League One vote to curtail season
ACCRINGTON Stanley’s season is over after clubs in League One and League Two voted by an overwhelming margin to cut the season short due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Clubs opted to use a framework for ending the season put forward by the English Football League board, which meant the final table would be calculated using an unweighted points-per-game (PPG) basis.
The framework retained promotion, relegation and the traditional four-team play-offs.
As a result, Stanley – with 40 points from their 35 games – finished with a PPG total of 50.29 and therefore finish the season in 17th in League One.
Stanley owner Andy Holt said the club can now ‘move forward’ following the decision.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Holt said: “The uncertainly was affecting everyone but now the decision has been made, we can look forward in terms of player contracts. We needed the certainty so now we can start to rebuild the club for next season.
“I will say that I do not want to play behindclosed-doors games. For me, football is about the community and fans and I do not want to watch a game where there aren’t any fans. We want to get back playing at a packed Wham Stadium but only when it’s safe to do so.”
At the top end of League One, Coventry and Rotherham have been promoted to the Championship, while Wycombe, Oxford, Portsmouth and Fleetwood will contest the play-offs, with the dates for those matches to be fixed in due course.
Tranmere - who had proposed an alternative framework to the one chosen by the clubs - have been relegated to League Two, along with Southend and Bolton.
Rotherham boss Paul Warne, who is celebrating promotion on the first anniversary of his father’s death, said: “To go up the way we have isn’t ideal, but it is probably the fairest way to end the season.
“It does feel odd but it doesn’t detract from the achievement of the lads this year, they have thoroughly deserved to be in the top two, they have been there for the last seven or eight games, it’s not like they have turned up by fluke.”
However, Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony criticised the vote to end the season after his side finished 7th in the table, missing out on a spot in the play-offs.
He wrote on social media: “The state of my timeline full of fans loving the fact that 18 ‘football clubs’ voted to not play football & the ramifications of it.
“Bravo to the 4 Football clubs who did vote to play on. The @EFL @SkyBetLeagueOne s*** show draws to a close. Enjoy your summer football fans.”
In League Two, Swindon, Crewe and Plymouth have been promoted to League One, while Cheltenham, Exeter, Colchester and Northampton will contest the play-offs, with the first legs of the semifinals taking place next week.
As things stand, Stevenage will be relegated to the National League but Macclesfield could yet finish bottom if they incur further points deductions for alleged breaches of EFL regulations.
League Two clubs had indicated an intention to curtail the season at a meeting last month, with concerns over the costs of playing behind closed doors and of coronavirus testing uppermost in the thoughts of their chairmen and chief executives.
Forest Green chairman Dale Vince said his club was the only one at League
Two level who voted to play on, and now hopes the EFL can work towards a September start date for the 2020-21 season.
Vince told the PA news agency: “I think it’s been a good day for football. The vote this morning was a good common sense outcome which respects the integrity of the game as far as that’s possible when you don’t finish the season.
“And then the vote this afternoon was not unexpected. The vote to end League Two prematurely, we knew that was coming.
“We voted to play on but we were a lone voice sadly.
“So we at least have some certainty now, we know what’s happening, and we can focus on the new season which I hope may start in September.”
The League Two playoffs will start next week, with Colchester taking on Exeter and Northampton hosting Cheltenham on
June 18 in the semi-final first legs.
The return matches will be played on Monday, June 22, with the League Two play-off final scheduled for Monday, June 29, kicking off at 7.30pm.
The Championship is set to play on, with a start date set for June 20.
The fixtures and televised games have been agreed, with those regular season second-tier matches not on television available for streaming by season ticket holders of the clubs involved.
Earlier in the meeting on Wednesday, clubs voted to adopt the EFL board’s model for ending the season.
At the Extraordinary General Meeting, Football League clubs voted to retain promotion, relegation and the play-offs and to use an unweighted points-per-game system to decide the final table if the season is curtailed.
The model was the one set out by the EFL’s board, and the league said it was “overwhelmingly agreed” to adopt it into the competition’s regulations at the meeting.
Barnsley and Tranmere set out alternative plans to the one proposed by the EFL board.
Barnsley’s removed relegation in any division which had to be curtailed, while Tranmere’s suggested adding a margin for error to the basic points-per-game calculation.
Three other clubs - Lincoln, Ipswich and Stevenage - had also put forward amendments to the EFL board’s proposal, but the original plan set out by the league is the one which has been adopted.
An EFL statement read: “At an Extraordinary General Meeting on Tuesday 9 June, EFL Clubs voted on proposals in respect of changes to EFL Regulations in the event season 2019/20 is curtailed.
“Proposals were submitted by Barnsley and Tranmere Rovers alongside amendments to an EFL Board proposal which were put forward by Lincoln City, Stevenage and Ipswich Town.
“Following a vote on each by all 71 Clubs, it was overwhelmingly agreed (by a majority of all Clubs and a majority in the Championship) to adopt the EFL Board’s proposal into EFL Regulations.”
EFL chairman Rick Parry said: “Whilst it has always remained the board’s position to play the remainder of the season where possible, the decision reached at today’s meeting follows a full and considered consultation period with our member clubs.
“The board has endeavoured to listen to all views and alternative approaches but understands that the decisions taken will not be met with universal satisfaction from all clubs.
“Today’s outcome ensures that the league and its clubs remains as faithful as possible to the previously agreed regulations and that there is consistency in the approach adopted across the EFL in all divisions if required.
“It is clear that the challenges facing the league from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented and I thank the contribution of EFL clubs in making this important determination.”