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League 1 clubs are voting whether to end the season and Gillingham manager Steve Evans will accept whatever they decide

Gillingham manager Steve Evans will accept whatever decision comes their way.

Clubs in League 1 are voting whether or not to curtail the current campaign.

Gillingham manager Steve Evans will accept whatever decision comes their way Picture: Ady Kerry
Gillingham manager Steve Evans will accept whatever decision comes their way Picture: Ady Kerry

Evans’ side haven’t played since early March and a decision on whether they play again this season is expected soon.

The Gills boss said: "The vote is simple. Do we play football at an agreed time scale, Gills have got nine games left and we get on with it, or does the league stop and points per game average is put onto the teams. The top two are promoted and the next four take part in a play-off campaign.

"I have made my feelings clear to the chairman that I want to play football, I want to get back to work, the players are ready but if it goes against us, if it does go to play-offs and we are not involved then we can, to a degree, plan for next season.

"I have been in this game a long time and you don’t always get what you want, I could go over the season and see things that didn’t go out way, including four or five penalties, but I am sure every manager is the same.

"Our chairman has worked hard, he has been with the chief exec, he has been on and off the phone a number of times, talking expenditure and he has calculated the numbers so that he can make the decision first and foremost, what is right for Gillingham Football Club, and what is right for football and that there is integrity and rationale all over it.

"He has to make the decisions that are right for the football club that go beyond football. There are hundreds of employees at the club for starters and I don’t want to play football at the detriment of 50 people at the Gills losing their job because of cost.

“If we have to stop playing football then at least for me there would be a large protection of jobs and we can plan and get ready.”

If the season is ended now and the league table is decided on points per game average then the Gills would finish 10th.

Evans will then be free to plan ahead for a new season, whenever that may be. He thinks it could be in September if the virus’ infection rates continue to drop as they are.

He said: “I would be buzzing if I get the call and we can get the players back in.

“If they say we are done, then I will respect it and we will have meeting individually at a distance with the players to outline their future with us. They will be desperate to know.

“I have seen some written observations from some top scientists and seen what is happening in different countries and if we keep making the progress that we are, and don’t do what Dominic Cummings does, if we keep sensible, then I could see us starting football again in September.

“I could see crowds in at the back end of the year, October November, maybe not initially to start with for a few games, to see how it settles down, but if we keep making the same progress thought that we have done in the last three or four weeks there will be crowds in during September."

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