North West Counties have confirmed the 3rd October as their start date for the new season.
The North West Counties set the provisional opening day a few weeks ago following new Government restrictions put in place in Greater Manchester, Kirklees, Bradford and Calderdale.
Although even more stringent controls have been placed on parts of the North West in the past 48 hours, the league have decided to clarify plans.
Now spectators can enter Non League grounds, that is one major stumbling blocks cleared.
The question of how the North West Counties, along with most other leagues, can complete a full season remains to be seen. With the season starting midway through autumn, bad weather could easily appear pretty quickly and then there’s still the issue of local lockdowns and teams having to self-isolate, for starters.
One part of the fixture congestion has been removed by the withdrawal of the league’s cup competitions for this season.