Ebbsfleet chief executive Damian Irvine believes the National League need to do whatever it takes to finish the season - including providing more detail on potential loan options.

After an informal canvassing of opinion at the end of last week, the National League halted the North and South season for a fortnight on Friday, giving clubs little more than 24 hours' notice to postpone the weekend's fixtures.

They also took the option of loans to clubs or the National League off the table - a decision Irvine believes was done in haste.

"It was never a vote last week - all that was suggested after the meeting when we were told that there isn't an additional grant from DCMS was that they asked clubs to submit their opinions," he said.

"We were very grateful for the government funding before Christmas and if there was further help again in the form of a grant or loan then we'd have been happy to accept that.

"The overwhelming feedback of clubs was that they didn't want to take on loans and on that basis the National League board said that we'd take the option of loans off the table.

"The difficulty is when clubs were canvassed for their opinion, due to the urgency of the information, there was little details of the repercussions and clubs didn't understand with certainty what might be offered in the future."

Many clubs have been quite vocal about refusing to carry additional debt, even if it meant relatively low repayments over a long period of time.

It's a scenario many businesses have had to take on in order to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, and Irvine sees no reason why football should be treated any differently.

"(We want) as much information on the table around finances in detail as to what is on offer from DCMS," he added.

"We were told there was potential for 10 or 20 years to loan the money, and a honeymoon of two years, which they were going to lobby to extend to four years.

"It was a two per cent loan and if you don't pay a penny back for two to four years it gives clubs time to organise their cashflow.

"If the grant option has been taken away, we need more information on loans, then clubs can vote formally with all the details and information to hand.

"During this pandemic, which has lasted nearly 12 months now, every industry has been affected. Every business has had a massive revenue hole, not least the leisure industry, the restaurant and pub sector.

"Anyone who runs a football club and expects to trade without future debt or liability (at the moment) is expecting to operate on totally different business terms to every other business in the country.

"If you are a restaurateur, you've had to take out every loan available from the government. It's just what businesses have to do - it's not unique to football."

Ebbsfleet are clear that they want the National League South season to resume.

There was a clamour among clubs at the end of last season to complete the play-offs - a scenario that saw the Fleet cruelly relegated on points per game - and a desire to start the season in October.

"Our view is that because we started the season, we should complete the season," said Irvine.

"We understand the costs involved in running our club and knew that the revenue would not cover expenses this season. But we expect to do whatever is necessary to finish the rest of the season.

"A big part of the argument in the summer was about maintaining the integrity of promotion and relegation between all leagues - that's what the '#Promote2' clubs were vocal about.

"To pause or stop the season now, it's too early to do points per game. To suspend and not finish now would contradict everything that everyone fought for in the summer, including playing the play-offs at all costs."

Ebbsfleet benefit from outside funding via chairman Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi and his KEH Sports Limited company.

There have been issues in the past with late payments to players and staff along with transfer embargoes but Fleet fans will be grateful his backing is giving the club added security in uncertain times.

Irvine added: "Like all businesses we are feeling the effect of a drop in revenue but the club continues to be funded - that's the bottom line. That's been cause for criticism in the past during tougher times but it needs to be the case now for acknowledgement to retain our current status."

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