CITY insist League Two must wake up from any talk of “hibernation”.

With the financial situation approaching critical in the lower divisions, Grimsby chairman Philip Day has called for the season to be suspended.

Fans remain shut out of grounds - with no sign of a possible return date - and Day fears clubs will suffer even more if they are required to pay for extra COVID testing.

City’s game at Blundell Park scheduled for this Saturday was called off at the start of the week because the Mariners are self-isolating after young midfielder Jock Curran tested positive.

City’s director of communications and commercial Ryan Sparks said: “Stopping the season will have dramatic consequences from what I understand.

“There could be consequences that we don’t come back from.

“Where will the central funding come from if there is nothing to fund?

“Do we need bail-outs in this division? Possibly, but will those come if we aren’t providing a product to bail out?"

Clubs are waiting to discover if the Premier League will be offering any rescue package and what terms it will be under. They hope to find out within the next fortnight.

EFL chairman Rick Parry has predicted some will “go to the wall” if there is no £250 million cash injection pretty quickly, either from the top flight or via the government.

Two former FA chairmen and Sunderland co-owner Charlie Methven are among a group of 17 people who have written to culture secretary Oliver Dowden warning that clubs face going out of business if they continue to play without crowds.

But as League Two representatives met to air their concerns yesterday, City say the biggest issue would be not completing the campaign.

Sparks added: “There is a cost of testing and it’s not cheap but safety is important.

“Potentially that needs to be looked at and I believe Rick Parry has said something publicly along those lines.

“He also said that if we choose hibernation or winding down our operation, it might be the end of League One and League Two as we know it - and I agree with him.

“If we collectively follow the correct protocols and procedures, we might have to tighten up on testing but we’ll be led by the authorities on that.”

Stuart McCall is refusing to contemplate the prospect of the season being stopped again.

The City boss said: “I don’t want to be that pessimistic but obviously there is that Doomsday scenario. There’s no doubt some clubs will fold if that did happen.

“But I like to be positive, hopefully we’ll have this mini-lockdown and get back on top of the (COVID) rate.

“It’s an ever-changing thing, who’s to say what will happen in a month if the numbers have come back down again.

“Likewise, if it keeps on spiking we might have to do a full lockdown again. Nobody knows.”