BRADFORD (Park Avenue) have written to the National League in support of York City, after a proposal was offered yesterday that would see their Yorkshire neighbours miss out on promotion.

It is reported that the offer to finalise the National League North would mean the league was decided on points per game (PPG), with only the team finishing top through the system (King's Lynn Town) being promoted.

It is understood that if the National League North clubs don't vote this through by Monday's deadline, then the season will be declared null and void.

It is said that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has declared that step two of the non-league pyramid (National League North and National League South) is not classified as elite sport with elite athletes - which is defined as 'an individual who derives a living from competing in a sport'.

This means any play-offs would not be allowed to occur behind closed doors, hence why they cannot be offered as part of the proposal either.

City are one of only a few professional clubs in the league and were two points clear of Town, but having played two games more, before the campaign was brought to an early end.

It is also understood that the 22 National League North clubs only have four votes between them ahead of Monday's deadline, compared to all 24 teams in the National League having one each, which has produced a feeling of strong injustice among most chairmen.

Avenue have requested an amendment, to not just the proposal, but to the ruling of the competition, which would see York promoted.

Bradford believe that if a situation like this was to occur again, as long as 75 per cent of the season is played, the league would be finalised on PPG.

And in the event that the play-offs could not be played, the team finishing second would be promoted.

Avenue's director of football Martin Knight, who attended yesterday's meeting alongside club owner Gareth Roberts, feels aggrieved after seeing the proposal, and thinks it is only right that the Minstermen should go up.

He said: "It is fundamentally unfair that the National League are suggesting York can’t get promoted. We would like to see that in there (in the amendment), if something like this were to happen again.

"For Avenue, we wouldn’t get relegated either way. For us to take that moral position, it has financial implications, because York is our biggest gate of the season.

"If they get promoted we lose that game. You have got to separate your own interests with what is morally right in very unusual circumstances.

"From a moral point of view, we think what has been offered to us is incorrect and unreasonable. If they don’t make an amendment, we won't support the proposal.

"Also, how can you have a democratic system when my vote is worth a sixth of someone in the National League? We are all members of it.

"We are being asked to vote on a resolution which is unfair and we don’t have a voice to air that.

"The National League are protecting their opinions and not those of the National League North or South, I think that is sad. The wrong here is York not getting promoted."

Another subject discussed at the meeting was the prospect of the 2020/21 campaign starting at the beginning of September.

The talks were about each club potentially having a Covid-19 officer and how the two-metre distance restriction would be kept in changing rooms, travel and within the stadia.

If the league was to come back behind closed doors, it is believed that clubs at Avenue's level would struggle financially. However, Knight thinks there is a solution.

Firstly, on the prospect of a September return, he said: "They (the National League) said it is very fluid. I think they are going to bring in a 25 per cent cap on attendance.

"For us it would be fine, but what are we going to do with the bar or the café or the club shop?

"If we can't open our bar we would lose out there, we still have to pay for stewards. There is a whole host of challenges.

"There is an appetite for the FA and the clubs to start the first week of September. What does that look like from a health and safety point of view and a financial one? Those questions weren’t answered.

"There were long conversations about live streaming games, for which there is an appetite from the clubs, which is a financially viable fix.

"But the challenge is the contract between the National League and the BT Sport."