YORK City manager Steve Watson has said not finishing the season after the work put in to get it off the ground would be "soul-destroying" for many.

The fate of the 2020/21 National League North campaign hangs in the balance as teams from Steps 1 and 2 vote on the league's resolution to consider the end of the season.

It is currently estimated that 22 teams from the National League's North and South divisions are in favour of declaring the season null and void, with 18 opposed. This tally does not reflect how teams will vote on Resolution One (for the two Steps to vote separately on their own seasons), which further muddies predictions.

York are known to be in favour of seeing the season through to completion but have not made their vote public.

The season has been a bumpy road thus far, getting going only in early October after the league secured a grant from the National Lottery. Anticipated further funding was then confirmed to be coming in the main as loans, angering clubs who expected more grants. Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston suggested this expectation was brought on by miscommunication and that the Government promised no such thing.

A two-week suspension to Step 2 playing activity was introduced but a few clubs have seen little reason to pick up fixtures again with the debate ongoing.

Farsley Celtic, whom York were due to host today, are one of the teams to refuse to play. The fixture is now postponed on the National League's website.

Asked what he would like to hear from the National League in such uncertain circumstances, Watson said: "We've got limited knowledge because we're not involved in all the meetings and don't see all the paperwork.

"I suppose the only thing that would guarantee the league to be starting would be for grants to be given but I do understand there must be a reason why that's not possible.

"I would say that's the only way of guaranteeing we'd all be able to carry on.

"Unless it's absolutely financially impossible to see the season through, we all need to try our very best to get that done.

"To get this season going, to be promised a season to do our best to finish from starting it, to potentially finishing it not even halfway through, it's soul-destroying for a lot of people.

"We've all got a responsibility to do absolutely everything we can to get it going."

Dulwich Hamlet, of the National League South, face charges for missing two fixtures, and North division side Southport could face one charge if they do not host Kettering Town today.

Concord Rangers have also been issued with a charge for not playing last Saturday but chairman Ant Smith has hit back and written to the league's interim general manager Mark Ives that the club will not be answering the charge.

Smith said he told Ives before the fixture that Concord would not play until the club had Covid testing in place and that the league's subsequent announcement (reported on Saturday evening) of free testing for clubs highlighted Concord's "just cause".