We finally got the news we didn’t want this week with the announcement that the Betfred League One season has been cancelled.

Everyone at Barrow Raiders is disappointed with the decision. We had done so much work to promote the season, to assemble a promotion-winning squad and then got off to such a good start with a fully fit, healthy squad.

At least now the uncertainty is over and we can now start planning for the celebratory competition recognising the game’s 125th anniversary.

We have got two options; we can feel miserable for ourselves and moan about the decision and ridicule the replacement competition or we can embrace it and get our mindset right to have a strong push at winning the thing.

I know we are in a lower division than Championship clubs, but this competition gives us the perfect opportunity to match ourselves against some higher ranked teams and give our fans and supporters something back for their incredible loyalty.

I genuinely believe we have some of the most loyal followers in the game and I cannot thank them enough how they have stuck by the club.

From a personal point of view, I am just keen to see Barrow Raiders back in action, whether that be a league campaign, a cup competition, or friendlies. I am sure most people share my view and cannot wait for their live rugby fix.

I am a big believer in giving everything you do in life 100 per cent and I have already had a conversation with Paul Crarey. He shares my view and we will be preparing intensely with a new pre-season in September and we’re going to give this competition our absolute best shot.

From the players point of view, there are contracts to be won and how the players return to training and action could be decisive in deals for 2021.

It is going to be a very tough year in 2021. As a board, we need to sit down and do some budget analysis and inevitably I think there will be income reductions across the board.

We have already been told from the RFL to expect around a 20 per cent reduction from central distributions and we need to decide what our stance will be on season ticket sales and sponsorship packages.

Clearly, we haven’t delivered what was paid for this year and we are just hoping that tremendous loyalty I mentioned means everyone sticks by the club and keeps us in a strong position.

We have already seen that every club in Super League has negotiated wage reductions for their players. Add in the scrapping of the reserve league next year and there will be a lot of players in the market without a great deal of money to go round.

It is inevitable that there is a recession around the corner and with-it massive job losses. The correlation is that sponsorship and crowds will drop throughout the game and some clubs are going to massively struggle.

Unfortunately for players, there will be less opportunities and smaller salaries. I am just hoping that all the hard work we have put in recently, together with the backing of our supporters, enables to stay relatively strong in terms of recruitment.