DEAN KEATES admits football chiefs will have difficult decisions to make the longer the season is suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The National League campaign has been halted until April 3 at the earliest due to the pandemic, with the Wrexham players issued with strict training regimes to complete at their home locations.

Several alternatives, including declaring the current standings final, have been discussed if games cannot be completed.

Keates insists that would be wrong with Wrexham, 20th in the fifth tier and just one point above the relegation zone, having games in hand on teams around them.

"There are teams like Barnet with a lot of games in hand, we have got games in hand ourselves," said Keates.

"If you win games in hand, the league table looks a lot different when you have played the same amount of games as everybody else.

"There are massive calls to be made and difficult decisions.

"Ultimately, that is why people are on these panels to make these decisions and the right decision needs to be made for everybody.

"How that works or how that happens, I have no idea."

Inconsistency had been a feature of the National League this term and Keates feels the current table would look a lot different if the season was played to a conclusion.

"You look at teams at the top and the bottom playing each other, one thing this season has been is unpredictable," said Keates.

"Anybody can beat anybody on any given day so it is going to be hard saying 'you would possibly have picked up points that game'.

"I think every team in this division fancies themselves in every game to pick up points."

Keates feels the biggest drawback to extending the National League season, which is due to finish on April 25, is the length of players' contracts.

Some players at non-league clubs are only contracted to the final game of the season.

"The contracts are a little bit different in our league and I would say the vast majority of clubs only give 40 or 44 week contracts, depending on when you finish your last game of the season," said Keates.

"We have a few shorter-term contracts in our squad, it has always operated like that, but we have got a fair few on 52 week contracts.

"It is something that needs to be understood because the longer it goes on, when you get to the end of April contracts are due to finish.

"Football League and Premier League contracts go to the end of June so it does open it up for their leagues to be extended.

"It comes down to a financial decision with the length of contracts at football clubs, that will be the biggest stumbling block in our division; not just ourselves, everybody in the division.

"It will be interesting to see what our league does because it is all going to be about timescale."