DORCHESTER Town chairman Scott Symes believes the coronavirus crisis could create a fundamental review of non-league clubs’ internal processes.

Losses of revenue from sponsorship, match tickets plus food and drink sales among others are all hitting teams hard.

All leagues in Steps 3 to 7 have been terminated by the FA, with results expunged and promotion and relegation scrapped as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dorchester, who were bottom and 11 points off the final safe spot in the BetVictor Southern Premier South, duly avoided the drop.

With clubs now looking after the pennies, Symes revealed methods of signing players, drawing up contracts plus paying wages and expenses could be reviewed en masse.

He told Echosport: “Coronavirus is a situation that nobody’s ever faced before.

“Being in a relegation position, or should have been relegated, in a season and surviving through a league restructure is not unheard of – certainly in our leagues.

“It’s bigger than just Dorchester Town. What it should make us realise – and I’ve been nine months in this position – is it should be a shot in (the arm) for non-league football.

“Everyone will take stock about how their football club is run, how players are signed, how wages, contracts and expenses are distributed and planned.

“There’s going to be a lot bigger fallout than just Dorchester staying in this particular league at this particular time.”

Dorchester received generous donations from both the DTFC Supporters’ Club and the DTFC Fans’ Association to help stabilise the Magpies’ finances while play is halted.

Asked how sound Dorchester’s financial footing is, Symes said: “We’ve got a financial plan in place that will see us through to (May) in the short term.

“It’s a bit unknown as to when we’ll start again. One of my main objectives when coming into the club was to change the way finances are generated by the club.

“We have a plan and we’re very confident. We’ve had fantastic support from Dorchester Town Supporters’ Club and the Fans’ Association in regards to immediate cashflow support.

“It’s been absolutely outstanding and everyone pulling together in the initial time period to ensure our contracted players are paid and we can pay our bills is the primary task at the moment.

“We’re now meeting on a regular basis as a board as to how we come out the other side and ensure financially we’re stable going into the coming season.”