Proposal from EFL to complete the season

There are only 8 or 9 games left plus play offs. That's 4 weeks at 3 games a week. Then the playoffs. Probably holiday travel will still be curtailed and the euros have been cancelled, I don't see any reason why we cannot finish this season in the summer. It's a bit early to be calling it off since nobody knows what the likely outcome is going to be. Even playing behind closed doors is preferable to calling it off completely IMHO.

Piece on the bbc website this morning involving Alex Rodman who is the union rep at Bristol Rovers having his meeting leaked, saying that unsurprisingly there wont be any crowds at EFL games until 2021.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52493649

If there’s no crowds until then the I can’t see how a new season could start . No crowds means no income , no money no contracts for players etc etc etc .... finishing this season is completely pointless. All leagues should just be voided until normality in whatever form that is can be restored...

Not sure if this is a stupid idea or not, but maybe a for EFL and Premiership would be to :-

Start all leagues again in August
No promotions / relegations from 2019/2020 ( sorry all clubs that could have got promotion )
First few months of new season should be the planed games that would have finished off last season.
All these outstanding games count as double points, so points go towards last season and new season.
I.e.  Liverpool win their first game they get 3 points towards 2019 / 2020 and 3 points towards 2020/2021 season.  
At least this way we still get league champions and money can be split fairly for league positions.  

I'm very uneasy that fans of a club with no chance of either promotion or relegation sitting in 13th place of Division Two could  advocate the voiding of this season. It wouldn't only affect the often mentioned headline teams of Liverpool, Leeds and West Brom but also affect teams like long suffering Coventry as well as a long list of promotion hopefuls including clubs who have overperformed like Wycombe, Rotherham, Oxford, Crewe, Cheltenham etc. Realistically there's nearly a third of all clubs chasing promotions that would be a huge boost to every one of them in different ways. And what about the clubs that are destined for relegation? Why should they get a free hit.. especially Stevenage? Void the season and the integrity of British football will be broken along with neverending lawsuits flying around in the aftermath. We need to show the English game is the strongest out there. There's enough money around in our game to sort out any shortcomings like players' contracts etc. We play the end of the season when it's safe to do so and we adjust the following season's timings over the next couple of years to recalibrate. We play behind closed doors if we have to. The fans of Coventry, Crewe and Rotherham matter as much as Liverpool's first title in thirty years or Leeds's return to the Premier League. We can't be weak and go for easier options like some countries have done, we need to work our way through it.. patiently and pragmatically to keep the integrity of our national sport intact..

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

If there’s no crowds until then the I can’t see how a new season could start . No crowds means no income , no money no contracts for players etc etc etc .... finishing this season is completely pointless. All leagues should just be voided until normality in whatever form that is can be restored...

I Suppose there would be Ifollow income that might replace some of the lost revenue from tickets (as someone who doesn't have a season ticket as I live away I'd be ploughing 10-15 quid most weeks that I otherwise don't), presumably we would still receive TV money, there would still be sponsorship (although much reduced), there would also be some cash from merchandise. Costs would be lower as well - No Police costs, You don't have much of the Admin wages.

I expect most clubs in EFL 2 will:
Axe their youth set up, Reduce squad size and renegotiate contracts. If you are a player and you are out of contract then this will be a massive problem, player wages will go through the floor.

All of this suggests to me it comes down to a pure financial decision on whether to finish the league or not. Can clubs make money from Ifollow than they have to pay to stage the games or not?

For the Premier league, a suggestion would be to test and isolate each squad and a list of officials. They have enough money to book hotel for June with training facilities nearby. Most have 9 games left, the games could then be played . Most are international players used to being in a camps for the Euros or world cups. The games could then be played at a couple a week either behind closed doors or even a lottery from season ticket holders to have a minimum safe distancing crowd

If the season restarts after the players contracts run out, will those players still be eligible to play for us? Or will we have to field a team of next seasons contracted players and youth? I'm just wondering what that team would look like and would maybe give us more time to find the right players for the 2020/21 season

Put the goalie in a car, send him to the match, one goalie against the other goalie from opposing club, one penalty each, could be a draw or 1-0 win, job sorted, saves on money and will be isolated, job done, season done.