Athletic Article: League One and Two Seasons to be abandoned next week

[GEORGE]

Looks like we could really be in the shit now.

Some journo has tweeted the present allegations about Gareth Barry are just the tip of an enormous iceberg and could have catastrophic effect on the club.

Owners, eh.

And you were saying you don't want our owners -- I know we have our own problems but from what I've read I shouldn't think they're anywhere near as serious as yours. Hope you get out of it though.

 

[Camborne Gills]

25 eh. When talking about your refereeing credentials you claimed on Jan 3rd in the New Years Day Match Thread “12 years of officiating in the Southern National League with my level 2b qualification.”

You cannot formally be a qualified ref until you are 14. So one of those statements is erroneous. Which one? Or both?

Both. The 25 is most likely his IQ.

 

[shoddycollins]

Devon Lad officiating in the southern league for 12 years seemed a bit unlikely tbh.

He also says he's serving a stadium ban in the UK. Though this probably doesn't apply to the parks and fields the Southern League will play in I'm sure the Southern League would take a dim view on one of their officials having been banned from attending matches.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Can you talk me throught this apparent hold on admin someone posted on here yesterday? If Swindon are in the mud then how the hell can you put a hold on a business going into administration? Admin/liquidating is a legal responsbility and requirement of the directors if you're not solvent.

Since it's only May, that's a lot of time between now and a start date for 2020-2021. The rules are if it happens after March the points deduction occurs the next season but can a club in admin be promoted since their admittance into the new league has to be ratified by the existing members? Also since we're in unprecedented times using ppg not points, basically what I'm trying to say is NOW YOU'RE GONNA BELIEVE US, THE VALE ARE GOING UP .

The rules changed at the start of the pandemic that allowed company directors some breathing space and rules around insolvency were relaxed somewhat.

 

[Indian Dan]

Can you talk me throught this apparent hold on admin someone posted on here yesterday? If Swindon are in the mud then how the hell can you put a hold on a business going into administration? Admin/liquidating is a legal responsbility and requirement of the directors if you're not solvent.

Since it's only May, that's a lot of time between now and a start date for 2020-2021. The rules are if it happens after March the points deduction occurs the next season but can a club in admin be promoted since their admittance into the new league has to be ratified by the existing members? Also since we're in unprecedented times using ppg not points, basically what I'm trying to say is NOW YOU'RE GONNA BELIEVE US, THE VALE ARE GOING UP .

Bit of straw clutching, eh.

Power has been served 2 injunctions to prevent him from selling the club or putting it into admin as 2 other parties have a financial interest in the club and they think Power was trying to sell the club without their knowledge. The admin thing was just Power brinkmanship - the judge didn’t believe his apparent threat either.

As regards some more, unrelated allegations that may or may not break, I have absolutely no idea what they could be. Tbf, it sounds mega serious but that’s from a freelance journo on Twitter, so who knows.

He described whatever he knew as being ‘catastrophic’ for the club.

Watch this space.

As for any chance of you benefiting from this is minimal. Last time they promoted the play off final loser.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1264469908777205760

Here we go again...

 

[shoddycollins]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1264469908777205760

Here we go again...

If Nicko's sources are as reliable as they usually are then I'm encouraged that there's talk of a proper bailout. Something I fully expected a couple of months ago when we were all just coming to terms with this huge change, everything seemed so massive and unprecedented and impossible to ignore that I felt there was no way we wouldn't see massive changes and hopefully for the better.

Since then people have become more used to lockdown, it doesn't seem as massive as it once did and there's been more attempts to just carry on as normal and ignore the huge worldwide elephant int eh room; in society as a whole including football so I had resigned myself that clubs down here would just be left to fend for themselves.

Still... I would prefer if the distribution didn't see League One and Two clubs recieve only a sixth or a tenth of what Championship clubs have, that ratio just seems a little too much; and of course as expected the Prem will want 'something back'... i.e. B-teams. If they introduce B-teams then it's not a £200m aid package as much as the Premier League taking advantage of coronavirus to buy the EFL's integrity on the cheap.

 

[Indian Dan]

I presume, and hope, that any money forthcoming isn’t just handed to clubs. Power would trouser that and be on his toes quicker than you can say ‘FA investigation’

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

In today's Athletic article which was an excellent read:

Graeme Souness:
“There are going to be tragic cases. There will be players who are professional footballers today who will not be in six months. There is a correction coming across the country.

“For all the different money (the chancellor) has handed out, he now somehow has to come up with taxes in an acceptable way to get that back. Football will fall into that category. Clubs will find themselves in dire financial straits and may end up going out of business. The consequence of that will be players on the dole.

“The talk is of the mother of all recessions. This is the time when the big guys in football have to think of everybody involved. There has to be a sharing of the incredible riches of the Premier League. There will be so many casualties and we have to take care of the little guys.”

Gary Neville:
“It is going to be the biggest game-changer for lower league players in the last 30 or 40 years. No matter what club, crowd or income you have, you will be restricted in the money you can spend.

“The PFA is sleepwalking at this moment. I don’t think they recognise that coronavirus is an issue for players and a crisis for clubs. There will be deferrals and cuts in the immediate term but there is a major reset coming in terms of player wages at League One and League Two level and, potentially, the Championship if the salary cap extends there, which I believe it may do in the future.”

It adds up to one harsh reality for players: lower wages. Neville added: “The salary cap will be severe, well below average salaries being paid at the moment. It is a game-changer for clubs at that level but also players, who will be earning a lot less.”

Carlisle's Adam Collin, aged 35 and set to be released this Summer according to the article:
“It is a tricky period. Clubs do not know what they are doing financially. Some do not know which league they will be in, so it is very hard for clubs to go out and offer contracts.

“It is a waiting game for teams and players. We have never seen anything on this scale. It will play into the hands of clubs, who will get players at a cheaper rate. More players are being released than normal, and the market is going to be flooded.”

“This is the uncertainty,” Collin says. “There was a decision to call off League Two, as it was deemed infeasible to do all this testing and not play in front of crowds. There is a lot of work that needs to go on behind the scenes.

“It is worrying as we are not sure if we can even play in January or February. Coronavirus is not disappearing. The testing has to be there to play on, and I don’t know whether clubs can afford to do it.”

(On being told players could face a wage cut of as high as 50%)

“Most players understand the situation. It is going to be the case all over English football.

“It could do huge damage. We do not earn £20,000 per week. We earn decent money but not enough so that we can go for six months without earning or working. We have bills and mortgages to pay. Those who are out of contract have no idea if we will get one or when it will start. It will be very damaging and a lot of players will be very worried.”

Jamie Sendles-White, Crawley defender under contract for next season:
“We were extremely grateful to be topped up. We have heard some stories in our league and the league below where finances are incredibly tight, where it must be so stressful to not be able to get even 80 per cent of their pay.

“I have heard people who live near me thinking it is all fun and games and that we are earning fortunes. We are in a more privileged position than most people but I have a mortgage, based on what was affordable to me, according to my basic pay and bonuses. We do not get bonuses at the moment, as we are not playing, making it a bit tighter.

“I also budget my life for the coaching company that I run but we have hardly earned anything there during the pandemic as we have had to pay people back. It is not what people think football is down at our level. It is not the Premier League or Championship.

“The lower down you go, the more incentivised the contracts become. You have your basic pay, then your appearances, goals, win bonuses. They make a massive difference to your end-of-month pay, and you budget to that. When you are then furloughed, it is quite tough.

“We get 100 per cent of our basic pay but when you know the bonuses are not coming, it changes your monthly planning. In other ways, you do save money. I usually spend £80-per-week on petrol. The first six weeks of lockdown I filled my tank once. It probably does almost even out. But it is still the stress of the mortgage and bills. In the coming months, there will be players forced to take contracts they would never ordinarily do, just to make sure they are earning.”

Has the worst-case scenario — where football does not return until an effective vaccine is developed — crossed his mind? He says: “I have tried to not think too much about the worst-case. But there would be so many footballers at this level in serious financial issues. If football does not come back for months and months, I don’t even want to think about the situation a lot of players will end up in. ”

 

[Indian Dan]

According to an article today the virus is disappearing so quickly, that that lab in Oxford trying to produce a vaccine is worried there may not be enough people with Covid to actually test any vaccine on!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

If you can't vaccinate the common cold, what hope do you have of vaccinating a stronger but very much related virus in COVID 19?

We need to prepare for the scenario that their may be no vaccine. But rampant PL opportunism for B teams mustn't win.

Incidentally in that article, it referred to Gordon Taylor's basic salary of over £2 million (for what exactly?) and the PFA having cash reserves of £50 million in the bank according to Ben Purkiss. It's time the PFA woke up and realised that players will not be immune to this upcoming reset.

 

[Indian Dan]

Would any bail out come from the PL or the PL clubs?

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Would any bail out come from the PL or the PL clubs?

£10 million per PL club. It really isn't the answer unless anyone fancies Norwich B away on a Tuesday Night in a few years?

 

[Indian Dan]

Depends on what the actual strings are

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Depends on what the actual strings are

Well given they've had EPPP it's either no relegation (or 1 up 1 down), B teams or allow all PL games to be televised at 3pm. I could live with the latter, I couldn't live with the former two though.

 

[Indian Dan]

I can watch all PL games at 3pm now!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I can watch all PL games at 3pm now!

I meant domestically but I always had a feeling that it'd come some day even if Corona never hit us. In Germany, you can watch any Bundesliga or 2. Bundesliga game live. In Spain, I think every La Liga and Segunda Liga game is live too. With the PL facing a drop in rights, the only way to keep rights at the same level is to scrap the blackout and allow televised 3pm matches.

If a bailout came and that was the only caveat, I'd support it. I wouldn't want it, but I'd like to think clubs wouldn't lose fans because of a PL game being on at 3. And it would allow the integrity of the pyramid to continue.

Anything that jeopardises the integrity of the pyramid is something I'll vehemently oppose and I hope many other fans will.

 

[Indian Dan]

You’d be surprise at the low numbers interested in watching 3pm PL games. Burnley v Bournemouth? Fuck right off.

 

[PuB]

I don’t think televised PL matches at 3pm would make any significant difference to any lower league club. The FL need to get up to date with that though and offer streams of all games which is currently available but only if you live abroad.

Times have changed and the FL need to change with them.

 

[Chris FGR]

If it were a straight choice of b teams or a load of clubs going to the wall, I'd go with b teams.

Not sure if will come to that though, mainly because I don't think the Prem teams are that bothered about having it, especially given all the bad PR it would create.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I don’t think televised PL matches at 3pm would make any significant difference to any lower league club. The FL need to get up to date with that though and offer streams of all games which is currently available but only if you live abroad.

Times have changed and the FL need to change with them.

There are a lot of kids who support Crewe alongside Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Everton. Some even support Stoke but I'm hoping them being shite recently has quelled that particular problem from being sustained.

But in all seriousness, if Man Utd or Liverpool were on at 3pm and Crewe played Grimsby at home, you may well get kids wanting to stay at home to watch the bigger clubs, because they know no better. And long-term, some may prefer lower league football in the end, but that could be the biggest problem that affects gates. That said, I think it'd be minimal myself, but it's often a strong possibility at certain clubs.

But I agree, the FL needs to become innovative, but it mustn't compromise current season ticket holders too. That's the battle they'd be faced with in the lower leagues. Why even go to games for £20-25 a ticket when you can pay £10 to stream it at home and have a beer watching it? That's why streaming every game would be dangerous lower down.

If one B teams ends up in the league system I'm done with football. I've said it for years and, although I'd absolutely hate for it to come to that, every B team means a community club loses exposure to the Football League and the wider public. I can't support any structure that would allow that to happen.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

The analogy I draw into this £200m from the PL is:
League 1 and 2 are the Ukraine and the PL is Donald J. Trump. We need a favour from you.

I am very concerned what that favour is.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Would be nice if every club at this level could offer Under 16s/18s tickets for £5 max to get them involved, They are the future of all our clubs

 

[Chris FGR]

The analogy I draw into this £200m from the PL is:
League 1 and 2 are the Ukraine and the PL is Donald J. Trump. We need a favour from you.

I am very concerned what that favour is.

Yeah, maybe be best to try and source a bailout from elsewhere. Don't trust them in the slightest.

 

[Chris FGR]

Would be nice if every club at this level could offer Under 16s/18s tickets for £5 max to get them involved, They are the future of all our clubs

Problem is clubs can't really offer any tickets/pricing structure atm cos no one knows when fans will be allowed in. Might not even be this year.

Our club has said absolutely nothing about season tickets/plans for next season on or off the pitch. Not sure anyone has a clue what's happening.

Without season tickets or any potential match day income how the fuck are clubs going to be able to prepare for next season? 600k isn't going to stretch very far.

 

[Indian Dan]

The analogy I draw into this £200m from the PL is:
League 1 and 2 are the Ukraine and the PL is Donald J. Trump. We need a favour from you.

I am very concerned what that favour is.

Not shooting down an aircraft?

 

[WhiteRussian]

You’d be surprise at the low numbers interested in watching 3pm PL games. Burnley v Bournemouth? Fuck right off.

Pubs would like it. Saturday sfternoon at my local is dead except for away fans when MK are playing as it's an away fans venue. Even that's only for an hour or so before the match and maybe half an hour after.

Saturday football would draw in a load of prem and general football fans (and we have loads of prem fans in MK).

 

[WhiteRussian]

Problem is clubs can't really offer any tickets/pricing structure atm cos no one knows when fans will be allowed in. Might not even be this year.

Our club has said absolutely nothing about season tickets/plans for next season on or off the pitch. Not sure anyone has a clue what's happening.

Without season tickets or any potential match day income how the fuck are clubs going to be able to prepare for next season? 600k isn't going to stretch very far.

We have sold 4000 season tickets for next season already. I'm not sure if thats a good or bad thing. Obviously the club will refund if there is no football but if they have already spent or budgeted for those sales, what then?

 

[Chris FGR]

We have sold 4000 season tickets for next season already. I'm not sure if thats a good or bad thing. Obviously the club will refund if there is no football but if they have already spent or budgeted for those sales, what then?

Then you're fucked. Unless Winkleman can afford to take the hit, or those fans are happy to turn those into donations.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Not shooting down an aircraft?

didn’t that happen, according to Trump, in the Revolutionary War when the Americans took the British airports?