club with offers of support and ideas on how to address the shortfall in revenue caused by the unprecedented results of Covid-19 outbreak.

He said: "We've always had a fantastic relationship with our supporters and their love for the club knows no bounds. Fans have been contacting us over the past few days with offers of support and also to make suggestions as to how we might approach the next few weeks and months.

"It is very heartening and makes life a lot easier when you know you have that level of backing from people who have the club at heart.

"Our message to fans is that we are not panicking even though we know we have difficult times ahead. Like every business we recognise that we will have slump in revenue without match days and with cancellations of events we host at our Seasons function rooms, but we are confident that we can address those issues.

“Loss of home Saturday fixtures generally costs us around £4-5,000 per match and we will not now have even midweek matches to replace them, although midweek matches only bring in half what a Saturday match would.

"In a nutshell, this is the most serious situation for us that can possibly be imagined, although we are in the same position as every other club. However, the club’s committee have met today and plan to do so again soon and when we have more to tell supporters we will do just that.”

In a statement issued earlier today, Isthmian Football League chairman Nick Robinson said that following advice from the Government as the FA, and other leagues it had been decided that all matches be suspended until April 3.

He added: "The likelihood is that matches will not start again on 4 April, and in the meantime the League will work with all others in the game to ensure that Clubs are kept up to date with the latest information.

"It cannot be stressed too much that these are unprecedented times. The Board will do what it can to ensure that football can recommence as soon as possible, and that the League does not put more pressure on Clubs financially while the future is unknown."