Hucknall Town boss says side will be ready to go whenever football returns

Hucknall Town boss Andy Graves has vowed that his side will be ready to go when football returns.
Hucknall Town manager Andy Graves says his side will be ready to go when football returns. Photo: Eric GregoryHucknall Town manager Andy Graves says his side will be ready to go when football returns. Photo: Eric Gregory
Hucknall Town manager Andy Graves says his side will be ready to go when football returns. Photo: Eric Gregory

The Yellows are unsure when their next match will be after the EMCFL suspended action pending the next Government tier review.

But Graves says his players will keep fit and ready for when the call to return comes.

“There is not much we can do about it,” he said. “We expected the season to be suspended and we will have to see what happens with the next review.

“We will prepare ourselves and be ready for when we get the go-ahead.

“We are in the hands of other people, it is not in our control.

“It is very frustrating, there is nothing we can do other than keep fit individually. I can’t see anything starting until the end of January.

“You can’t make people play and people have to assess things individually.”

The Town boss now hopes for an extension to the season to allow the campaign to run to a natural conclusion.

“We always have to have the season done by May, but surely it can be extended this season and we just have a smaller break,” he said.

“I can’t see that causing any problems. Most lads are raring to get back, at our level it shouldn’t really be an issue.

“I don’t see why we can’t conclude the season. Even if next season starts later it won’t have much impact - we started this year.

“It might be a bit stop start but we don’t want a null and void season, we want it concluded this year but we will see, it is out of our hands.”

Graves was left frustrated when Town’s planned match against Gedling on December 30 fell foul of a frozen pitch.

"The weather intervened, as much as we tried the pitch was rock hard,” he said.

"The sun did not get to the goalmouth at the clubhouse end. We were all ready to go for that one so we were a bit gutted.

“I went down midday and the pitch was rock hard. The chairman was working on it right until the referee did his inspection.

"We were all ready to go. The club was ready and had all the procedures in place as usual, but there was no escaping the weather. We had looked sharp and ready.”

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