English Football League: Promotion and relegation to remain if seasons curtailed. Clubs will still be promoted and relegated from the three divisions of the English Football League if seasons are ended amid the coronavirus crisis. Play-offs will also be played, but with no more than four teams. The EFL has confirmed that 51% of Championship, League One and League Two clubs need to agree for the campaign in each division to be curtailed. This could pave the way for the League One season to be cancelled, with teams currently split over a resolution. Talks last week stalled after at least six clubs in the third tier, including Sunderland, Portsmouth and Ipswich Town, said they wanted to continue the season. With only 23 teams now in that division, following Bury's expulsion by the EFL, any vote is certain to be decisive either way. If the season is brought to an early conclusion, using the unweighted points-per-game system proposed by the EFL eighth-placed Wycombe Wanderers would move into the play-offs at the expense of Peterborough United - another of the sides determined to carry on playing. The new regulations still have to be voted on by all 71 EFL clubs before they can be implemented. While League One could follow League Two in being curtailed, the Championship is hoping to resume in June alongside the Premier League. Players are set to return to training on Monday but with strict protocols. ......................................................................GD.. Pts 1 Coventry ..................................18 ..1.97 2 Rotherham ...............................23 1,77 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Wycombe ....................................5 ..1.73 4 Oxford .......................................24 .1.71 5 Portsmouth ...............................17 .1.71 6 Fleetwood .................................13 .1.71 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 Peterborough ........................... 28 .1.69 8 Sunderland ...............................16 .1.64 How the League One table will look if the season is cancelled and an unweighted points-per-game system is used. It will be interesting to see how the final vote goes, especially considering Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony's threat to sue the EFL if his side are excluded from the play-offs !!
I've always wanted the season to be played out, but we are clearly running out of time now. Most teams have played 35 games so have nine to go. Some have to play ten times. Supposing the season were to start in mid June (earliest) it will take until mid July, playing two or three times a week. Add the playoffs and the final promotion spots will be decided a week or two from the scheduled start of next season - hardly time for promoted sides (especially playoff winners) to strengthen their squads for te new campaign. We also have the contract problems - most players'contracts run until the end of June. If a player's contract is not going to be renewed he has to be given time to find a new club. Don't forget, most players in the lower leagues do nor have suitcases full of money stuffed under their sofas and have families to feed just as do the rest of us. On a side note, has a decision been made about the completion of the FA Cup or has it been cancelled - not to mention the EFL Trophy! If Pompey were to have won it this season they would have been the first side to retain the trophy since it started as the Associate Members' Cup in the 1883-84 season. Unless play can resume by mid June I feel now that the conclusion of the league must be the way forward. I am not, however, in favour of an unweighted 'points per game' resolution. I feel that a number of factors could and should be taken into consideration, such as: Points per home game and points per away game. Points per home (/away) game against sides in the top/bottom half. I would be very interested to know if there was any particular formula that the 'Pools Panel' used to use back in the day to decide Home win, away, win or draw. I wonder what Frank Duckworth (Duckworth-Lewis system used in cricket) is up to these days.......
