PAUL Marshall is counting the costs of the big freeze in his dual role as Tadcaster Albion chairman and manager.

The Brewers have only played one Northern Counties East League first division game since mid-November – the 4-4 home draw with Rossington Main on December 12.

And, should this weekend’s Ings Road clash with Appleby Frodingham also fall foul of the weather, Marshall’s men will need to wait a further fortnight for their next scheduled home match.

About the impact on the club financially, Marshall admitted: “It’s a disaster at the moment. The club hasn’t been open so we haven’t had any revenue coming in but all the standing orders still need to be paid.

“It’s important that we get the home game on, but, the way the weather has been, that looks in doubt.”

Having held just one full training session over the past month, Marshall is also nervous about the effect inactivity might have had on his players.

He said: “We’ve had one training session on the all-weather pitch at York College and one in the snow at Tadcaster when six players turned up.

“It was too dangerous to do a great deal anyway and you can’t expect people to travel too far at the moment.

“You are relying on players to do a bit on their own but it’s been Christmas and, with us not playing games, it would have been tempting for them to have a couple more drinks and a bit more turkey.”

Albion have played fewer games than any other side in the NCEL first division, completing just 13 of their 34 fixtures going into the New Year.

Despite needing to cram their final 21 games in before April 24, though, Marshall believes his fourth-placed team can sustain a promotion push to the premier division.

He added: “I’m dreading the first few games back because I don’t know how fit the players will be but, once we get going again, I believe our squad is big enough to cope with playing every Tuesday and Saturday if we need to.

“We might have to rotate a bit like Chelsea but we always do that anyway due to injuries, unavailability and suspensions.

“We’ve got a busy January and February but we haven’t got any midweek games set for March or April so, hopefully, any more that get called off can still be fitted in then.

“Every Saturday away game you call off that has to be played on a Tuesday night presents its own problems in terms of lads getting time off work but we have five home games to finish the season off, which is a great help if we come through the next two months unscathed and are still challenging for promotion.”

Marshall is also taking measures off the pitch to ease the club’s financial concerns.

“We have founded a President’s Club, which has just started to help raise funds,” he revealed. “There will be a monthly draw with a £100 prize and we are trying to encourage people to join up.

“We are also having a Post Christmas Blues Disco on January 30 and there are other functions planned for February as well.

“Another positive is that we have not had the travel expenses that we would have needed to meet if our games at Teversal and Bottesford had been on.”