Bury, Bolton... what next?

So the season is starting: bury's future is unclear, first two games postponed, bolton travelling with 3 senior players for their first game, also in chaos.

I've not followed either situation in depth but surely this uncertain position impacts the whole league.

Are there 70 71 or 72 teams in the efl this season?!!?!?

Until the powers that be re-address the inequity in TV income between the Premier League and the EFL then nothing will change. The temptation of riches in the Premier League is far too great for owners in the Championship. Parachute payments of 60m for clubs dropping out of the Premier League make it worse rather than insisting that every player who plays in the Premier League has a relegation clause written into their contract. How are teams in the Championship able to compete with Fulham, Cardiff and Huddersfield if they only receive 6m? And how come the authorities have let Derby and Villa get around FFP by allowing them to sell their stadia to their owners giving them an unfair advantage resulting in Villa being promoted? Clubs and businesses fail from time to time, it's a fact of life, but the administration of the game of football in this country is frankly rank pandering to the big boys who already have more than enough and smacks of jobs for the boys at the highest level. The cost of an average Premier League left back would set a club like ours up for another hundred years yet we play in the same competition, the FA Cup, and as the rules stand at the minute, those clubs that receive 2/3/400m a year in TV rights etc can pick up any one of our rising stars for a pittance. How can that be?

The EFL are getting steamrollered by the Premier League and I can't see that changing until there's a European Super League. And club's like us? We teeter on the edge however well our books are balanced. Only a year ago we were a defeat or two away from being in extremely difficult circumstances ourselves and most probably a huge downward spiral if we dropped into the Conference again. We'll have to wait until someone can deliver a new stadium so we can operate sustainably on 8k home gates not 4..

The clubs that drop out of the Prem don't hardly ever spend their money wisely ,look at Sunderland £35 million wasted two years in a row this season they drop to £16 prem parachute payment plus L1 monies £1.5 million.

They have lost £19 million in income this season  ,next season they go up get £9 million in the champion ship still lose millions in income  ,stay in L1 only get the £1.5 million.

If they get promoted then they will have increased wages bonuses to pay out think they are in danger of going.

Quoted from Helgy

The clubs that drop out of the Prem don't hardly ever spend their money wisely ,look at Sunderland £35 million wasted two years in a row this season they drop to £16 prem parachute payment plus L1 monies £1.5 million.

They ain't gonna do much with £16!  

Stanley's chairman wrote something on twitter not that long ago explaining reasons why being promoted isn't all 100% amazing roosey and positive and gave out roughly the same figures as above and explained in detail why and what has happened to other clubs.

The sooner the EFL kick Bury out the league, the better for everyone. Whilst I feel for the fans, if Bury was an animal it would have been put down by now. The same goes for Bolton, it's an absolute farce that they owe over £100M yet are able to field kids just to fulfil the fixture. Kick them both out, send a proper message out to those clubs that continuosly abuse the financial rules that it wont be tolerated.

Yep it`s time for tough love.This of course means as usual it`s the fans that suffer but a line needs drawing in the sand and the list of Clubs with problems is growing because of this turning a blind eye. The figures I heard for Scunny given there average gate of the past 10-15 years the most successful in the Clubs history and the player sales they have had are astounding . No way it should be allowed and in the event they had another relegation I genuinely fear they would never return. Now like most Town I loathe and despise the scunts but I still would not want them gone but clearly they are being run badly in terms of finance.

Absolutely agree with Steffi it's a complete farse fielding teams of kids and makes a mockery of the season. Bury well they cheated their way to league one so I've no sympathy at all for their situation they should have signed players they could have afforded last close season.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Absolutely agree with Steffi it's a complete farse fielding teams of kids and makes a mockery of the season. Bury well they cheated their way to league one so I've no sympathy at all for their situation they should have signed players they could have afforded last close season.

These are Clubs with rich histories and in Bolton`s case a fairly large fanbase which suggests they will come again but it`s just not that easy especially a Club with Bury`s support.When you see Coventry once again having to grounshare because of despot owners so they must surely lose money over this Season how long will it take them to recover? Further down to non league and the list of ex football league clubs struggling is frightening especially in the case of teams like Darlo and York who have dropped further down

Quoted from 1mickylyons

These are Clubs with rich histories and in Bolton`s case a fairly large fanbase which suggests they will come again but it`s just not that easy especially a Club with Bury`s support.When you see Coventry once again having to grounshare because of despot owners so they must surely lose money over this Season how long will it take them to recover? Further down to non league and the list of ex football league clubs struggling is frightening especially in the case of teams like Darlo and York who have dropped further down

I guess you have to look at how they have utilised the budget, not that well by the looks of it, then you start to get dwindled support making your budget smaller and for teams like Bury who push the boat out need to accept the consequences pure and simple.  In Darlo's case it was the stadium that did them over or atleast contributed..

Bury now given a 14 day deadline by the EFL or face expulsion from the league following their 3rd game being called off.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49280328

Quoted from Les Brechin

Bury now given a 14 day deadline by the EFL or face expulsion from the league following their 3rd game being called off.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49280328

Then what happens, does an extra team come up from league 2 come the end of the season or do they remove a relegation spot from League 1?

Normally the latter I believe certainly was in 1967 when town were relegated by something ridiculous like 0.08 of a goal with Mansfield who came fourth to bottom staying up and  Peterborough relegated for financial irregularities (no change there!!).

Five will come up from our division should Bury go.

Quoted from jock dock tower

Five will come up from our division should Bury go.

Are you sure about that Jock?

Wouldn't they just relegate the bottom three ( with Bury being the fourth team not being in League 1 next season ) then that'd mean only four up still

I can't imagine anyone finishing in 20th place being too happy about being relegated?

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Are you sure about that Jock?

Wouldn't they just relegate the bottom three ( with Bury being the fourth team not being in League 1 next season ) then that'd mean only four up still

I can't imagine anyone finishing in 20th place being too happy about being relegated?

4 up but only 3 down from league 1?

Quoted from Fishy clapper

4 up but only 3 down from league 1?

That's my feeling

I can't imagine they'd lose Bury and then have four other teams relegated additionally, which is what Jock thinks could happen ( if five teams were to be promoted like he suggests )

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Are you sure about that Jock?

Wouldn't they just relegate the bottom three ( with Bury being the fourth team not being in League 1 next season ) then that'd mean only four up still

I can't imagine anyone finishing in 20th place being too happy about being relegated?

As much as I would like five from our division to go up, this is the fairest way to do it in my opinion should it happen.

I was told a week or so back that there would be 5 promoted from League 2 next season if they were expelled but surely that won't be the case as the that would mean the team finishing 20th would be relegated which is totally wrong.

They already announced that in the event of Bury going under, league one would be played as a 23 team league, and 5 would go up from league 2 this season.
Assume that means 3 up from the conference as well

Quoted from buckstown

They already announced that in the event of Bury going under, league one would be played as a 23 team league, and 5 would go up from league 2 this season.
Assume that means 3 up from the conference as well

That could lead to all sorts of legal wrangles from the club that finishes in 20th place... could you imagine if that were us and we were clear of the other teams by some distance yet still got sent down

If that's the way the league are going to play it though, if we don't get an automatic promotion, a top 8 finish could see us go up ( via the play offs )

promotion/ relegation conundrums...unlikely anyway IMO as i doubt the EFL will actually be man enough to kick them out.

Looks like Bolton's sale has been stopped.

I would challenge anyone to find an EFL statement that indicates that 4 will be relegated from League One even in Bury are expelled because if you google it this thread is very high on the search results.

As someone else said, it would be totally wrong that the team finishing 20th in League One would be relegated. The season has started and teams placed 21-24 go down. You can't change that once the season has started.

In the unlikely occurance that both Bury & Bolton are expelled from the EFL it might be an opportunity to reduce the Championship to 22 teams. Would make sense as the Championship don't play on any of the international weekends (Sep, Oct, Nov & Mar) which means they play 4 more midweeks fixtures than L1 & L2.

If it makes sense then I suspect the chances of the (E)FL doing it are slim.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

I would challenge anyone to find an EFL statement that indicates that 4 will be relegated from League One even in Bury are expelled because if you google it this thread is very high on the search results.

As someone else said, it would be totally wrong that the team finishing 20th in League One would be relegated. The season has started and teams placed 21-24 go down. You can't change that once the season has started.

In the unlikely occurance that both Bury & Bolton are expelled from the EFL it might be an opportunity to reduce the Championship to 22 teams. Would make sense as the Championship don't play on any of the international weekends (Sep, Oct, Nov & Mar) which means they play 4 more midweeks fixtures than L1 & L2.

That would open up another can of worms though.... especially given the financial disparity between the Championship and League 1

As you rightly say the season has started so how could the FL say to two Championship sides, sorry you're now going to have to play League 1 from next season ( if they weren't actually in the relegation positions in May that is)

They certainly have their work cut out trying to keep their house in order... and given their track record, once they start digging that hole, it will probably just end up being bigger and bigger

Cannot see many championships teams wanting to play 1/2 less home games, to someone like Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Derby each home game must be worth at least half a million in revenue.

Quoted from Gaffer58

Cannot see many championships teams wanting to play 1/2 less home games, to someone like Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Derby each home game must be worth at least half a million in revenue.

It was only a couple of years ago that the EFL suggested reorganising to a 20-20-20-20 set-up for that exact reason.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

It was only a couple of years ago that the EFL suggested reorganising to a 20-20-20-20 set-up for that exact reason.

And it was rejected by the Championship clubs if I remember right.