Cox so proud as Poppies players stay focused as some go unpaid during season's suspension

Paul Cox has piled the praise onto his Kettering Town players who are continuing to train during the suspension of the Vanarama National League North season - even though some of them won’t be being paid.

The Poppies’ league campaign was put on hold for two weeks last Friday due to a number of clubs at Step 2 being concerned at a lack of funding to support them while games continue to be played behind closed doors during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While no resolution seems to have been found so far, the suspension of the league is due to end next Friday ahead of Kettering’s scheduled home game with Chester.

And while it remains unclear whether the season will indeed resume, Cox is keen to ensure his players are ready for whenever the moment comes.

“I had to have a really honest conversation with the players,” the Poppies boss said.

“In the period where we don’t play, as people know at our level, there are some of the players who don’t get paid.

“I would rather look the lads in the eye and tell them the truth rather than fabricate things.

“So we told them the situation but we said we would try to do things as professionally as possible. There are a lot of them who aren’t going to get paid so they were given the option to stay at home.

“We trained on Saturday and it has been heartwarming seeing the way they have responded.

“It is tough. The economic climate isn’t good, the boys will have to put their own petrol money in but I was over the moon and not just with the lads turning up but with their application as well.

“I just think people think this job is easy and we just show up on a Saturday.

“But there is an awful lot of planning that goes into it. We are supposed to be playing a week on Saturday and still we’ve heard nothing. I guess we'll just be told next Thursday and will be expected to get on with it.

“We have got this ‘elite’ tag but the whole thing is anything but ‘elite’. I think there is an awful lot that needs to be learned from this period we have been through.

“At the same time, we have talked to our group about how lucky we are at this minute.

“I find myself being hypocritical at times because my children aren’t allowed into school at the moment yet I am allowed to wander up and down the country for football and that does resonate around my head in terms of the hypocrisy of it.

“But I can’t speak more highly of this group. They are putting their hands in their pockets to get into training.

“It really does change my spirits when I look at this game, a game that has a snobbery in it at the moment where it is all about money.

“Some people want to come down and have a look at some of these players who are doing it for the love of the game.

“There is that bit of freedom and they are fortunate to be able to come out on a Saturday or a Wednesday and get rid of the blockages that can happen when you’re holed up at home.

“But it’s put a smile on my face to see these boys going above and beyond.

“Footballers are always tagged with ‘oh, they’re doing it for the money’. These boys aren’t doing it for the money, they are just being professional but, more importantly, they have just been a joy to work with during this strange period.”