Also gives us time to sort our squad out, who wants to leave and get players in to replace those wanting to jump ship
I know it's de rigeur on Notts MAD to slag off the management of the National League as out of date old f a r t s but I think the decision to hold back the new season until early October will prove to be a wise move.
For one thing, it gives clubs a proper chance to regroup and assess their financial circumstances. For another, it allows for lessons to be learned from the EFL who, by then, will be several weeks in front.
Then there is the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19. It will be devastating if a new season is interrupted by a further lockdown in such a short time. By October, we should have a clearer view of the landscape.
Probably most important of all is that October 3rd enables players and staff to have a close season comprising two months.
Also gives us time to sort our squad out, who wants to leave and get players in to replace those wanting to jump ship
As well as hopefully being able to have fans at games which is much more important to clubs in the lower leagues than to those in the top flight.
The late start makes me wonder when the finish will be, because we had already played 14 league games (over 30% of the season) by the end of September last year. It looks certain to be a very congested fixture list, which should be in our favour as we will have a depth of squad better equipped to cope with it than most at this level.
The provisional dates for 2020-21 are Oct 3 - May 29, with play-offs in June.
The great unknowns are the second COVID wave and potential arrival of a vaccine. If proper protocols are followed, there's no way a vaccine will be ready this year (though the Russians and Chinese may ignore those protocols and rush-release their vaccines - which sounds like the plot for a zombie movie).
If we do have to go into lockdown again in winter, and it's like the previous one (or worse), we won't even get half of the season played, which would presumably render everything null and void. Or maybe the cheeto-in-chief is right and the virus will miraculously just disappear one day - otherwise, a lot of football clubs will.
Ultimately nobody knows if its a smart or move or not as nobody has not one clue whats going to happen with the virus.
The lower down the pyramid you go, the more games are postponed due to bad weather. Barnet were struggling to get a home game on for weeks and look at the Fylde fiasco. A bad winter this year will be devastating. They should skip all cup competitions this season.