TADCASTER Albion will look into applying for a grant, chairman Andy Charlesworth has confirmed.

The Government announced on Wednesday that it will give £10m in grants to clubs in Steps 3 to 6, with Tadcaster able to claim as much as £15,000 given that they are in Step 4.

Tadcaster have managed to play just eight games in the Pitching In Northern Premier League north/west division this season and all of their three home games have taken place at a reduced capacity amid coronavirus restrictions.

“We will certainly be looking,” Charlesworth said of the grants. “We’re looking at every avenue to generate whatever income we can.

“It all depends on what the criteria is. I believe, and I haven’t seen the details yet, but it looks like they (the grants) are going to be means-tested.

“They will look at what each club’s expenditure will be over the next six months.

“This could penalise well-run clubs that have put money in the bank, in favour of other clubs that aren’t well run, shall we say.

“At the moment, it’s just about the NHS surviving and then being able to make sure that we can survive sometime in the future.”

Charlesworth went on to detail the struggles that non-league clubs have been faced with due to the pandemic - the latest delay having seen NPL action postponed until at least early March.

“The majority of clubs have zero income at the moment, unless they’re running lotteries,” added Charlesworth.

“And those clubs will be insurance rates and all of their other elements to pay. That could run, for some clubs, run into thousands of pounds.

“Most clubs have had very little for the past six months, due to the stop-start season and having very limited crowds when crowds have been allowed in.

“At Tadcaster, we’ve not had the income as expected and for us to have no income now - if the season was null and voided - until July or August, clubs are surviving on very little money.

“They’ve still got to maintain their pitches and pay all of their standing orders.”

Given that the vast majority of clubs in Albion’s division have yet to play even 10 league games, a null and void verdict looks increasingly likely and it’s a position that Charlesworth supports.

He said: “It all depends upon the vaccine levels. From my understanding, the Government are looking to vaccinate all of the over 50s by the end of June.

“I can’t see the Government wanting to mix in crowds before they get a large percentage of the population vaccinated.

“And if the over 50s aren’t vaccinated until the end of June, I can’t see how they can have the crowds at football matches that we need.

“Plus, they’re never going to pay us to play behind closed doors. We need crowds there to generate the money to run the club.

“Even in a Tier system, the FA have said they won’t restart football at our level unless all clubs can have crowds in.

“There’s been talk of extending the season, but I think that’s a complete waste of time. It would be better for us to accept null and void and get ready to start next season on the right foot, when hopefully the majority of the population will have had the vaccine and we can open things up again.

“My personal view is that I can’t see it being anything other than null and void, but it has been a strange year!”