Wick chairman says he can't fault any Highland League club for pulling out
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Wick Academy chairman Pat Miller has said he wouldn’t fault any club for doing what Forres Mechanics have done and withdrawing from the Highland League.
The Moray club opted to pull out of the 2020/21 campaign, citing the health, wellbeing and safety of players and staff and their families as well as the wider community amid the continuing uncertainty over Covid-19.
Miller gave an assurance that his own team would start the season as scheduled on November 28 – but added that there could be no guarantees about finishing it, given the restrictions on clubs and the financial cost of being forced to limit spectator numbers.
The Highland and Moray council areas are in level one of Scotland's five-tier system of coronavirus rules, which means that fans can be allowed back into grounds. However, as Aberdeenshire clubs are in level two, they would not be able to accommodate spectators.
Miller was surprised that Forres, as one of the Moray teams, chose to withdraw.
“There have been concerns from a few teams, Forres being one of them,” Miller said.
“The sticking point in the past few weeks has been when they changed the area into tier one and tier two, which gave the Aberdeenshire clubs problems because we said from day one that we would stick to our guns and we wouldn’t play football until we could get the supporters in.
“Now we’re in a place where we’ve got six [Aberdeenshire] teams that can’t get supporters. Through no fault of their own, they are being separated from the rest of us.
“You’ll go up a tier in a day but you’ll not come down a tier in a month. We’re really in tier one-and-a-half because we’re still abiding by what we were a month ago, so we’re not any better off.
“Forres coming out was a bit of a surprise to me. I assumed it would have been an Aberdeenshire club.
“At this time, in this new era that we’re in, you couldn’t fault anybody for doing what they’ve done.
“To get crowds in, we’re basically reinventing a book that there are no rules on.”
Clubs are having to adapt to guidance on red, amber and green access zones within grounds while facing loss of income from hospitality and tea hut sales. Supporter numbers will be restricted – perhaps to as low a figure as 100 initially before rising to 300.
“I see the financial side to it as well and it’s quite bleak,” Miller said.
“On average we’re paying £1000 for a bus [for an away league fixture]. Over eight games we’ll be paying £8000. Now that’s £8000 that we’ll have to get through the gate.
“There is a financial aspect to this that we are only just maybe appreciating.
“And that’s one team out of the league now, so we might be the unlucky team that only gets seven home games.”
He paid tribute to the Academy squad for “not even looking for a penny” after football was shut down, but said semi-professional footballers could not be expected to go unpaid once the league resumes.
“We’ll certainly start the season, but the one thing we can’t do is start running in the red,” Miller said. “There are no guarantees.
“We actually could finish the whole season, but if we were £15,000 in the red it doesn’t give you much to start on in the following season and that’s the way we have to look at it.
“Maybe Forres have done their sums first, I don’t know.
“I will be delighted when the season starts, but I will be looking over my shoulder making sure that we can cut our cloth to suit.
“We’re in strange times and uncharted waters.”
In a letter to Highland League secretary Rod Houston, Forres stated: "The board of Forres Mechanics FC met on the evening of November 5 and have unanimously agreed not to take part in the SHFL season 2020/21.
"The decision has not been taken lightly but we have put, above all other considerations, the health, wellbeing and safety of our players, staff and their immediate families along with the football club as a whole and, equally as important, the wider community of Forres and Moray."
Players and management have been informed of the decision, with the club looking at furlough for all staff.
It is not clear whether players will be able to move to other clubs – potentially on loan – if the season goes ahead without the Can-Cans.
