Since last Friday, football in England's top four leagues have come to a complete standstill, but what financial implications will the suspension have on clubs further down the leagues?

Even during times of normality, we often hear about the hardships faced by clubs in League One and League Two, as it is extremely difficult for them to break even financially.

So, if it is hard for clubs to exist even in the best of times, you can imagine the effect that this suspension has already had for a number of sides, which for many, gate receipts account towards a majority of their respective incomes.

Two clubs that have been in the headlines for their financial problems this season are Southend United and Macclesfield Town, with the PFA being drafted in to assist both sides with outstanding wage payments as recently as the start of this month.

Southend continue to owe salaries, and are also under a transfer embargo due to an unpaid tax bill to HMRC.

Meanwhile, Macclesfield have been docked six points after failing to pay wages repeatedly, as well as not fulfilling fixtures due to player strikes.

Now with no gate receipts coming in to either club, it remains to be seen what will happen in the weeks ahead.

Tranmere Rovers co-owner Mark Palios has stated that if his side's remaining fixtures are forced to be played behind closed doors, or the season is to be scrapped altogether, daunting losses would be incurred.

"You are probably looking at a total loss of £400,000 to £500,000, which would be unbudgeted and unwelcome," he told BBC Sport.

Barnet, who currently compete in the National League, but were an EFL member until as recently as 2018, announced on Tuesday that notice had been served to all of its 60 employees, including first-team manager Darren Currie. Owner Tony Kleanthous has said with no money coming in, he has had to lay off staff to mitigate their current losses, which equate to roughly £100,000 per month.

They are the first club to come out publicly and state the effect that the suspension has had on their short-term future, but there are likely to be many more cases of this within the EFL in the weeks ahead.

With all remaining fixtures this term getting scrapped still very much a real possibility, clubs could suffer further by being forced to issue refunds to their season ticket holders if such a measure is put in place.

'There needs to be a serious think'

With wage bills often accounting for a majority of expenditure at all football clubs, it could be just a matter of time before certain teams struggle to stay afloat.

There is a large disparity between the Premier League and the rest of the EFL, as the clubs in the top tier of English football can afford to fork out large sums of money on wages considering the amount that each side receives through television rights.

This also applies to the Championship, with Aston Villa spending more than £70 million alone on player wages in 2018, despite making hefty losses.

With so much wealth at the upper echelons of the professional game in this country, there needs to be a serious think about providing cash-strapped clubs lower down with monetary support, should they continue to be hit hard.

Granted, such actions do set a precedent. But, we are in testing times, and nobody knows how much longer this outbreak will continue to wreak havoc for.

We do not want to see more historic clubs such as Bury go under. Something has to be done, because the severity of the situation will only come to light when irreversible damage has occurred.