The better-supported nonleague teams are completely screwed over by this appropriation of funds. Boreham Wood's average crowd last season was 724, with one game against Sutton being attended by 407 fans. Even if they had three home games a month and had 1,000 fans in paying on average £20 a head, that would still only generate £60,000. Let's guess they earn an extra £5,000 in additional income on match days, so their income is £75,000. Now the NL is giving them £84,000, plus any streaming revenues, so it looks like they're actually better off playing behind closed doors under this arrangement. Crazy. (Again, a total coincidence that Boreham Wood is in the sports minister's constituency.)

I don't think anyone is saying "Sod the small clubs, give all the money to the big clubs." They just want a fairer distribution of the funds, as the government seemed to suggest and hence why clubs were asked to submit details of lost income. They're taking a ridiculously simplistic approach to the problem, which is patently unfair. Someone on Twitter did the math and worked out that Notts were receiving about £18 per spectator, the worst of all the National League sides. And poor old York were the worst affected of all, only receiving £13 per spectator in the NLN.

Just because a team like, say, Notts, Wrexham or Chesterfield gets bigger crowds, it doesn't automatically follow that they won't struggle just as much financially as a smaller club like Boreham Wood or Maidenhead (whose overheads are going to be a lot lower). How many NL clubs operate at a profit?

Plus, we're already seeing that streaming is something of a leveler: Sutton got 1,200 watching the Notts game, while both of our home games attracted 2,100 - about 3,000 fewer folks than we would expect for a normal Saturday fixture.

Jason Turner (and others who've complained - I've seen press releases so far from the likes of Maidstone, Chester and York) is 100% right to kvetch about this. However, it does seem emblematic of the National League, which seems happiest prioritising the smaller clubs over the bigger ones. I don't want that to be reversed; just for everyone to be given a fair crack of the whip.

This piece of small print from the deal made me laugh, though: "As a result of the funding conditions, clubs will also be required to provide and display National Lottery advertising on their channels."