The Witton Column – by Paul Harper

FIRST it was storms and now it’s COVID-19.

There was no football again last week, and it looks like it could be some time before we see the return of the beautiful game.

As much as we are missing the football, it fades into insignificance given the current landscape.

The most important thing at this time is to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible, so I urge all Wittoners to follow the guidelines set out because we want to see you all back and raring to go when football returns at Wincham Park, whenever that may be.

With no football, means no gate receipts for the club and of course, with strict restrictions on social gatherings, it also means that the Social Club is currently inactive too.

Chairman John Salmon released a statement at the end of last week to outline the club’s position, which is worth a read on the club website if you have yet to see it.

The weather meant that we missed out on a number of home matches before this, so we have not played a home league match since February 1.

With gate receipts and bar takings on matchday a big part of the club’s income, like for all non-league clubs, this is a hard hit to take.

Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, we will have a fundraising page in place to accept any donations supporters may wish to place to help the club during this difficult period.

We’ll look to do things like prize draws open to anyone generous enough to help us through, and we also are putting other plans in place to ensure we are in a stable position.

As the chairman said in his statement, “I know that together nothing can defeat us and that we will overcome this difficult situation.”

From a personal perspective as the club’s media officer, we are currently putting together as much content as we can via various creative ways to keep supporters connected to the club – and hopefully entertained – during this period.

We’ve been simulating games on video games, joining in various competitions against other clubs and I’ve been busy contacting the players for interviews.

I’m working my way through the squad, and you will be able to read these on the club website.

As I said at the top of this article, football pales into insignificance at this time so please stay safe and healthy and we’ll be back as soon as we can be with the beautiful game.