EASTLEIGH manager Ben Strevens has told his players that they are in a “blessed position to give people enjoyment” and wants to keep playing on if conditions are safe to do so.

The National League has joined the Premier League and EFL in seeing match postponements due to rising cases of COVID discovered within playing and staff squads.

Both Chesterfield vs Notts County and Grimsby vs Boreham Wood were postponed midweek for that reason, while only four of 10 Premier League fixtures got underway in the most recent round of games.

However, the Premier League and EFL have announced now that their intention is to carry on staging fixtures whenever possible.

Asked for his opinion on whether football should continue, Strevens responded: “Truthfully I don’t know.

Daily Echo: Eastleigh manager Ben Strevens (Pic: Tom Mulholland)Eastleigh manager Ben Strevens (Pic: Tom Mulholland)

“I spoke out two years ago when we played away at Notts County and I was very opinionated and people had a go at me for it. It led into all sort of things, us going into lockdown and stuff like that.

“It’s a tough time at the moment for everyone, being selfish I want to carry on to a bit of normality for everyone.”

He added: “We’re in a blessed position, I just said that to the boys, in terms of we can give people some enjoyment to watch games of football – paramount is people’s safety, of course it is.

“I’m no scientist but I’m told the infection rate is high but it doesn’t seem as serious in terms of hospitalisations and deaths but I suppose we have just got to keep our eyes on it.

“But like I say, we want to keep playing and if we have to stop we will stop. I do think this is something that can bring some happiness to people and that is something we want to bring.”

Strevens’ latest comments come after he received some backlash back in March 2020, when he revealed his surprise that the National League hadn’t been postponed indefinitely like the four divisions above had – following his side’s 4-0 defeat at Notts County.

The Spitfires boss said at the time that he felt his comments had been misinterpreted as him labelling the league as ‘greedy’, after he suggested that money was the primary factor for the league continuing to proceed for an extra week at the start of the pandemic.