The Lounge

[Windlesham Don]

So the outcome of the EFL league season is liable to rumble on for a while yet. It is unsurprising, but still very sad, to see the bickering dominated by the self interest of many club owners. Greed, ambition and ego seem to be dominating much of the debate, which is as expected to those of us who have been watching football for many years.

Especially distasteful in the current climate are the attitudes of Darragh McAnthony at Peterborough and Ron Martin at Southend.

McAnthony, who once came stalking AFC Wimbledon before finding that we wouldn’t bend to his will, seems to be adopting the attitude that Posh are a shoo-in for promotion – incredible, considering that they are in the last play-off place. Also incredible given the soft underbelly that Posh display every season – a talented bunch, but with no ‘bottle’ when the going gets tough.

The attitude of Martin is equally pathetic. The worst team in the division by a country mile, their chairman knows that the only way to cling on to their League 1 place is to have the season voided with no relegation. Fortunately, he appears to be a lone voice in favour of this option.

Happily we have chosen to keep our powder dry in this debate. As one of the smaller clubs in the division and with a new stadium to fund, we would logically only favour re-starting the season if there were funding to cover all match expenses. However, the Premier League appear to want to sit on their reported £1.5 billion cash pile, while spouting their normal dross about already giving £400m per season to the EFL (erm, of which 70% is parachute payments to their own clubs relegated into the Championship..!)

Personally, I don’t see a conclusion to this unseemly wrangle until the Premier League decide whether they will contribute more funds to the EFL clubs. The Championship clubs would like to complete the season, the League 2 clubs have voted to end the season (without relegation) and the League 1 clubs are still arguing.

If clubs are forced to complete the season without crowds and without further funding then there will be casualties. We are a prudently run club (it is all relative of course…) and so we are unlikely to be the first club to go under, but the new ground could become a millstone around our necks, especially if we cannot negotiate funding to complete it’s construction.

Worrying times…

[Colum]

The latest missive from the EFL concludes with…

“The EFL Board has always acknowledged that a single solution to satisfy all Clubs would always be hard to find, but we are at the point now where strong, definitive action is needed for the good of the League and its members.”

That’s not a phrase I’d use!

[onyadon]

SEASON UPDATE:
The EFL board has (finally) drafted a framework to complete the 2019-20 season.

– Preference to finish season
– In event of early curtailment – UNWEIGHTED points per game
– Promotion and relegation retained
– Playoffs played but not extended

The EFL’s possible options for deciding the League One season

The BBC report
Promotion and relegation to remain if seasons curtailed

EFL League One, League Two clubs could fold without Government bailout – MP

[onyadon]

AFC Wimbledon released a club statement on Friday saying they will be voting to curtail the season when the vote is taken by clubs expected next week.

AFC Wimbledon statement

A statement of firm, principled intent, removing doubt/innuendo/motives, congratulations to the fans-owned club for its stance on the Covid season imbroglio..

"Of course, our priority has to be to protect the health of everyone involved with the club – players, fans & staff.

— wombles downunder (@WDownunder) May 22, 2020

Shrewsbury Town put out a statement on the same day along the same lines as Wimbledon with some interesting context.

✉️ | A message from Brian Caldwell #SalopianFamily pic.twitter.com/d2euu9WyPp

— Shrewsbury Town FC (@shrewsweb) May 22, 2020

[onyadon]

Joe Palmer talks with the BBC..

The view I’m getting from clubs is that we want to see the end of the season.

We as a club don’t want to do anything that is going to put us in a worse off situation and if playing out the rest of the season does that we would be against it.

Given what we’ve learned in recent days in terms of the financial implications of playing on and where clubs are at the moment, we’re quite happy with that scenario, that if it were to finish then we’d be quite happy with that.

I think probably it’s moving towards cancellation, simply because of the factors around the finances for clubs and also the health concerns.

The guidelines for returning to training and returning to play are quite extensive. It’s a lot for even Premier League clubs, so for us I think it would be quite difficult as well.

Palmer on Plough Lane..

Things are still moving very well here and the progress has been astonishing. We’re very positive.

We were looking at the end of October for the completion date and nothing has changed on that.

AFC Wimbledon chief executive believes season is ‘moving towards cancellation’

[Windlesham Don]

It certainly seems like there is now no appetite for completing the league fixtures. As far as we are concerned, we have everything to lose and little to gain from playing on so IMO it was a ‘no brainer’ to come out with the statement that we did. The major question for me now is whether the EFL and football authorities will make any structural changes to the game to set it on the right footing for the future? Sadly with all the conflicting self interests around there is unlikely to be any agreement unless the government step in and TBH they are unlikely to do so. For me, there are a couple of measures which would help the game at League 1, League 2 and National league level – 1. Salary cap – The ingrained habit of some clubs for spending beyond their means has to stop if the sport is to survive. The playing field must be evened up and a salary cap is one method of doing that. £2.5m has been mentioned for League 1, but personally I do not have a problem with any cap being based on a fixed sum, supplemented by an amount based on average home attendance. The bigger clubs should get a (small) advantage for attracting bigger crowds. 2. – Regionalisation – IMO it is madness that Eastleigh and Harrogate and Barrow should be in the same league at level 5 in the pyramid. Regional leagues below the Championship would cut costs and increase crowds. I appreciate that some fans enjoy the long away day trips to far flung places in the country, but these fans are in a minority and financially these trips are punitive for fans and clubs alike.

There are obviously major problems to overcome to get our beloved game out of its current financial quagmire, around governance and the presence of egotistical owners. But it seems obvious to me that clubs at our level and below will need to cut costs and increase revenue if a majority are going to survive into the future. Any thoughts?

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