JASON MCGILL is confident York City can survive the rest of the season without fans - but has expressed dismay at the distribution of funds across National League clubs.

The money from Norwich City sale of Ben Godfrey to Everton and budgeting for a worst-case scenario has put the Minstermen in a good position, the chairman has said.

Godfrey signed for the Toffees for a reported £25million in October. With the sell-on clause in the deal from when he went to Norwich from York in 2016, the Minstermen could have netted around 10 per cent of that fee.

“I don’t want the season to be curtailed,” McGill said. “I want us to continue to play because we’ve started the season, we’ve signed players and we’ve put a budget together. That budget didn’t take into account having any supporters through the gates because that’s the worst scenario. Anything else was a bonus.

“But I do think some football clubs will be struggling with the lack of income without having crowds.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen but I would like the season to continue.

“I think every club has got to vote for themselves. Primarily, clubs have got to still keep going and can’t go into administration or liquidation, which could be the outcome of the continuation of football without crowds.

“York City are not in that position but I can totally understand other clubs that are. They’ve got to protect their own interests.

“York City can survive.

“In 2003, when we were half an hour from being liquidated and (I was) making those calls where the Inland Revenue put the phone down on me because they weren’t prepared to accept the deal we were offering - those days, I’m very happy to say, are long gone now.

“(JM Packaging) has supported the football club and every manager we’ve had.

“We’ve had a great deal with Ben Godfrey moving from Norwich to Everton and that’s had some quite significant funding for us.

“York’s position is a lot better than a lot of other football clubs.

“We can survive without having supporters - not that we want that.”

There are meetings today between the National League and member clubs to discuss funding, which has become an issue of escalating contentiousness since the model of the first round of grants to bridge the financial gap of lost matchday receipts was announced in October last year.

It was reported that seven top-tier National League clubs were to receive £95,000 per month, with other sides being handed £84,000. York were set to receive £36,000.

Yet last season, with an average of 2,705, York’s home gate bettered that of the seventh best-supported National League side Torquay United (2,609), who were one of the proposed £95,000-earners. Averaging 724 fans last term, Boreham Wood were in line to collect £84,000 per month.

The furore has since intensified. The £10m National Lottery programme has finished, to be replaced by £11m from the Government’s Sports Winter Survival Package, which is to support 12 sports through a total of £300m of funds.

However, the large part of these funds is to be issued as loans and not grants, which some clubs say they were led to believe they would be receiving. The Department of Culture, Media & Sport have reportedly indicated to the National League that the money will indeed arrive in loans.

“I don’t feel let down by the Government,” McGill commented when asked if he felt the goalposts had shifted. “I think everything was undone in October, November, December when the National League came up with the decision to distribute the funds in the way that they thought was appropriate. I didn’t think that was appropriate and I don’t think football clubs with the crowds that we have would have thought that was appropriate.

“The Government had stated, in my opinion, categorically that the monies were to come in to support the football clubs for lack of attendances.

“Well, how can a club that gets an average of 700 get three times more funding than us when we’re getting 2,600? I can’t get my head around that.”