Thomas feels season will resume behind closed doors - but admits it's the 'worst case' financially for Cobblers

The EFL and Premier League seasons have been on hold since the second week in March due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Town haven't played since losing 2-1 to Mansfield Town on March 7, and the players haven't trained as a group since the following weekend.

With nine games of the regular season still to be played, Keith Curle's men are in the play-off positions in Sky Bet League Two and Thomas admits that for 'the integrity of the competition', the season should be completed.

That is easier said than done though, with no sign of the Government lifting lockdown restrictions, meaning the chances of supporters being allowed to attend matches in anything like the the near future is very slim.

Thomas believes there are three possible scenarios on the table.

Wait until it is safe for the public to attend matches and finish the season, start playing out the season behind closed doors. or to null and void the entire campaign - and the final one of those he sees as a complete non-starter.

So what does the Cobblers chairman feel could be the answer?

"There has been quite a lot of media speculation, and I know the EFL have been doing a tremendous amount of work on what could happen," said Thomas, speaking from his home in Florida.

"As a lot of people have said, the virus itself will dictate exactly what is going to happen, and I think the EFL have spoken about needing 56 days to complete the season.

"I know there has been an early June start date that has been mooted in the media, and you would be hopeful we could get to that point.

"But there are so many moving parts to that conversation, in terms of contracts, in terms of players' fitness, in terms of players' mental health, in terms of how many games you play in that period of time, etc, etc.

"The other big question is whether or not fans will be permitted in the stadium, and that is going to have a big impact on clubs, and is going to have a big impact on finances.

"From a financial perspective, playing games behind closed doors is probably the worst case, because you have all the costs, but you don't have the income.

"Some of that could be mitigated through streaming (the games) on iFollow, although you would expect that season-ticket holders would be able to watch the game online for free.

"There would be a charge for non-season-ticket holders, but that would only mitigate some of that loss, and would still create some challenges within football clubs."

Thomas feels there is going to be little option to resume the campaign behind closed doors, in the hope that fans will be allowed back into stadia as the resumed season progresses.

"If I was pushed on it, I would probably be swayed to say that the games would probably be staged behind closed doors to begin with," said the Town chairman.

"The general consensus is that it is starting to move in that direction the longer the restrictions go on.

"It is very, very difficult to get from being having to be six feet apart, to suddenly saying it is okay for 8,000 people to go and watch a football match on a Saturday afternoon.

"That is quite a big jump and there are clearly quite a few steps to go through to get there.

"I am not sure you are going to be able to go through those steps by June, or even July, because none of us have ever seen anything like this, so we don't know.

"There are the three options, which is to obviously restart the season and fans can go in the ground, play behind closed doors, or you null and void the season.

"They are all not perfect situations, and we would always prefer, for the integrity of the competitions, that the season finishes."