The Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington, Matt Western has sent the following letter to DCMS Secretary of State regarding financial positions of National League Clubs. 

Re: National League Football

Dear Oliver (Dowden),

I am extremely concerned to hear of the desperate situation facing National League football clubs including Leamington FC in my constituency. The club chairman tells me that many clubs are on the brink and that Leamington will also be facing severe difficulties within months.

In his letter to me the Chairman thanked the government for the support it has already provided to enable the league season to go ahead as normal. But, as we enter the nation's third lockdown, without clubs' primary revenue generated from fans' attendance, they are once again in desperate need of support.

Leamington, like many other clubs, is now operating on full pre-pandemic costs with players and staff wages to be paid with only negligible incoming commercial revenue. The DCMS has offered a further £11 million on top of the £10 million it has already provided in grant funding, only this time in the form of loans. Importantly, club say they would not have entered the funding agreement with the government at the beginning of the season had they known that support grants, intended to keep the season going in the absence of fans, would be replaced by loans.

Already cash-strapped clubs are now facing the threat of financial insecurity and debt. Clubs have not only lost the revenue they would generate from ticket sales, but they also use vital hospitality and sponsorship revenue. As I say, many are on the brink.

It is becoming increasingly likely that clubs will tell the national league board to cancel the season tomorrow, so furlough payments can ease their financial strain. This will mean the initial £10 million grant funding would be totally in vain - with the league season unceremoniously cut short and rendered null and void. The National League claim is the cost of the government in furlough payments would exceed the cost of the loans offered, or the grant funding clubs desire, to see them to the end of the season.

Even if there was never any agreement to continue supporting clubs from January till the end of the season, to ignore the obvious plight of National League clubs - some now faced with permanent closure - would be unconscionable. Thousands of fans and football lovers across the country would quite rightly see the decision as a desertion of some of the U.K.'s most treasured and historic clubs - clubs that are the foundations to the upper leagues and of course, the Premier League.

Leamington FC has more than 30 teams and is at the heart of the community. It is involved in education, charity work and community outreach. And at the same time, it is developing the next crop of football stars hoping to get to the top and represent our nation. The clubs many teams also offer much appreciated respite for young people across my constituency - some with learning difficulties or troubles off the pitch. To plunge the club into financial hardship would reflect very badly on you and the government.

The clubs are clearly grateful for all the support they have received thus far. But to settle them with debt and withdraw grants will stadiums remain empty, will signal to many a very uncertain and unstable future. I hope a financial settlement can be reached so clubs are not left in the lurch, and it is clear clubs require urgent grant funding to keep the season running and bring security.

Like businesses and individuals, no football club deserves to go under as a result of a pandemic beyond its control. I hope you will take urgent action to prevent this.

I look forward to your response.

Matt Western MP