THE boss of Crossgates Primrose has backed the decision to suspend non-league football but is worried the season may not finish.

Alan Campbell said a three-week temporary suspension of football, due to end on Sunday, beneath the SPFL Championship was the "correct call".

But with lockdown restrictions now continuing into next month, it's not looking likely that lower league football will get the green light.

The suspension affects the Lowland League, East of Scotland League and the Scottish Cup, as well as League One and League Two clubs who have been in touch with the SFA about a route back to playing.

Campbell said: “It was probably the right call, but it’s a shame because we’ve got a Covid officer, and a committee there who have done everything by the book.

“That’s us been training and playing games since September, and we’ve never had any problems. In a way, you feel like you’re getting harshly treated, but then I caveat that by saying how can the whole country be getting told to stay in the house and don’t leave, yet we’re getting to go and play games against Dunbar and travel all over the country?

“The correct call was made so it’s now a case of how long does it go on for, and when can we get back playing? It surely can’t go on as long as it did last year; I think if it was, which you never know, then I think we’d have to scrap it and we’d be looking at starting again in August.

“If it goes into February, which we’re expecting, it’s going to create a problem for getting the season finished. If it starts up again in March, you’re probably looking at playing weekend and midweek, weekend and midweek, right through to May and June before we can get the season finished.

“It might be possible but you’re going to have to give the players a couple of weeks to get fit and train again, as we’re not allowed to train.

“I think we could play a bit longer, maybe into June, but I think there’s going to be all sorts of problems unless this vaccine gets moving and the cases go down.”

Campbell, whose team are in their second season at Premier Division level, continued: “The guys doing the jobs at football are all volunteers. I don’t think there were any games in our league that had to be called off because of Covid. I feel sorry for them a bit.

“I would hate to see another season just scrapped like that after all the effort put in to get the season going. We’ve played in front of no crowds, the players have had to sacrifice things like no changing rooms, no team meetings, and for it just to be scrapped again, you start to think what was the point in the first place?

“I’m quite relaxed about it. Some teams challenging at the top of the league will be less relaxed!”

As far as the players go, he added: “We’ll start getting them looking at their fitness again because, if and when we get back, they need to have some sort of sharpness.

“We felt when we came back the last time we were off it. It’s the same for every team, so it’s not an excuse, but we were a bit rusty when we first came back the last time.

“We’ll try our best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”