ALDERSHOT Town chairman Shahid Azeem has admitted that the coronavirus poses a real “threat” to the football club.

But he urged people to “look at the bigger picture” when it comes to the scale of the problem.

The sporting scene in the UK is currently in lockdown after prime minister Boris Johnson urged people to stop “non-essential contact” and “unnecessary travel” for the foreseeable future in a statement to the nation on Monday.

And the reality for Aldershot Town is that while the FA has officially only suspended National League football until April 3, the reality is that it will be much longer before the Shots kick a ball in anger again.

And that will put untold pressure on a club whose financial situation has many times before come under the microscope.

The football club reacted by announcing on Thursday that all staff at the EBB would take a pay cut in a bid to safeguard the club’s future during this uncertain climate.

Aldershot, who were beaten 1-0 at AFC Fylde last Saturday in a game which split opinion as to whether it should have been played or not, would have undoubtedly attracted their biggest gate of the season this weekend with arch-rivals Woking coming to town, while an Easter Monday game against Torquay United at the EBB Stadium was also expected to have swelled the coffers.

“There’s a threat to every football club,” said Mr Azeem, who said the club was effectively on lockdown bar two members of staff manning the front office.

“We should have had our biggest game of the season this Saturday (against Woking), and we budgeted for that. We would have had a good crowd, and our hospitality areas were sold out for all the remaining home games, so commercially it’s had a huge impact.

“There are some big losses in terms of income but then again you’ve got to look at the bigger picture outside the club. We’re all in it together, we’ve all got the same pain, and everybody has got the same concerns.”

And he added: “Football is one thing, and that’s very important, but people don’t tend to realise the impact that this virus is having on everybody. It’s horrendous. The knock-on effect to small businesses, of which we are one, is huge, but the safety and the health of all of our staff and supporters is paramount.”

Mr Azeem said his gut feeling was that the league season would be completed at some stage but that the club had to tighten its belt in the meantime.

“While the league might be suspended, we still have the overheads without any income coming in, so for the next two or three weeks while there’s no football we’re looking to cut costs wherever possible,” he said.

“We had a meeting with the board and the management to highlight areas where we could reduce costs until the football kicks in again.

“As football clubs, we come through loads and loads of challenges, and as a team together, whether it’s staff, players or the board, we’re all working together to ensure that when the football season starts again we are prepared.”

And Mr Azeem added: “We will do all we can, and like any football club, what we are facing the vast number of football clubs are facing. Most of the football clubs at our level are hand to mouth and it’s about making the best of it and trying to deal with the crisis as best we can.”

First-team boss Danny Searle is currently self-isolating as a “precaution” after coming back from Fylde with “coughs and sneezes”, said Mr Azeem.