JAMES JENNINGS doesn’t expect the new National League campaign to kick-off any time soon with behind closed doors football a non-starter.

A Government update stated that step two of easing the current lockdown measure - which will not happen before June 1 - includes “permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact”.

But clubs operating outside of the wealthy top tiers of the game are heavily reliant on revenue generated by supporters on match days.

“It was inevitable that the season would be ended early once we went into lockdown,” said Jennings, out of contract at Wrexham this summer. “It was always going to be difficult to restart it once that happened.

“It’s impossible to play behind closed doors at our level as well with no revenue coming in from fans. Financially clubs can’t keep going without the supporters.

“There is talk about next season, but when will that start? It will only start again when crowds are able to come and watch, so it could be a while before football returns.”

Jennings saw his season effectively ended on the first day of February as he suffered a knee injury against Dagenham and Redbridge.

The 32-year-old would have been fit enough to feature in the final couple of games, although the experienced defender is unsure whether he would be willing to take to the field any time soon given the current climate.

The Bundesliga in Germany returned over the weekend, while the Premier League are pushing ahead with plans to finish the season with a June 12 start date.

Asked what he would say if told the season was starting next weekend, Jenning said: “The first thought would be ‘Yeah, great’, but then you have to think about the bigger picture.

“You only have to look at the Premier League. There is talk of it returning and you think ‘I’d love to see it back on the television, even behind closed doors’.

“But it’s not really fair on the players, who have families to think of and are potentially putting themselves at risk.

“Hopefully everything settles down and there is no chance of a second spike.”

While Wrexham’s 2019/20 National League season is over, Jennings’ brother, Connor, and Tranmere Rovers are waiting to see what the Football League decide on the future of League One after League Two was ended.

League One clubs are to meet again today after last week’s initial meeting ended without an agreement in place.

There has been speculation that the third-tier could also end immediate with points per game deciding promotion and relegation. Rovers currently occupy the final relegation spot and would be demoted to League Two as a result.

“It changes day by day at the moment,” said Jennings. “The Premier League is waiting on the Government, the EFL are waiting on the Premier League and the National League are waiting on the EFL.

“It would be a shame if Tranmere were to go down like that because they were flying when the season was stopped. I’m sure they were confident that they’d have been able to pull away from danger because of the run they were on.”