Manager speaks out as National League South side Truro City face playing 13 games in 28 days

Manager Paul Wotton speaks out as National League South side Truro City face playing a total of 13 games in just 28 days.

The Cornish club were promoted to 6th tier last summer through the playoffs, but this season they have been faced with quite the nightmare scenario.

Truro moved from playing games at Plymouth Parkway to Taunton Town – 125 miles away – after a series of postponements due to wet weather. But Taunton’s ground has also been unplayable, leading to a near 400-mile round trip from the Truro to Gloucester.

They are however looking set to return home next season at a planned new ground, having not played a competitive game in Truro, or even Cornwall, since October 2020.

Now they’re being faced with having to play 13 matches, which is nearly a quarter of their season, within a span of 28 days.

National League South side Truro City face playing 13 games in 28 days… almost a quarter of their entire season. 😲#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/QfFCg0NJj3

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 22, 2024

“How we are going to get through it I have absolutely no idea,” Wotton tells BBC Sport.

“It’s going to be a case of taking each game as it comes and seeing which players are fit and ready to go in each game.

“It’s going to be very, very difficult – that’s for sure. There will be no training.”

Adding to Truro’s frustrations, their game on Tuesday night against Eastbourne Borough was respectfully abandoned after an hour when an opposing player suffered a serious knee injury and the ref deemed the wait for an ambulance to be too long.

“It’s an absolute one-off, it’ll never happen again,” Wotton added.

“You’re going to a home game and the away team are getting there quicker than you. It’s horrifying really but it’s completely out of our control.”

“I don’t think extending the season is an option.

“But you have a player welfare point of view. Can players play Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Saturday? In my opinion no, I think that’s just ludicrous.

“If that does become what we have to do, you then have an integrity issue as well.

“There are teams playing for promotion, teams battling to stay safe and you’re going to have to play a weakened team in one of those fixtures and it just becomes a bit of a sham really.

“It has been unprecedented weather, it’s been against us, but all I ever seem to say is ‘it is what it is, we can’t do anything about it’. It’s true, and I’m kind of fed up of saying it.

“It’s a very difficult thing for a manager to say, but staying up this year would be a huge success with the troubles we’ve had this season.

“If we can keep our heads above water for the next few weeks we should be OK.”

After manager Paul Wotton speaks out on National League South side Truro City having to face playing 13 games in 28 days, Twitter users gave their reaction…

@twofatfeet: Most clubs have had something like this at some point. My team once had to play eighteen games in the last 33 days of the season, and that’s quite an easy schedule by modern standards

@BookerDeWitty: TBF the last 3 postponed matches were home games. If you can’t fit the games in whilst protecting the welfare of the players then you should be forced to forfeit the match.

@shauntippins: Don’t forget the mileage on these players. They are either playing “home” games in Taunton or Gloucester! It’s too much for part time footballers….

@FeierabendSam: Jurgen Klopp would self-combust and try and scrap the league or something

@lukecolin77: 9 league games in 21 days for @HighgateUnited plus a cup semi final 🤦🏼

@BookerDeWitty: Klopp would have a meltdown.

@robertbelford1: Redditch utd played 9 in 9 back end of 97/98 season

@TerwitTwoo: Badshot Lea have 9 games in 20 days. Needed some flexibility from the leagues after the wettest winter on record. 😪

@BrentwoodSunLge: @RomfordFC had to play 18 in 32 days at the end of the much worse (weather wise) 2000-1 season. And I’m sure there must many worse than that since the turn of the century.

@danielmay4: Yet again good to see player welfare being considered by football leagues…

@awayonsaturday1: And this is exactly why the league shouldn’t have been extended to 24 teams in the first place. 👍

@SWFCJR: and they probs take home about 300 quid a week got premier league players on 400 grand and moan if they play twice a week

@emjay14: Plymouth Parkway (who Truro were ground sharing with) face a very similar schedule. Already played Tuesday and Thursday this week (the latter at Home Park) and have another away trip tomorrow. Non league needs to start getting in as many midweek games as possible early on.

We see your 13 in 28, and raise you 21 in 38 days, including 4 in 4 😉.

Best of luck @TCFC_Official, especially to Guernsey’s very own James Hamon!

— Guernsey FC (@GuernseyFC) March 22, 2024