Coronavirus

[chief]

Then get York on a conference call to ratify the decision

But absolutely not, and I cannot stress this enough, not Darlington.

 

[Railway Blue]

It’s a particularly good idea if, as seems likely, we’re either not going to be back by September or will need another lockdown next Winter. I quite like it.

So do I.

 

[Vanni]

I hear all is not well at the Real Brotherhood HQ. Apparently 3 member clubs - Notts, Stockport and Pools - want the league to resume when it's safe to do so, while Wrexham want the season to be voided asap.

 

[Soup Ladle]

I hear all is not well at the Real Brotherhood HQ. Apparently 3 member clubs - Notts, Stockport and Pools - want the league to resume when it's safe to do so, while Wrexham want the season to be voided asap.

Not at all. Everyone's on the same page, finish the season. We have charitably forgone the Real Brotherhood League for the season to facilitate that.

 

[MrGloverLover]

Void this season and start the next one with everyone on the points they currently have .

 

[rudebwoyben]

Void this season and start the next one with everyone on the points they currently have .

I’m more ok with that than other options but we’d be disadvantaged having played fewer matches than everyone else. We ought to have a PPG top-up!

 

[LongEatonPie]

Or start on the ppg from this season and work next season in PPG rather than general points.

 

[BarraMatt]

Since Tranmere were awarded the league title a couple of years ago due to their scintillating run after Mickey Mellon joined can we be awarded this season's since we only had 7 points after 9 games?

 

[Master D]

You’re referring to the now defunct Since Mellon Took Over league table I assume.

 

[BarraMatt]

Ah, never realised it was defunct. Never mind.

 

[Vanni]

Void this season and start the next one with everyone on the points they currently have .

As an outsider looking in, I have to say your proposal would be unfair on a good number of clubs. I do get where you're coming from though, 'cos after all, Yeovil are/were looking good for the play offs.

Everybody knows most lower league clubs do make wholesale changes to their squads and there will be some sides with as many as 8 new faces in their starting line ups once the new season gets under way. My point is why reward (or punish) an altogether different side with something that has got nothing to do with them in the first place? For ex, the side that won the U's promotion in 2013/14 was a much changed one from the mediocre one of 2012/13.

 

[Luke Imp]

So just to be clear, the NL want clubs to vote to end the season with no confirmation of how placings would be worked out or whether it would be voided?

 

[LongEatonPie]

So just to be clear, the NL want clubs to vote to end the season with no confirmation of how placings would be worked out or whether it would be voided?

Yep, you got it. Kinda here have this box for £20 but I won't tell you what's in it.

 

[chipmunx]

So just to be clear, the NL want clubs to vote to end the season with no confirmation of how placings would be worked out or whether it would be voided?

I think the main reason is contracts - a lot will be up on the 25th April (with provision to extend for the play offs) - so any team that is not in a play off place will be able to release players whose contracts expire as soon as they expire whatever the next stage of the vote is.

 

[Luke Imp]

I think the main reason is contracts - a lot will be up on the 25th April (with provision to extend for the play offs) - so any team that is not in a play off place will be able to release players whose contracts expire as soon as they expire whatever the next stage of the vote is.

I'm not disputing why they want a vote, just that you can't expect clubs to vote on something when they aren't presented with a way forward after said vote.

Barrow, for example, aren't going to vote to end the season if it means null and void but will vote to end the season if it's done on PPG or current standings.

 

[chipmunx]

I'm not disputing why they want a vote, just that you can't expect clubs to vote on something when they aren't presented with a way forward after said vote.

Barrow, for example, aren't going to vote to end the season if it means null and void but will vote to end the season if it's done on PPG or current standings.

True - i have a feeling null and void will be off the table though as it would hurt the National Leagues cause for 2 up 2 down at present and kill off any hopes of going to 3 up 3 down in future. Also the National league will want an agreed format for getting to the final table that can be used for additional promotion places that might appear after the PL and EPL decide what they are doing - or if sadly teams like Macclesfield,Southend etc that are struggling don't survive.
For Instance if the PL doesn't finishes and decided to increase to 22 teams by not relegating and teams, but taking the Championship top 2, then if the EFL did the same then there would be 3 teams coming up from the National League (Barrow, Harrogate and Notts County) with Yeovil being next in line if someone went bust etc.

 

[Luke Imp]

True - i have a feeling null and void will be off the table though as it would hurt the National Leagues cause for 2 up 2 down at present and kill off any hopes of going to 3 up 3 down in future. Also the National league will want an agreed format for getting to the final table that can be used for additional promotion places that might appear after the PL and EPL decide what they are doing - or if sadly teams like Macclesfield,Southend etc that are struggling don't survive.
For Instance if the PL doesn't finishes and decided to increase to 22 teams by not relegating and teams, but taking the Championship top 2, then if the EFL did the same then there would be 3 teams coming up from the National League (Barrow, Harrogate and Notts County) with Yeovil being next in line if someone went bust etc.

True. I'm not sure the PL would take 22 teams next season because that'd open up legal challenges from Fulham etc when there's £100m's at stake but I agree that the PL down to the NL need to align somehow. That's why I'm surprised they're putting this vote out there because the EFL haven't really suggested anything yet as they're waiting on the PL.

 

[Vanni]

True. I'm not sure the PL would take 22 teams next season because that'd open up legal challenges from Fulham etc when there's £100m's at stake but I agree that the PL down to the NL need to align somehow. That's why I'm surprised they're putting this vote out there because the EFL haven't really suggested anything yet as they're waiting on the PL.

I'm not getting this legal challenge thing when Fulham aren't even in an automatic promotion spot. Cambridge finished the 2007/08 season in 2nd place and didn't go up, and the exact same thing happened only a year later. In short, two 2nd place finishes in consecutive years for nowt.

My point is just because Fulham (or any other side) are in the play off spots doesn't mean they were going up if the season wasn't halted. And as far as I know, you just doesn't contest decisions in court when your whole argument is founded around the probability and the likelihood of something happening. A' what if' argument in other words.

 

[TonyM]

I'm not disputing why they want a vote, just that you can't expect clubs to vote on something when they aren't presented with a way forward after said vote.

Barrow, for example, aren't going to vote to end the season if it means null and void but will vote to end the season if it's done on PPG or current standings.

I think it is right to separate the two votes. The vote to end the season allows clubs to draw a line and in particular have some certainty around outgoings including wages, the sooner this is done for most clubs, particularly at step 2, the better. The issue around 'the way forward' is more complicated as much of it is out of the hands of the National League and dependant on what the EFL decides and they will work on their own, or more likely, the PL timetable.

Personally I think the National clubs should extend the no promotion / relegation to step 1 / step 2 as it isn't right a club should be relegated on anything other than a full season and this could be decided asap. What then happens in terms of the step between the EFL and the NL can wait and if it means the NL running a team light to accommodate the Bury situation then so be it with just 3 sides being relegated at the end of 20/21

 

[chipmunx]

things get a little more complicated on PPG if Home and Away are treated separately... as Notts only have 3 Home games left treating the 2 separately leaves them below Boreham Wood and Yeovil (i think) as apart from games against top teams Notts Away record is pretty poor and 5 of their remaining 8 games are Away... something Notts owners will have already worked out - and the probable reason they want to know what the 2nd round of votes will be. Barrow and Harrogate remain 1st and 2nd (in that order) however PPG is worked out.

 

[Luke Imp]

I'm not getting this legal challenge thing when Fulham aren't even in an automatic promotion spot. Cambridge finished the 2007/08 season in 2nd place and didn't go up, and the exact same thing happened only a year later. In short, two 2nd place finishes in consecutive years for nowt.

My point is just because Fulham (or any other side) are in the play off spots doesn't mean they were going up if the season wasn't halted. And as far as I know, you just doesn't contest decisions in court when your whole argument is founded around the probability and the likelihood of something happening. A' what if' argument in other words.

Those seasons you refer were completed, though. Fulham's, and perhaps Brentford's, argument would be that you can't handout promotion and relegation spots on the basis of an incomplete season. Fulham might not have gone up if the season was halted but on the flip side, Leeds and WBA might not have gone up just because they're in the automatic spots at the minute.

Likewise you'd have Tranmere testing the water as well because they'd stand to lose a fair amount of money through relegation.

Not that I know myself, but I'm pretty sure within all the small print around competition contracts it'll be some form of loophole . That's probably why an EFL Chairman (forget who, but not McAnthony or Holt) was saying a couple of weeks ago that nearly half of the EFL had already sounded our lawyers to look into everything in case it comes to current placings to end the season early.

All that said, they aren't my thoughts, I've always maintained at this late stage of the season the league table is there or thereabouts. Not sure how you'd get around the PO issue unless the first PO placed side goes up as well.

I think it is right to separate the two votes. The vote to end the season allows clubs to draw a line and in particular have some certainty around outgoings including wages, the sooner this is done for most clubs, particularly at step 2, the better. The issue around 'the way forward' is more complicated as much of it is out of the hands of the National League and dependant on what the EFL decides and they will work on their own, or more likely, the PL timetable.

Personally I think the National clubs should extend the no promotion / relegation to step 1 / step 2 as it isn't right a club should be relegated on anything other than a full season and this could be decided asap. What then happens in terms of the step between the EFL and the NL can wait and if it means the NL running a team light to accommodate the Bury situation then so be it with just 3 sides being relegated at the end of 20/21

I think it's correct to separate as well, I just don't think you can ask clubs to vote on the first part without knowing options for the second because that could ultimately influence the initial vote. I wouldn't have full confidence in the NL not to make it up as they go along and change the goalposts so there needs to be firm plans in place before a vote can happen IMO and it doesn't seem that there are.

As you say, it's an incredibly complicated thing that will impacts clubs one way or another.

 

[Camborne Gills]

Yep, you got it. Kinda here have this box for £20 but I won't tell you what's in it.

A bit like a poor mans version of Deal or No Deal then?

There have been that many suggestions, perhaps it should be decided like that.

 

[HG Yellow&Black]

A global pandemic

A global economic depression to follow

And football clubs are threatening legal action

The football season of 2019/20 is irrelevant set against that context

 

[Camborne Gills]

Sport, not just football is far from irrelevant. It will be vital to lift the mood of the country and get the economy going again, to a certain extent.

There are issues to overcome, but things need to be resolved before things can start afresh.

 

[Raymondo316]

Germany & Italy from all reports are planning to play games behind closed doors till at least January 2021. With this virus seemingly not going away anytime soon the UK will likely have to go the same route.

So even if we try to finish in the summer or just cancel this season and start again in August/September. There's not many non league or even league 1/2 teams who can afford to have no money coming in why playing in empty stadiums for large periods of time.

Then you also have to look at the prospect of another potential lockdown in autumn/winter time. So I can't see many teams wanting to hand out guaranteed contracts, when there's a good chance things could end up going the same way this season has.

Realistically how can lower league & non league teams plan for the next few months or even next season when there's so much uncertainty.

 

[LongEatonPie]

Question that will be raised is season tickets and tickets on the day.
Yes they could go the route where every game is televised (I guess below National League level they will struggle) and you could charge £10-15 to watch. You could by a TV Season Ticket.
As it is there is so much doubt about everything which is why just voiding it before we know is silly imo. We might not be able to start till near the end of the year, by then they may as well just finish this season and start again in August 2021.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Sport, not just football is far from irrelevant. It will be vital to lift the mood of the country and get the economy going again, to a certain extent.

.

100% correct. The thing about football being the most important thing of the least important things in life has never seemed more relevant.

I’m really missing it.

 

[BarraMatt]

Yep, let's not forget that despite football being a hobby/interest (putting it lightly) to ourselves posting on this forum, it is also a livelihood to many hard working folk.

 

[#Beebot]

Germany & Italy from all reports are planning to play games behind closed doors till at least January 2021. With this virus seemingly not going away anytime soon the UK will likely have to go the same route.

So even if we try to finish in the summer or just cancel this season and start again in August/September. There's not many non league or even league 1/2 teams who can afford to have no money coming in why playing in empty stadiums for large periods of time.

Then you also have to look at the prospect of another potential lockdown in autumn/winter time. So I can't see many teams wanting to hand out guaranteed contracts, when there's a good chance things could end up going the same way this season has.

Realistically how can lower league & non league teams plan for the next few months or even next season when there's so much uncertainty.

I can't see football behind closed doors being enforced by government below the top few tiers.

 

[Chief Rocka]

I can't see football behind closed doors being enforced by government below the top few tiers.

That's easy for you to say, your two clubs combined only average about 2,500.