News

Theoretical Nonsense Is Destroying Us

|
Image for Theoretical Nonsense Is Destroying Us

The indecisiveness of the EFL is destroying us. How can we plan for next season when nobody seems to know what is going to happen to this one? Decisions have continued to be made in European football league’s everywhere; except it seems where we live In League One.

The EFL has confirmed that 51% of Championship, League One and League Two clubs need to agree on how the season in each division will end. They say that play-offs will have to be played, and they stipulate that is it will be with no more than four teams!  So any hope that Ipswich could sneak in there has already been dashed.

This could mean that League One campaign is cancelled, with teams currently split over a clear resolution to this prolonged dispute.  It is worth pointing out though that the new regulations still have to be voted on by all 71 EFL clubs before they can be fully implemented.

As I have indicated many times before, I am in favour of the season being declared null and void but this would mean no promotion and no relegation and although you can argue that it is very unfair to the two clubs currently in those automatic promotion places all this theoretical nonsense is destroying the game we love. Far better then, to wipe the slate clean – even if leaders Coventry City and Rotherham United will be outraged by this prospect.

Richard who is a regular reader of this column has his take on how this should end and this would certainly satisfy the top two.

OMG, this saga beggars belief.
Bottom 14 clubs want to end the season now. No promotion incentive and too expensive to play matches in empty grounds.
Top 10 want to play – they have an incentive and tend to be the wealthier clubs.
All they’ve got to do is promote the top 2 automatically.
End the season now for the bottom 14.
Have the 8 teams who finished between 3rd and 10th in the play-offs.
Quarter finals – 3rd team to play at home to 10th, 4th to 9th etc, etc.
Semis & final and then usual format.
The EFL seems to have got terminal brain ache. What’s up with them!

One thing is certain. This agony cannot go on forever. Next week the EFL will vote again on the two most critical issues. The first would ask whether or not clubs should accept the EFL’s recommended framework for completing the season. If that goes through, the second vote will be whether or not to resume or cancel the season and revert to their framework for ending the season.

But the Portsmouth chief executive, Mark Catlin, expects the saga to drag on into the first week of June! He explained what he thinks will happen in a conversation with the Portsmouth News “There’s no date on the vote but I believe under the regulations once voting papers are issued there’s a five-day period to allow people to vote. So another one of my big concerns in trying to finish the season is that clubs have been asked to submit their opinions by close of play on Tuesday next week. Let’s assume papers are produced Wednesday or Thursday, we’re probably not going to know the results until the week after next. That then makes it difficult to complete the season given the timing of 56 days and a period needed to train and get the players back to some level of fitness.”

All I know is that this elongated sage is no good for anyone. This league has suffered too much already and supporters and the clubs in it, still have no idea how, or when, this season will finally be curtailed, and if a new season will ever begin again? In the meantime, I see a lot of clubs becoming financially insolvent.

Share this article

A true blue through and through

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *