Coronavirus and League 2

[AdamStag]

Blimy, these are slow times

 

[chipmunx]

Blimy, these are slow times

Imagine how slow they are for fans of a team who could have been promoted or relegated...
(and I don't count Mansfield as one of those as no way could Stevenage get anywhere near enough points to catch you....)

 

[Indian Dan]

That’s the problem. There are more clubs who will either benefit or make no difference to if the season is voided then there is those who are desperate for it to come to a conclusion.

 

[chipmunx]

That’s the problem. There are more clubs who will either benefit or make no difference to if the season is voided then there is those who are desperate for it to come to a conclusion.

yep - according to the article in the Sun today (yes I know they're full of shit) over half the teams in the National League want in Null and void - so basically everyone who doesn't have a hope in hell of catching Barrow... using the PPG way there are only 6 other teams that would get more than the 70 that Barrow already have and by 72 points that drops to 4 teams... only 1 team (Harrogate) get within 10 points of us in a PPG adjusted table.. IF the National League are not careful the EFL will use the following in it's rule book this season (because of Bury) and the National League will end up with only 1 up 1 down in future;-

5.3 Subject to the provisions of the Articles of Association and these Regulations, The League may from time to time and upon such terms and conditions as it may think fit admit any Association Football club as a member or expel or accept the retirement of any member from The League provided always that no member may be expelled without the sanction of a special resolution passed at an Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting of The League. Any casual vacancy occurring in the membership of The League may be filled by the Board.

 

[AdamStag]

Imagine how slow they are for fans of a team who could have been promoted or relegated...
(and I don't count Mansfield as one of those as no way could Stevenage get anywhere near enough points to catch you....)

very much so.

Not ideal for those fans at all.

Irrespective on what happens in the conference barrow should still be promoted to make up the missing space in league 2 for next season - whenever or if that actually happens

 

[Indian Dan]

What missing space in L2? Unless promotion/relegation is utilised nobody is going anywhere. There’s a missing space in L1 but who will fill that if Barrow are promoted to L2?

 

[chipmunx]

What missing space in L2? Unless promotion/relegation is utilised nobody is going anywhere. There’s a missing space in L1 but who will fill that if Barrow are promoted to L2?

there's no way L1 will run a team short again - so someone will go up to fill that place. Every home game attendance and money from it will be even more important from now on - so L1 will end up with 24 teams one way or another.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Last seasons 4th place will have to be promoted

 

[Chris FGR]

The National League aren't going to be able to hang on without voiding for as long as the EFL, so it's a moot point. You can't void some non league divisions and then promote a team who haven't earnt it from a different one. Only leagues that play to a finish can promote, except maybe in cases where a team were already mathematically promoted.

Having odd numbers won't make much difference next season anyway, as by the time this one gets done it will need to be shortened anyway so teams won't get 23 home games whatever happens.

 

[AdamStag]

The National League aren't going to be able to hang on without voiding for as long as the EFL, so it's a moot point. You can't void some non league divisions and then promote a team who haven't earnt it from a different one. Only leagues that play to a finish can promote, except maybe in cases where a team were already mathematically promoted.

Having odd numbers won't make much difference next season anyway, as by the time this one gets done it will need to be shortened anyway so teams won't get 23 home games whatever happens.

There’s no way that barrow won’t come up, the league won’t allow to operate on 23 teams. Hopefully the conference like the league see sense and carry on with this season and go from there.

Another theory which is interesting is that league 2 could split into north and south next season - 12 in each half - 24 games - top side goes up and you have a mini playoff system - 4 teams go up.

Same goes for the championship and league 1 only the winners of the playoffs of each half would have to have a final as only 3 go up.

It obviously won’t happen but a canny idea.

 

[Chris FGR]

Could just relegate Stevenage and have 22 teams in league 2 for one season. 1 down 3 up next season.

Barrow can't come up unless the NL finishes. There needs to be consistency throughout non league. Can't tell South Shields etc that they can't go up and then promote Barrow. Definite law suit incoming if that happens.

 

[Indian Dan]

Get shot of all the village green teams and get proper clubs back - Notts County, Chesterfield, Wrexham etc

 

[Chris FGR]

Get shot of all the village green teams and get proper clubs back - Notts County, Chesterfield, Wrexham etc

Bit of a pathetic attempt that, don't you think? Still sore from getting torn a new one at the CG in what will be your last game in a long while?

 

[AdamStag]

Get shot of all the village green teams and get proper clubs back - Notts County, Chesterfield, Wrexham etc

Wrexham should be allowed up. The other 2 need to investigate the virtues of non-league football for some while longer.

 

[Indian Dan]

It’s about economics. Those clubs left will need maximum revenue for them to survive. Getting hundreds of away fans is obviously generating more income than the one coachload clubs.

Harsh, I know, but the football industry of a month ago will not be the football industry of the future. I have no idea about my own club’s ability to sustain months without income so I’m not advocating this from a position of strength.

Nobody really knows how clubs, or more truthfully, club owners will continue to fund what is for almost all of them, a hobby.

 

[Jerry]

Get shot of all the village green teams and get proper clubs back - Notts County, Chesterfield, Wrexham etc

Our local journo reckons Gary Johnson has said that the EFL are already in talks about the possibility of absorbing the National League. If several clubs do go bust this seems like a workable solution, maybe have a League 2 North and South?

https://torquayunited.com/torquay-united-latest-by-dave-thomas/

 

[AdamStag]

Our local journo reckons Gary Johnson has said that the EFL are already in talks about the possibility of absorbing the National League. If several clubs do go bust this seems like a workable solution, maybe have a League 2 North and South?

https://torquayunited.com/torquay-united-latest-by-dave-thomas/

Nah. The system is fine currently, not interested in north or south either. Obviously I don’t want to see any harm come to any clubs from the bananarama league but I fail to see why this current situation should mean the conference now becomes part of the EFL

 

[Chris FGR]

EFL clubs won't vote for that, means more clubs to share central funding/sponsorship/TV income with.

 

[Indian Dan]

Not if/when some clubs go extinct.

No to regionalisation, too.

 

[Chris FGR]

Which clubs are most likely to go extinct?

I reckon all will pull through unless this goes on long into next season. Being able to furlough staff and players will make a big difference.

 

[Indian Dan]

If you’re an owner whose core business funds a football club and this epidemic has seriously harmed said business, I can foresee them dropping a loss making football club like a sloppy, dog turd.

 

[AdamStag]

The grants by the EFL should tide clubs over for the foreseeable future.

Clubs will pass any losses down to wages they play players - I can foresee wages for players in the leagues going down by quite some margin

 

[Laker]

Loads of players are out of contract in June. Clubs will or have furloughed loads of wages already. They will get funding from the EFL and have the option of loans too. I reckon the only ones that struggle will be those fucked already.

 

[Luke Imp]

The grants by the EFL should tide clubs over for the foreseeable future.

Clubs will pass any losses down to wages they play players - I can foresee wages for players in the leagues going down by quite some margin

They're not grants, that's the problem. They an advancement of payments or interest free loan. It just kicks the problem further down the road. It's good that they've done it, and it'll help short term, but realistically solves nothing medium term.

 

[AdamStag]

They're not grants, that's the problem. They an advancement of payments or interest free loan. It just kicks the problem further down the road. It's good that they've done it, and it'll help short term, but realistically solves nothing medium term.

to a degree it does as will allow clubs to cut cloth accordingly next season. Wages for players will obviously be down next year for all concerned

 

[TheDon]

Bit of a pathetic attempt that, don't you think? Still sore from getting torn a new one at the CG in what will be your last game in a long while?

Glad you enjoyed your big day out. Must have felt like a real supporter; that's if you went?

 

[Indian Dan]

Bet this crisis isn’t doing Reading any favours



D3D4Football
@d3d4football
·
3h
The state of club finances in the EFL See-no-evil monkey

Reading paid £225 in wages for every £100 of income - a Championship record...Exploding head

They have also sold both their Stadium & training ground to a company run by their owners and are now having to pay rent ... Man facepalming

#Readingfc
Quote Tweet

PriceOfFootball
@KieranMaguire
· Apr 4
Reading had an operating loss of £40.6m in 2018/19, which is after taking into account £1.7m of management charge income to another group co & £3m loan fee for Sone Aluko to a club controlled by Reading owners. Without these losses would have been over £45m #Royals
Show this thread
Image

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Bet this crisis isn’t doing Reading any favours



D3D4Football
@d3d4football
·
3h
The state of club finances in the EFL See-no-evil monkey

Reading paid £225 in wages for every £100 of income - a Championship record...Exploding head

They have also sold both their Stadium & training ground to a company run by their owners and are now having to pay rent ... Man facepalming

#Readingfc
Quote Tweet

PriceOfFootball
@KieranMaguire
· Apr 4
Reading had an operating loss of £40.6m in 2018/19, which is after taking into account £1.7m of management charge income to another group co & £3m loan fee for Sone Aluko to a club controlled by Reading owners. Without these losses would have been over £45m #Royals
Show this thread
Image

Ironically Reading, after Blackpool (for obvious reasons) were probably the tightest side financially out of every side to appear in the Premier League in the past 20 years. I think they only spent £2.5 million on Emerse Fae (who wasn't very good) and made a few inexpensive signings (Matejovsky, Seol, Bikey etc) to complement the squad. When they made the PL again under McDermott, I don't think they spent much that year either. A year later, the TV deal went up massively and Cardiff, Hull and Palace were throwing money around like it was going out of fashion...

The Championship has been a case of champagne wages on lemonade revenues ever since the influx of foreign ownership into the division really escalated throughout the last decade. Over 10 years ago, many clubs in the division like Leeds, Stoke, Forest etc had £10,000 a week wage caps and I remember Derby's wage cap being even lower which is why they signed a lot of players from the lower leagues, with a couple leaving ourselves to go there. I can understand the big spending from Stoke, Newcastle, Villa and all the teams to drop out of the Premier League, but sides like Sheffield Wednesday, out of the PL for 2 decades, accumulating a wage budget of £42 million when the league TV broadcast deal is £3.5 million per club with a similar solidarity payment on top of that is ludicrous!

I always remember when Bristol City went down with a whimper in 2013, Steve Lansdown came out saying a wage budget of £18 million in a hope to get into the Premier League was ludicrous and that he'd be investing in youth. When that almost relegated them again in League One, he loosened the purse strings. And when they went up and were totally out of depth in the Championship. Now they're spending over £30 million in wages a mere 7 years later!

Kieran Maguire said on his Twitter earlier about a banker living in a town with a Championship club being afraid to call in the overdraft of this particular football club for fear of being run out of town if he did so. But if the overdrafts aren't called in on this reckless spending then it'll only continue. How can a provincial club like Blackburn amass £260 million worth of debt and still be sustainable?

Factory reset and draconian cuts are needed now at that level and at all levels. Salford are paying one or two in this division £400,000 a year to kick a ball in the fourth tier. You can't justify it. You could argue significant cuts are needed in the Premier League too but they'll worm their way out saying "we need to attract the best players in the world for our brand".

Football won't continue like normal after this. I do think a lot of clubs in our league will be fine. Most adhere to the SCMP legislation and only the chronically unstable or clubs heavily bankrolled by one owner will take a significant hit. But all these pipe dreams of spending your way up the leagues need to be shelved in the name of sustainability of our football clubs. Scrap EPPP and have faith in our youth systems rather than pissing thousands away on signing on fees, agents fees and stupid wages for fourth division footballers.

 

[TheDon]

Well said! Having been through lots of financial problems over the years it's a bit like pissing into the wind throwing lots of money at a club, you know it's going to come back at you. 'Factory reset' is what's needed.

 

[Dave-Vale]

3 full weeks of homeschooling done. This week has been more laid back as it’s meant to be the Easter Holidays.

We will get through this.