MID-Cheshire’s semi-professional football clubs have spoken in favour of using a points-per-game (PPG) system to decide the outcome of the season if it is once again terminated due to coronavirus.

The news comes after the Football Association circulated a letter to all clubs in Steps 3-6 of the National League System to consult on the issue, in light of heightened restrictions across the country.

The clubs’ responses are only being used to gauge opinion, and do not constitute a vote for or against.

The letter asks: “If a full season cannot be completed, and season 2020/2021 is terminated, does your club believe…

1) …the season should be declared null and void?

2) …there should be a threshold of matches which, if met, a mechanism (such as PPG) should be used to determine final league places?”

Although some clubs have not submitted a formal response to the letter, there is a consensus that the season should not be voided if possible.

Supporters of PPG include Witton Albion Chairman John Salmon, who opposed using the same system at the end of last season.

He said: “This time around I’m looking at it slightly differently, and not because Witton Albion are doing better than last year.

“We can’t go on having to null and void, so I have opted for PPG if there’s 25 per cent or fewer games left.”

Salmon’s counterparts lower down the football pyramid agree, with some of them in favour of using PPG as early as halfway through the season.

Winsford United’s Ray Duckworth said: “We’re swaying towards PPG, but it’s about three months too late.

“It should’ve been done in the summer.

“How 1874 Northwich didn’t get promoted is beyond me.

“But we didn’t get any discussion into it, did we?

“We just got told it was null and void.”

1874 Northwich’s Club Secretary Vicki England echoed Duckworth’s opinion and said: “We wouldn’t want ourselves or any club to get to the point we were at, after all the effort, and have it wiped away.

“We canvassed our board, we canvassed our management and we’re unanimously in favour of PPG.”

Finally, Northwich Victoria Chairman Brian Turner branded another voided season as “unacceptable”.

“It’s got to be PPG.

“That’s the only thing we can do,” he said. “But I’m crossing my fingers we plod on.”

By Jack Tooth