Article by Louise Taylor for The Guardian - published 28 May 2020
The chances of League One teams resuming the season seem increasingly doubtful with clubs bitterly divided and a final decision on whether to continue or curtail the campaign unlikely before Monday week at the earliest.
With assorted proposals being put forward, the absence of any sort of consensus led to an English Football League board meeting ending on Wednesday without any clear conclusions. The EFL had hoped to release a map detailing the pathway towards a League One vote on the matter on Thursday but, although a ballot will still take place, it has been delayed.
The clubs are expected to eventually cast their votes on a series of options. These include whether to play on, opt to decide promotion and relegation on a points-per-game basis, potentially void relegation and, possibly, stage expanded play-offs. A 51% majority is required for the establishment of a new framework.
Although six clubs – Fleetwood, Ipswich, Oxford, Peterborough, Portsmouth and Sunderland – want to complete the season, around 15 want to stop now. Meanwhile the relegation-threatened Tranmere and the promotion-chasing Peterborough have threatened legal action should points-per-game be used to decide the final table.
Clubs will be allowed five working days to consider their voting position, thereby pushing the decision back to at least Monday 8 June. Moreover there is also some disagreement about whether their individual stances should be made public.
All third-tier players are required to be tested for Covid-19 before even non-contact training can begin so time is fast running out to conclude the fixture list before the 2020-21 campaign starts. By way of complication, the current testing regime would cost around £140,000 per club this summer, with many struggling to afford it.
Accordingly the MP Damian Collins, supported by 18 MPs and former Football Association and English Football League chairs, has written to the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, the FA and the EFL demanding urgent discussions to address the potential financial catastrophe confronting lower division clubs.
The letter – supported by Charlie Methven, the co-owner of Sunderland, the Grimsby chairman Philip Day and signed by 18 MPs – outlines a six-point plan aimed at preventing a looming scenario in which many clubs could shortly fold.
The intervention comes on the same day results from the Championship’s second round of testing increased confidence that the second-tier season can resume on 20 June, with only three positive results – involving two Fulham players and Blackburn’s captain, Elliott Bennett – recorded from a total of 1,030 players and staff tested.
“I feel fit and healthy,” Bennett said. “I would never have known if we hadn’t returned to training and taken the tests, because I don’t feel unwell and have got no symptoms whatsoever.”
Collins, the former chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, has called on Dowden, the FA chairman Greg Clarke and the EFL chairman Rick Parry to hold talks on a proposal in which the FA would create a Football Finance Authority. It would be financially backed by the government and provide funds needed to keep clubs damaged by the coronavirus pandemic afloat.
This funding would not involve loans but the purchase of minority shareholdings. The money could not be spent on player recruitment or enhancing infrastructure. An independent director, selected by a registered supporters’ trust or local government authority, would also join the club’s board and either the supporters’ trust or local authority could acquire the stake at a discount in the future.
“We may only have a few weeks to save professional football in this country as we know it. The shock of the Covid-19 crisis has badly exposed the weak financial position of clubs in the English Football League,” writes Collins.
“If nothing is done to provide financial support, clubs with old and famous names will almost certainly go into administration within weeks. We will also see the release of up to 1,400 players who will out of contract this summer.
“We would urge you to convene talks for as soon as possible to agree measures that can be put in place to save clubs from bankruptcy and expulsion from the League.”