Article by Mark Jones for the Daily Mirror - published 22 May 2020
Up to 10 EFL clubs face administration imminently without a government bailout, according to MP Damian Collins.
Mr Collins - the former chair of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee - is calling on Boris Johnson to step in and help clubs that have been crippled by the coronavirus crisis, to help avoid the "outcry" that greeted the troubles suffered by Bury and Bolton Wanderers last summer.
Bury, formed in 1885, were expelled from the league after being served winding-up petitions in the High Court, while Bolton very nearly went the same way before an 11th hour rescue act.
With action in Leagues One and Two suspended since mid-March and showing no sign of an imminent return, Collins - the MP for Folkestone and Hythe - says there is a real danger to several community clubs.
"In the next few weeks, we could see five to 10 EFL League clubs going into administration," he told Sky Sports News.
"We saw the outcry last summer when two clubs, Bury and Bolton, were in trouble. If that happens there will be huge public demand to do something.
"Without the government stepping in, those clubs could go to the wall and there maybe others that follow.
"I don't think there is a body able to stump up the cash needed... it requires leadership from the government here."
Collins has joined forces with the Sunderland co-owner Charlie Methven to draft a blueprint that would see the government protect smaller EFL clubs.
A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "We are in regular, ongoing discussions with the EFL and other football authorities on the impact of coronavirus, how the professional game could safely return and how the wider football family could be supported."