Eastbourne Town and United bosses facing plenty of uncertainty

Eastbourne Town boss John Lambert was honest in admitting his uncertainty regarding a new season.

He told me: “At the moment we don’t have a start date for the season and in my opinion, we might not even have a season, I’m a believer that until we find a vaccine, I cannot see us playing again at this level.”

The Town boss also spoke about the problems he is facing regarding the recruitment and retention of players.

SEE ALSO A little bit of Wimbledon comes to Meads | CACL footballers return to their roots after 40 years | Zoom and video drills all very well - but there's nothing like the real nets for Newick

He said: “I cannot promise players anything at the moment because I don’t know what is going to happen in the future.

“I don’t know what the budget is yet so I cannot give a definitive answer to players.

“I have heard that other clubs with financial firepower have been contacting some of my squad.

“We were a good side last season and naturally they have caught the interest of other teams.

“But, I like to think that we run a decent ship at Eastbourne Town and one thing we have always had is a cohesive dressing room and I hope we will keep most of the players, budget depending.”

Lambert also disclosed his plans to get the squad back together on the training field in the near future.

He said: “We are going to start with one session a week in the coming weeks because, until you get a start date, things are very strange.

“All we can do at the moment is have a couple of sessions over the next few weeks, on a Thursday evening, and see where we are after that.”

Eastbourne United manager Matt Crabb gave his opinion on a potential restart date for the season and possible changes to the structure of the SCFL.

He said: “From what I’ve heard from FA meetings, they’re looking to start the new season in middle to late September, but in all honesty, I don’t think it will start until October time.

“Also, because we are starting the season later than normal, I think our league may get split into two separate leagues of ten teams, rather than one league of 20 teams, to help fit all the league and cup fixtures in.

“The FA have an obligation and a contract with Sky and the Premier League to play the third round of the FA cup on the first weekend of January.

“If we’re going to try and squeeze in all the games from the first-round qualifier up until the third round, including league matches, before the first weekend of January then we may need to cut the league in half.”

Crabb also discussed his budget and playing squad.

He said: “At the moment, trying to plan what your budget will be for the new season is a mystery.

“I have spoken to the players in my team I would like to keep, but obviously I cannot offer players anything until we have a start date.

“It is all budget dependent, but I am hopeful that once I have confirmation players will remain at the club.”

*****

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.