Staveley boss cannot wait for return to home ground

Brett Marshall says Staveley will have a massive boost by returning home.

The Trojans are yet to play a game at their Inkersall Road ground this season as major improvement work is carried out.

But the NCEL side is now just days away from having the work complete, which features a new 3G pitch and floodlights as well as enhanced drainage, parking and clubhouse facilities.

“The ground looks superb, it will be unbelievable,” Marshall said. “It looks really smart and we can’t wait to play there.

“We have got a great place to train now and it puts us in a different mindset.

“We haven’t been at Staveley since March and it has been tough.

“We haven't been in the clubhouse, we haven't been in the ground. It will be great news to be back there.

We just want to get playing football and get people back.”

But Marshall feels uncertain as to when football will resume and does not expect to be back in early December.

“Lockdown is disappointing but not unexpected,” he said. “The season is stop start stop start and I'm not sure we will be back playing on 5th December.

“The priority for non elite football will not be high up on the PM’s agenda.

“We have just gone back to the start and full circle, but from Staveley’s point of view, it will mean our ground is completed.”

And he fears it could mean a fixture backlog for some clubs later in the campaign.

“We don’t know what the weather will be like,” he added. “In a perfect world all games will be on and people will play midweek and weekend.

“A few games off will put it out of sync and it will be hard to fit games in. From our point of view we should rarely get games called off

“We have a lot of games to pull back, but we can soon pull it back because we wont get a waterlogged pitch.

“We will play as often as we need to play, but you have got to be sensible about it.

“When you look at us, there are teams in the NWCFL who have played less than us.

“It is going to be difficult, especially if leagues get rejigged. How does it happen if the league is split? There are questions to be answered.”