Clydebank manager Gordon Moffat has revealed that his side would have had to withdraw from the West of Scotland Football League this season – had it not been for the goodwill of his players.

It was revealed that this week that the inaugural WoSFL campaign would get under way next weekend as a result of 36 of the 67 member clubs voting to start under the current restrictions after the Scottish FA and Scottish Government confirmed the leagues are exempt from the latest ban on sport.

Fourteen clubs don’t feel they can operate in the guidelines – which includes closed door games and no changing facilities – and have withdrawn from the league for this season, but the Bankies will be taking part and are set to kick-off on October 25.

Auchinleck Talbot and Pollok are two of the clubs who have decided to sit this season out and Moffat admits it’s a difficult verdict for teams to come to.

He told the Post: “It’s a really, really tough decision for clubs and I totally understand why some clubs have said they don’t feel it’s viable for them with all things considered.

“I think every club is making a really tough decision this week. We were looking at saying it wasn’t viable for us to play but when we chatted to the players we managed to get agreements in place on a temporary basis to make it financially viable for us otherwise there’s no way we could have played.

“That’s the only reason we felt we could start, because we were able to put that in place.

“If we never then it’s very likely we’d have been one of the teams saying we can’t start either. We don’t have the biggest budget in the world but it’s just impossible without supporters and income to continue on the structure we’re on.

“We’ve said we are going to play and we’ve got an agreement in place and as a club we’ve looked at the worst case scenario that potentially there’s no real income for the entire season.

“So we’ve got something that we know will get us through the full season and we won’t be in any danger or any financially difficulty of having to borrow money.”

Moffat’s side continued their pre-season preparations on Saturday with a friendly against Cumbernauld United at Holm Park.

Liam McGonigle and Ross McPherson netted twice each whilst Nicky Little and Ciaran Mulcahy also found the score sheet in a 6-1 win for the Bankies.