Decisions being made

[Steeley]

Can't see many league two clubs being able to afford to pay players to play behind closed doors.

[Shaun]

I imagine players/staff all over the shop are going to have to agree to substantial pay cuts (if they haven't already) just to keep hold of a job.

[Pedro]

It's a case of the haves and have nots.
PL do not give a monkey about grass roots.
I really hope the PL have to pay TV money back its ruined our game making most clubs PLCs.

Money grabbers reducing payments at early stages of FA cup.

[Suffolk Blue]

Can't see many league two clubs being able to afford to pay players to play behind closed doors.

There's not much doubt in my mind that the overwhelming view of L1/L2 will be to decide they would prefer to finish now. You can ignore much of what each club actually says to the media. Each clubs position is being carefully choreographed by their legal advisers now. The "decisions" they will actually make are being influenced by unseen events in the background. So I think that's what you'll see today and I think its likely also because the EFL is happy for them to go in this direction.

Determining how the season ends is a different matter because in that respect the EFL has to act together. The moment that L1/L2 says it intends to void the season is the moment that those clubs in the bottom half of the Premier League cry foul and the EFLs hopes of 3 up from the Championship are very seriously damaged. So I'd surprised if they came out and said lets void - even if a majority would be happy to do so.

So expectation would be an agreement for the three Leagues to then go into further consultation regarding the method of completion. Its possible that if there is a strong majority for a merited finish that they might articulate some preferences for which method to use. If not I think they'll lob that back to Rick Parry.

Its easy to see this as total inertia on the EFLs part. Whilst it may have started out that way I think what we are now seeing is more of a tightly controlled legal process dictating what sequence things are happening in. This is as much to contain what comes afterwards as it is about reaching the right decision. Buts its positive because it means that the Leagues will be made totally aware of EFL regulations when making their decisions.

[Bigfathoss]

There is a lot of talk on all media of possible legal actions on the part of the clubs who don't come out of this with what they want. Surely there would be a force majeure* in effect that would basically say 'sorry lads, this is beyond all expectations and it's nobody's fault'.
What court in the land (except maybe the mad-as-a-box-of-frogs EU courts) is going to do anything but throw the thing out of court?
Here's the choice.
Take the unpalatable outcome on the chin.
Or.
Screw up the leagues for every other club involved and all the paying viewing public by delaying any possible start-up for potentially years until it grinds through courts.

*Am i using this correctly?

[Tommylad]

Stevenage fans already discussing life in the conference, wonder what they've heard

[Suffolk Blue]

There is a lot of talk on all media of possible legal actions on the part of the clubs who don't come out of this with what they want. Surely there would be a force majeure* in effect that would basically say 'sorry lads, this is beyond all expectations and it's nobody's fault'.
What court in the land (except maybe the mad-as-a-box-of-frogs EU courts) is going to do anything but throw the thing out of court?
Here's the choice.
Take the unpalatable outcome on the chin.
Or.
Screw up the leagues for every other club involved and all the paying viewing public by delaying any possible start-up for potentially years until it grinds through courts.

*Am i using this correctly?

People tend to shout loudly partly because they are understandably upset if decisions go against them and partly because they tend naturally to confuse what might be seen as unfair with what a court would see as unreasonable. To some extent that was one of the reasons that many pundits originally saw voiding as likely because in their own minds is seemed to them to be "fair". In reality of course it is no fairer than any other solution because it discriminates against proven performance.

When this is put in front of a court they dont ask whether the decision was fair. They look at how you went about making the decision and compare that with what your regulations state you should do. If your regulations say nothing about a coronavirus type event, the court would assess your process to see whether it was equitable and consistent and properly communicated and provided that you could demonstrate this, a court would not care much about what decision you came to, unless for some reason it was obviously flawed in some (e.g. legal) way.

But that just supports an outcome which ultimately says we go or we stop. We finish on merit or we void. There seems to be a belief that because the Covid-19 event is not catered for in the EFL regulations that perhaps all their other regulations can be reinterpreted too. Its this assumption that drives out the weird and wonderful - promote them, but dont relegate them - theories. But I really dont buy that. There can be an argument over what type of PPG you use but EFL regulations dont really allow for much else. By not applying or varying or changing your existing regulations you open yourself up to challenge big time.

[Suffolk Blue]

League 1 fails to agree.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52679614

Issue seems to be play-on or not. 6 clubs now wanting to play on. L1 needs a 75% acceptance to pass a resolution. Passions have been inflamed apparently by a government statement suggesting that support for training and testing could be made available.

[Tommylad]

News from today's EFL meetings:

League One clubs have failed to agree whether to end the season early. They will meet again on Monday.

News on the League Two meeting is expected later today.

More to follow... https://t.co/uWEGolW3Kr

[Adam29]

League 2 meeting won’t be any different

Everyone is waiting for the Premier League - they hold the answers to all the questions because nobody wants to be the first to jump out of line

[Suffolk Blue]

News from today's EFL meetings:

League One clubs have failed to agree whether to end the season early. They will meet again on Monday.

News on the League Two meeting is expected later today.

More to follow... https://t.co/uWEGolW3Kr

By this evening its a fair bet that we will have three different positions adopted in the EFL as I dont see any enthusiasm to play on in L2.

Good luck sorting that lot out Rick.

[Jonty]

They keep rolling out the same line about completing the season to “maintain the integrity of the season”. Surely the competitive integrity went long ago.

[Hadrian]

It's a case of the haves and have nots.
PL do not give a monkey about grass roots.
I really hope the PL have to pay TV money back its ruined our game making most clubs PLCs.

Money grabbers reducing payments at early stages of FA cup.

Whether money has ruined 'our game' is a moot point; it has certainly changed it, dramatically in some respects.

Money from the PL - albeit a small percentage of total income - does find its way elsewhere in football, where it is undoubtedly welcomed.

I can't see a sensible reason for your desire to see companies go out of business and/or people to lose jobs, potentially at all levels of professional football.

[blue nige]

BREAKING:

The League 2 season has been ended early following discussion with clubs.

The final table will likely be decided using a points-per-game method.

Promotion & relegation have not yet been finalised.

Playoff games are still planned to take place.

More to follow... https://t.co/uMxysIZeEo

[Adam29]

Happy to be wrong - atleast there is a small degree of common sense still around

I’m not even going to guess at what happens next mind as still the small case of the proposals being accepted by the league board and where that leaves relegation from League 2