Poppies boss Cox is planning for a September return

Kettering Town manager Paul Cox. Picture by Peter Short

While no official date has been set by the National League for the start of next season, it is understood that clubs have been advised to plan for a return during September.

The 2019-20 campaign was cut short due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the league tables were finalised yesterday (Wednesday) with the Poppies being confirmed in 19th place in the National League North.

It proved to be a job well done by Cox who arrived at Latimer Park with Kettering fully entrenched in the bottom two at the end of October after a poor start which resulted in the sacking of previous manager Nicky Eaden.

Cox is now plotting the way ahead for his first full season at the helm.

The season seems highly unlikely to start on the original date of August 8 and Cox says September has been the month he has been planning towards for a number of weeks now.

“We have been planning for that, to be honest,” the Kettering manager said.

“I have kept an eye on everything and how the virus has been affecting society in general. With the way things have gone, I envisaged we would probably be looking at September so we have had it pencilled in.

“What we are looking to do now is really put something in place where everyone knows what we will be doing for pre-season and, in the meantime, we will get the boys in for one or two sessions to see where they are physically.

“What we don’t want to do is be caught cold.

“In my opinion, there has been an erraticness about it all and I just wish someone would name a date.

“I know it’s hard because there is a concern over a second spike but if, for example, they said ‘September 19 is our start date’ then we would all be able to plan towards something.

“Everyone would understand if it had to be put back because of a second wave. No-one thinks they are bigger than this virus.

“It would just be good to have a date to be able to plan towards.

“But we have always had September in our heads and, in the meantime, we will be monitoring the fitness of the players we have got signed on."