BRADFORD (Park Avenue) are just waiting on the Football Association's green light to signal that they won't be relegated from the Vanarama National League North.

It is understood that the National League have already informed Bradford that they have recommended to the FA that there should be no team going down from tier two of the National League System (which Bradford are in).

Yesterday, it was confirmed that South Shields had been unsuccessful in their legal bid to earn promotion to the National League North.

Shields were 12 points clear at the top of the Northern Premier League and destined to go up to Avenue's league, before the FA decided to void the 2019/20 campaign for steps three to seven of the non-league pyramid.

The Mariners produced a legal challenge but an arbitration hearing dismissed the claims, and the North East club will now remain in the Northern Premier League.

After the EFL confirmed that they had curtailed the League One and Two seasons yesterday using a points per game system (PPG), the National League are set to have a virtual meeting tomorrow.

Bradford's director of football Martin Knight and club owner Gareth Roberts are set to be in attendance.

Knight admits he saw flaws in Shields' case and fully expects his club to be playing in the National League North next season.

He said: "I thought the case from a legal standpoint was always a stretch. I think they had a case from a moral point of view, as they were long way above the next team in their league, like the Liverpool situation.

"I understand their frustration but I was never confident they were going to overturn the legal situation.

"Although it has not been confirmed, we know the National League have recommended to the FA that there should be no relegation from tier two and they are waiting for ratification from the FA.

"We have always been planning to be in National League North next season."

The choices for the 22 National League North clubs to consider when finalising the season include PPG, where two go up automatically with no play-offs, PPG with play-offs or null and void.

Knight expects the first option to be voted through, after calculating what it would cost for clubs to go through a play-off system.

He added: "I have been speaking to some of the CEO’s in the league about the cost of the play-offs. They would have to test their 40 players twice a week for a month and it is £125 a test.

"The cost for one team to participate in the play-offs is about £50,000-£70,000, on top of their wage bill.

"Whether you have got four chairmen who are willing to spend that money on the possibility of getting promoted through a play-off system, I personally don’t see that happening at our level.

"I think the votes will go PPG with two up automatically. That would be the correct sporting result and financial result."

As for next season, Knight thinks Avenue may only be playing 19 other teams, assuming they remain in the National League North as expected.

He said: "We will have two up (to League Two) from the National League. I think they will do one promoted and play-offs for the other spot because they are full time teams.

"The question is what do they do with National League North or South with no teams coming up (like South Shields etc)? Potentially we think we might be playing next year with 20 teams instead of 22."