Coronavirus call-offs: Chichester City count their lucky FA Cup stars

Chi chairman Andy Bell pictured before City's the FA Cup tie at Tranmere / Picture: Jordan Colborne

City's amazing run through eight rounds of the famous cup competition earned them close to £160,000 in prize money and TV money - and some of it is coming in handy now matchday incomes has dried up for the foreseeable future.

All non-league clubs are fretting about how long football will be ruled out for, with the Isthmian League like many already having said no games will be played until April 4 at the earliest. Even then it is hard to see sport suddenly springing back into action anything like that soon.

Chi City chairman Andy Bell said all the club could do was follow the guidance of the Isthmian League and the FA and await more news when the longer-term picture did eventually become clearer.

He said training had been cancelled for all the club's teams, from senior down to youth sides, and now it was a waiting game to see when things may be able to resume.

Bell said he would not like to predict whether the 2019-20 season would end up being abandoned or finished at a later date. At least Chichester know that if 19-20 is written off they will still start 20-21 in the Isthmian south east division - where as if this had happened a year ago they could have stood to lose the county league title they were about to win the and the promotion that went with it.

The chairman said the money in the bank from the FA Cup would be vital in a period when a lack of home games meant income was low or non-existent.

"My instinct is we will not be playing for the rest of the season," said Bell. "Even if professional leagues restart and are somehow played to a finish that does not necessarily mean non-league divisions will see the same thing.

"A lot of clubs will struggle with no home matches generating income and we are no different, but we are very fortunate that we had the FA Cup run when we did. Of course this pandemic has wider implications than just sport. There are a lot of organisations and businesses across the world that will not be getting any income and an awful lot of people affected in that, and that's without the many people affected medically.

"We have to remember sport is just a small part of this but we, like everyone, just hope it does not last for too long. In terms of our own activities, we will keep supporters up to date with any information we have, as soon as we can."