National League funding breakdown: How much Hartlepool United, Notts County, Stockport and Chesterfield will receive from £10m National Lottery grant

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that fifth and sixth tier clubs would receive £10 million of funding over the next three months thanks to a support grant from the National Lottery fund.

The funding was granted to help clubs combat the financial shortfall of supporters not being allowed to attend matches. The £10 million will be divided between all 67 National League member clubs with the first instalment to be paid the week starting October 26.

Funding allocations have been based loosely on clubs’ 2019-20 average home attendances with Hartlepool United one of the seven clubs set to receive the maximum funding allocation of £95,000 per month – a total of £285,000 over the three month period.

Notts County, Stockport, Wrexham, Chesterfield, Yeovil Town and Torquay United make up the other six as the sides with the highest average home attendances in the National League last season.

The remaining 16 fifth tier clubs will be granted £84,000 per month while clubs in the National League North and South will receive significantly less.

York City, Hereford, Chester, Dulwich Hamlet and Maidstone United are set to receive £36,000 per month as the five National League North and South teams with the highest average attendances during the 2019-20 season.

The remaining sixth tier clubs will be granted £30,000.

The funding allocations have been the subject of some criticism due to the uneven distribution of funds between the divisions.

A club like York City, whose 2019-20 average attendance in the National League North of 2,705 would have been enough to be among the top seven average attendances in the National League, will only get £36,000 to subsidise their lost gate revenue.

Meanwhile, Boreham Wood, whose average attendance last season was 724 will receive £85,000 despite having around a quarter of York's average attendance.

The Mail understands that clubs were not given any advance notice of the breakdown in funding nor a detailed explanation as to how it has been calculated other than the ‘distribution takes into account the differences in attendances within each step and between steps.’

As a result of the funding conditions, clubs will also be required to provide and display National Lottery advertising on their channels.

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