WANDERERS fans may have to wait three months for competitive football to return to the club.

Loose plans are being discussed on a start date for the 2020/21 campaign, with a provisional date now set for the second Saturday in September.

That would mean a massive six-month gap for clubs to fund themselves without gate receipts – although there is some optimism among officials that smaller numbers of socially-distanced supporters could be allowed into approved grounds from the start of the new campaign.

No firm plans are expected to be announced until further into the summer and will be contingent on the government’s coronavirus policy.

It is now 88 days since Wanderers last played a competitive match and if, as expected, clubs vote to end the League One season on Tuesday they will be able to start planning for life in League Two.

The Premier League and Championship will resume over the next fortnight, playing all their remaining games before the FA Cup final, which has been pencilled in for August 1.

UEFA is planning to allow domestic competitions around Europe to finish before resuming the Champions League, with the final expected to be held towards the end of August.

Scunthorpe, who will be lining up in League Two next season against Wanderers, are already working on the proviso of a September restart.

“The beginning of August will be difficult to start the new season, so you are probably looking at September at the earliest which is another three months,” said the club’s chairman, Peter Swan.

“That is going to be tough for clubs to survive. If it’s the beginning of September, most clubs in this division will need money in July to help get us through until then.

“We are hoping it is September and there is also talk of some semblance of crowds coming back if we can get our stadium in a position to do that. We will work as hard as we can in the coming months to have something in place so we can keep some sort of distance between the fans.

But Grimsby, managed by Ian Holloway, have warned their players they could be sidelined for a year until fans return.

“We’ve asked our players to take a wage cut and we’re planning on not playing football for at least a year, because we need a crowd,” Holloway added.