Coronavirus: Burgess Hill Town boss respects 'inevitable' decision to suspend matches

The Isthmian League's decision to postpone this week's games due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak have been described as 'inevitable' by Burgess Hill Town manager Jay Lovett.
Burgess Hill Town manager Jay LovettBurgess Hill Town manager Jay Lovett
Burgess Hill Town manager Jay Lovett

The 82 clubs across the four leagues were told on Friday afternoon that this week's forthcoming games would be postponed as a result of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

A statement said: "The safety and well-being of all those associated with the League - our players, volunteers, club officials, match officials and supporters - is our number one priority, and we are closely monitoring the situation and carefully following advice from Public Health England.

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"The Board has decided that as an immediate step, matches scheduled for tomorrow and next midweek will be postponed and we will review the situation daily as to when fixtures can recommence.

"We hope that by taking this step, we can delay the spread of the virus and we earnestly hope that with the right approach there will be as few persons as possible suffering either directly or indirectly."

Hillians boss Lovett said: "It's a big problem for those clubs that have invested money this season.

"Some will have thrown more money into it of late for that final promotion push or scrap to get out of relegation.

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"It was inevitable for the league to get suspended, but I thought it did come around very quickly.

"From a managers point of view, obviously we want to continue playing, but safety first and they must of had their reasons for making that call now. We have to respect that decision."

The Isthmian League has announced they will make a further decision about the long-term completion of the season later today (Monday).

Lovett continued: "For us at the moment, everything is on hold until the Isthmian league make another statement later today. This includes training.

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"It's hard to make any judgement from our point of view, as we've never had anything like this to compare it to, for guidance or a best outcome.

"It's been a strange season with the very unpredictable weather and now a virus.

"There will, and probably has to, be some conclusion to the end of the season, but how they will come to that conclusion will be interesting."