Why it’s hard for Rovers to get the point
ONLY the coldest, hardest hearts will feel no sympathy for Tranmere Rovers after they were relegated by 0.04 points per game.
When clubs in the lower divisions voted overwhelmingly to curtail their season, points-per-game was always going to be the fairest way to decide final league positions – and I agree with it in principle.
But it was desperately harsh on Tranmere (above) at one end of the League One table, and desperately hard on Peterborough (who missed out on the play-offs by a whisker) at the other.
Two things stand out for me as a result of this difficult decision.
First: It’s hard to reconcile Tranmere being relegated without kicking a ball, after Micky Mellon (left) did such a fine job to win two promotions, while four clubs still have a chance to win promotion via the play-offs. If the season is curtailed, shouldn’t it be curtailed at both ends of the table?
And second: If EFL clubs are allowed to implement points-pergame to end their season, why did the FA declare the campaign null and void from steps three to seven in the non-league pyramid?
Why can’t the same rules be applied further down the food chain?
We all understand why it has not been possible to finish the season outside the Premier League and the Championship.
But two different sets of regulations for EFL clubs and those below National League level is not a good look.
AFTER three months away, it was fantastic to be back on the training pitch with the lads from my Pro Football Academy All Stars Under-14 team this week.
The smiles on the kids’ faces, their enthusiasm and their laughter showed how much they have missed their football.
Those scenes will have been replicated at hundreds of grassroots clubs up and down the country.
I even enjoyed the banter doing the rounds on the parents’ Whatsapp group about the “artificial hair” I have cultivated during lockdown!