THE secretary of the St Piran League believes the earliest possible time for the 2020/21 season to start is the end of September.

Steve Carpenter, who helped create the Cornish league in 2019, says his personal feeling is that the end of September or start of October was most likely, although he conceded that he is an "optimist by nature".

He also felt that some people's more pessimistic prediction of a post-Christmas start was possible, saying that there was "merit in that argument".

This comes as officials of leagues at steps five and six in the English non-league pyramid prepare to meet with the FA on Friday to discuss scenarios for the 2020/21 season.

While this may not directly concern his league, which lies one step below the South West Peninsula League at step seven of the pyramid, Carpenter hopes that the outcome of Friday's meeting could give everyone an idea as to what the FA's plan might be.

"Personally, I think the end of September/early October is the earliest we’ll see the game at our level return but I’m an optimist by nature.

Speaking to the Packet, Carpenter said: "The current party line from Wembley is a very understandable ‘when it’s safe to do so and the Government guidelines permit it’.

"Even when we get the ‘go’ there’ll be a bit of inertia before we can get up and running properly though.

"Personally, I think the end of September/early October is the earliest we’ll see the game at our level return but I’m an optimist by nature.

"Some are of the view that anything before Christmas will be a bonus and there is merit in that argument.

"The situation certainly seems to be improving quickly but there still has to be a high degree of caution and at the moment there are still a lot of unknowns."

Carpenter added that there was nothing else the league could currently do in terms of planning for the new season besides the generation of fixtures.