Statement: National League Support Funding

Earlier this week we received details of the support package being made available to National League club's to compensate for the impact of playing behind closed doors. Firstly we'd like to thank the National League, The FA and The National Lottery for working together to provide this funding.

Over the past seven months the club has faced into unprecedented challenges, as have so many other clubs across the country. We have continued to incur significant costs whilst receiving no meaningful football or social club revenue. The response of everyone at our club has been amazing as we've prepared our stadium and team for the step up to the top tier of non-league football. The incredible amount of money contributed by supporters to the StoneShare fundraising scheme has been a critical factor in helping shape our squad. Thanks go to everyone who has played a party to help get us to where we are today.

The funding we will receive helps to mitigate the impact of our current operating restrictions however we must continue to manage our finances with prudence and work on maximising the revenues that are available to us to protect our financial stability. We will continue to try and strike the important balance between supporting Dean and Stuart put out a side we can all be proud of and ensuring the club exists in a healthy state for future years. This is a lifeline rather than a windfall and one for which we're very grateful.

The club very much looks forward to welcoming fans back to The Vale when it is safe to do so and this funding helps ensures that many clubs including ours can continue to operate until that time.