ANTHONY JOHNSON believes National League clubs should have been asked to vote on how - not whether - to finish the 2019/20 season with immediate effect.

The National League has advised clubs in its three divisions to vote in favour of ending the regular season without playing games that were scheduled up to next weekend due to the coronavirus crisis gripping the nation.

Only if that vote passes will clubs then be asked to help determine the outcomes of the season, including null and void and points-per-game, through further polls.

Chester joint-boss Johnson feels the initial vote, which has a May 7 deadline, should have been about how best to finish the season.

“We have voted to finish the season,” revealed Johnson. “We voted that way based on the advise of the league and I don’t disagree.

“But it’s how we should finish the season that is the important part. We should have been asked how to end the season, whether that’s null and void or points-per-game.”

Every single one of the 24 National League teams have a vote with just four each for the entire National League North and National League South to make a combined total of 32.

“How that has been worked out is anybody’s guess,” said Johnson. “How can three leagues playing under the same umbrella have different voting rights?

“There are 44 clubs who get a total of eight votes between them. There’s no equation that makes that fair.”

Johnson was quick to throw his support behind a points-per-game theory to decide the final league placings, and his view has not altered as time has passed.

“I’ve been quite vocal over the points-per-game idea because I want the season to stand for something,” said Johnson.

“I don’t want to look back and Akwasi Asante hasn’t scored those 19 goals and Kevin Roberts hasn’t triggered a new deal by playing 30 games. What happens to the bonus payments made, do we get those back?

“I want to reward success as best we can. People will say that there are still games to play, but we’ve done eight or nine months and the teams that have failed have to take their punishment.

“But we are all selfish. The teams at the top will want to decide the season using points-per-game, the teams at the bottom will want the season declared null and void and those in the middle won’t care.”

Johnson is concerned about the time taking to decide if - and how - to bring the season to an abrupt with players’ contracts running down and plans for the 2020/21 campaign up in the air.

“The hard thing for us is that we’ve got half-a-dozen players signed for next season, so that leaves 75 per cent of the squad with just two weeks of their contracts left,” said Johnson.

“Contracts end on May 2 and it’s very difficult to have conversations that you’d normally be having at this stage of the season about whether a player is being released or we are keeping him.

“It’s the players and support staff I feel sorry for in the world of football, because we aren’t in a position to say we are keeping them or not.”

Chester are one of the National League teams to receive an advance payment from the Premier League, a sum of £13,636 arriving three months earlier than originally planned.

“It’s only an advance, we don’t get extra in a few months,” continued Johnson. “It’s a tough time because there is no cash flow and we’ve not been given a budget for next season.

“We can’t do any planning for the future because there is no budget or forecast because we haven’t been able to put season tickets on sale.”