Wick manager Manson sees light at the end of the tunnel over season kick-off
Wick Academy manager Gary Manson says there is "light at the end of the tunnel" with the increasing likelihood that Highland League clubs can return to competitive action by the end of this month.
It is hoped that supporters can make a limited return to grounds and Manson says the main question now is over access to changing facilities for the players.
In the meantime, training has been stepped up ahead of an anticipated November 28 start date for the 2020/21 campaign.
The Highland and Moray council areas are in level one of Scotland's new five-tier system of coronavirus restrictions, which means supporters can be allowed back into grounds. However, as Aberdeenshire clubs are in level two, they would not be able to accommodate spectators.
Manson's understanding is that the season could begin with Highland League Cup ties, divided into groups and regionalised.
"Nothing official has come out – this is just what I’ve been hearing on the grapevine," he said. "It would make sense to me to start with that, and then in mid-December or at the end of December start the league.
“I think the only question mark now is over changing facilities. That is the only sticking point. Fans will be allowed back in, but will the players be allowed to have a shower after the match and be able to get changed out of their wet clothing?
“Hopefully that will be ironed out. Rod Houston [league secretary] came up to view our changing facilities six or seven weeks ago and he thought we’d be okay. Hopefully other clubs are the same."
Academy returned to group training two months ago in readiness for what was then expected to be an October 17 kick-off.
At the end of September, when the start was delayed until November 28 at the earliest, Manson decided to scale down the training regime temporarily.
"There was no point in carrying on training hard for a full eight weeks – you would just burn the boys out and they would maybe lose interest over that length of time," he said. "I gave them close to two weeks off hard training. We were just ticking over once a week, meeting up and getting a touch of the ball.
“But now it’s about four weeks away from when we’re due to kick off again so we’ve started ramping the training up and we’ll be looking to get some friendlies organised before the start of the season.
“You can’t fault the boys. They turn up every week and train their heart out. It’s all you can really ask for.
"It has been bad news after bad news the past few months. It’s not easy to keep them motivated and interested in training when there’s nothing at the end of the schedule to train for.
"Hopefully now, with this latest update that we’ve had, it gives them something to aim for and some light at the end of the tunnel instead of just training,
"It’s not easy for the boys just to keep on training, training, training, without any matches on a Saturday.
“The way it works is you look at who you’re playing on a Saturday and your training on Tuesday and Thursday will be tailored towards that game on Saturday. But we’ve been training for months with no specific game to plan for.
“Hopefully there are no more spikes and lockdowns.”