Barrow AFC manager Ian Evatt has urged the National League to make a decision with what to do with the rest of the 2019/20 season as soon as possible.

The National League have asked their 68 member clubs to inform them how much the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused the campaign to be suspended, will cost them, amid fears that the current crisis could put some of them in severe jeopardy.

The season is currently suspended until April 3, but it is almost certain that sport in this country will not resume following that date.

The Premier League, EFL and the women’s game have all extended their suspensions until April 30, and have extended their campaigns as a result, allowing them to finish beyond June.

It is unclear yet whether the National League will follow that route, but with resources in English football’s fifth and sixth tiers more scarce, it is doubtful some clubs can afford to go down it.

Evatt said: “As I’ve said before, in the interests of fairness and the spirit of competition, does it make it right that we could end up playing a season three or four months down the line - a nine-game season - where we aren’t going to be as fit and healthy as what we were before we’re finished?

“We might not have the same players available for selection, with loan players etc, and also they might get injured once we are back training.

“Are we going to be given a length of time to get fit, like pre-season, and play pre-season fixtures? We just don’t know.

“There are so many ifs, buts and maybes and I just don’t see how competitions can finish at our level and below.

“Maybe the EFL and the Premier League clubs have their own training facilities, they have enough money to sustain an indefinite break. However, I don’t think the National League and below do and there needs to be a decision made pretty quickly.”

Evatt doesn’t even know when he’ll get to see his players again, with the Bluebirds’ squad currently training individually to maintain their fitness, going along with government guidelines on ‘social distancing.’

That now includes gyms, which have been shut, meaning the players, whilst also losing match sharpness during their period, are far less able to work on their conditioning.

Evatt said: “How can I possibly keep my players fit and healthy when our training centre is a college, so that’s closed?

“Obviously, they’re at home at the moment, from government advice, so they’re training at home, but they’re not like Premier League players, who have got gyms in their own homes.

“We’ve worked tirelessly hard since I’ve been in charge on their strength and conditioning and I think that their fitness levels give us an advantage over other teams.

“Now we’re going to lose that and we’re going to lose that pretty quickly."