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Leagues One and Two May Not Be Completed
Thursday, 30th Apr 2020 13:42

League One and Two players have reportedly been told that the chances of the 2019/20 campaign at their levels being played to a conclusion are diminishing.

According to the Daily Mail, following an EFL board meeting yesterday, captains and PFA reps were told to inform their team-mates that it is very possible that the season, suspended since March 13th, will not be resumed.

The source of the story appears to be a leaked recording of Bristol Rovers winger and PFA rep Alex Rodman outlining the situation to his team-mates.

Currently the EFL is still officially committed to completing all three of its divisions with its remaining 113 matches played over 56 days behind closed doors and with a June 6th start date pencilled in. Players are due back at their clubs for a mini-pre-season on May 16th.

However, it’s reported that there is now little expectation of EFL games being played in June, while it’s not anticipated that fans will return to stadia until January.

It’s believed that there are a number of options under consideration for concluding the unfinished season, among them the ‘sporting merit’ system whereby the final standings are confirmed based on points per game. That being the case, Town would finish 11th.

It's said that if that system were to be agreed, both internally within the EFL and with the Premier League, sides in the automatic places would be promoted but no one would be relegated.

Among the issues the EFL is facing is the large number of coronavirus tests which would be required if the season were to be played through to its end, particularly given that there aren’t currently enough for NHS and key workers. Further to that, each test, with tens of thousands likely to be required, costs £150.

Additionally, with no fans present, staging games will cost clubs cash which many of them can currently ill afford.

And beyond June 30th players will be out of contract or past the end of their loans with clubs said to be unwilling - and in many cases unable - to pay them further wages if the season stretches beyond that point.

Players are being asked whether they will accept this position. If not, some clubs will be significantly weakened and in some cases perhaps even unable to complete their fixtures.

The EFL is holding a meeting with its clubs today, while tomorrow sees Premier League chief executives meet to discuss Project Restart.

Also on Friday, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Public Health England are meeting with representatives from various sports to discuss the path towards a return to action, although it’s understood no decision on when that might be will be made until after May 7th when the Government outlines its wider plans for easing the lockdown.


Photo: Action Images



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positivity added 13:50 - Apr 30
well played lambert, imagine the stress and the uproar if we'd done well this season!

there are bigger fish to fry at the moment, and obviously it doesn't affect us, but the no relegation thing seems a bit unfair, what's the point of bolton's points penalty. my preference would still be to play to a finish and start next season late (or not at all)
8

mrfixit426 added 13:50 - Apr 30
Just void it all. It's the only way that all clubs are treated the same. I'm getting sick of football acting like it's some kind of special case by being prepared to put players and club employees at risk, just to get their product out there again (mainly the Premier League which is only concerned with tv money). It's really starting to turn me off the game. There are more important things going on.
26

Bluearmy_81 added 13:58 - Apr 30
Which means Lambert won't get the sack as we did not finish outside the top 6 technically and Evans is too tight to do the right thing now (and stupid to have done the wrong thing, giving him 5 years in the first place.) Enjoy another embarrassing season which will be way worse than last season serfs. And whatever you do don't criticise the man that put us here...
-6

TractorRoyNo1 added 14:15 - Apr 30
11th would see the back of him, but hopefully not replaced by Pardew as rumoured
1

ArnieM added 14:35 - Apr 30
And How jammy are scum ( yet again). Bottom of PL for most of the season and the arse holes still do t get relegated. AND will no doubt get given yet more Sky money for failure .
12

dirtydingusmagee added 14:41 - Apr 30
Bluearmy-81, surfs ? you really are a silly little boy, big on keyboard , but just a scrawny little weed i reality. Cant get your own way with club so turn to insulting other supporters , join my facebook army lol .grow up .
4

dirtydingusmagee added 14:43 - Apr 30
Arnie ,yep that is the shi##iest part of it ,they will actually benefit if it happens, but surely if two go up two could come down .
3

MattinLondon added 14:48 - Apr 30
@ArnieM
Probably not as jammy as what you think. If the PL is indeed cancelled than the TV companies from all over the world will demand some form of compensation- this will mean its clubs footing the bill and not being as cash rich if they complete the season.

This is my understanding of the situation - I could well be wrong.
4

budgieplucker added 15:24 - Apr 30
At last some sense of reality. Football up until now believing it is big enough and the public needs its footy fix ASAP to lift the mood. With everybody in the premier league believing there will still be buckets of cash swilling around and the desperate need for the greedy to keep continuing to milk the supporters In these very very difficult times for the average man in the street who may be just trying to feed the family.

The patronising comments of our supporters safety and welfare is paramount Just doesn't have any value these days, if it ever did.

There will be a recession and as soon as the rich kids and the others privileged enough to earn a good living from something they really enjoy doing are going to have to accept hard times for the near future. With some good luck this might only be a few months.

It's very premature to make plans for a new season until such time as the virus is proven to be under control to a relatively safe enough extent.

Clubs will not be able to afford to renew contracts in June, the market will change hopefully for the good. Perhaps after all having a young talent in abundance might just keeps us afloat the many other clubs who will struggle and have to let players go.

I think in all honesty we may have to release all of our out of contract players in June regardless if we were planning to keep them.
7

Bluearmy_81 added 15:25 - Apr 30
Mingy, can't get my way with the club? What does that even mean?are you a town fan? How do you feel about us being a joke club, a laughing stock? Grow up? What does that mean. Some fans have more passion, pride and fight in them than others obviously. Maybe you're depressed?
-5

ArnieM added 15:26 - Apr 30
Well in their case I hope you're right 😁👍. I don't actually think they're as flush with the readies despite the Sky leg up .

I know there are far more important and bigger issues than football, but they never cease to amaze me how lucky they are . They'd come up shelling off rises if they fell into a cesspit that lot ! 🙄
0

TimmyH added 15:58 - Apr 30
How can the PL be cancelled!?! - only the other day The Sun headline news was saying 'football's coming home' i.e. restarting in a few weeks time - surely with their top notch journalism this must be true, chuckle!
2

Pencilpete added 16:14 - Apr 30
Our season was already over thanks to the p1ss poor, lacklustre, shoddy form we were in for 5 months since early November so it doesn't really matter to us wether its completed or not.
7

shouldistayorcounago added 16:14 - Apr 30
My personal opinion is that all seasons must be finished, when the time is right of course. We all know it's an unprecedented situation and that people's health matters more. However, this season has nearly reached its end - it is not fair on clubs who do have something to play for (not us) to have it stricken from the records. Realistically this virus is something we're going to have to live alongside for the next 15-21 months or so, until there is a vaccine the notion of professional sport just seems ridiculous. The season should be indefinitely postponed until such time as it is safe to play and not risk the lives of any service staff who have no choice but to attend the games. I don't give a monkey's about next season or the season after - you finish what you start, whenever the time may come. Obviously money talks so this won't happen, but it should.
8

Dissboyitfc added 16:21 - Apr 30
This thread is about leagues 1 and 2 not about premier league.
4

essextractorboy93 added 16:39 - Apr 30
I do agree that it is increasingly difficult to play out the rest of this season through the summer but it is outrageous that certain teams will avoid almost certain relegation because of this. Southend and Bolton in particular are certain to go down and could be spared.

The Premier League is slightly different. Liverpool will obviously be declared champions and the top four will go into the Champions League. Most other leagues in Europe look likely to declare champions if they are obviously going to win, Belgium and France for example.

The issue of relegation is more complicated. Norwich look highly likely to go down, yet if they are spared they would get another year of Premier League money and Leeds/West Brom would miss out.

Additionally what happens to European football next season? Champions League and Europa League qualifying normally starts in June.
1

dirtydingusmagee added 16:41 - Apr 30
Bluearmy im not depressed but your endless crap comments are depressing none the less, always whinging and slagging get on with your home schooling theres a good boy ..
7

Dockerblue added 17:01 - Apr 30
Yes we,ll have to release our out of contract players in June but l bet our high-earning, non-leading captain is still here when football does start again so we,ll still be leaking goals left right & centre and he,ll be blaming everyone except himself!
4

jas0999 added 17:41 - Apr 30
I don't see how you can just void a season. It's all well and good Our fans accepting it, because our season finished several weeks ago. But there is a lot riding on the season for many clubs. Some teams deserve to be relegated. Some deserve to be promoted with the financial benefits which come with that. If we were top I'm pretty certain most would want the season to continue or at the very least accept those in promotion positions be promoted.

Voiding is a non option in my opinion.
10

Bluearmy_81 added 18:18 - Apr 30
Not as depressing as town being a joke mingy. Hope you get your (fan)atical passion back one day and you stop passively accepting the joke we have become. Best wishes
-2

ITFCsince73 added 18:26 - Apr 30
Relegation...promotion. The way this is heading we'll be lucky to have enough clubs left to make a league. Football won't return in any form until 2021. No finish to the season. No start of next.
Many clubs will cease to exist. Many have already said they won't, if tv money is held back.
Football won't admit it because what's at stake.
8

ip6blue added 20:14 - Apr 30
Still plenty of time to complete the season, it can be done safely. Will wait and see what government proposals are next week. It is about money, hope, passion, unity like most companies they don't offer a service for the hell of it. Players and staff still need to earn a living. Get it done
2

runningout added 20:33 - Apr 30
Not interested in the team in yellow and green and not wasting time throwing poo at them. Premier league not covering themselves well at all. I'm for voiding the whole season and only start next season when virus under control.
4

NorthLondonBlue2 added 00:15 - May 1
Well, that's that then.

I would have preferred some sort of knock-out competition, like an FA cup, but winner determined on the day, by penalties at 90 minutes if necessary. Would involve a minimal number of games, too.

I don't understand how there can be promotion only and no relegation, however, unless they're planning on expanding each league.

I would also have thought that you could have fans in the stadium, sitting one seat apart, with strict segregation rules on entry and exit. Would reduce our capacity to 15k, but I hardly think that would be a problem!
-3

Saxonblue74 added 05:55 - May 1
Northlondonblue, 15k people in a stadium to watch a lge1 football match? Have you been living on Mars for the last 2 months? That cannot, and will not happen! If you fill Portman Road to the rafters, then say all of those people will die from this virus it may put things into perspective for you, as that's the kind of numbers we're talking about here.
1


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