Sky Blues’ goal to win votes is an uphill battle

Sunderland, Portsmouth, Fleetwood Town, Oxford United and Ipswich Town, are now expected to be joined by three more should the EFL hold a vote this week, making up nearly 40 per cent of the total vote.

The survey has revealed that they will also be joined by Bristol Rovers, Gillingham and Lincoln in their desire to complete the campaign on the pitch.

All three clubs still stand a chance of sneaking into the play-off places at the end of the season but would miss out entirely if PPG (weighted or unweighted) was used.

The Sky Blues were flying sky-high in League One when the coronavirus pandemic halted football across Europe, leaving their promotion party in limbo.

Boddy said last month: “We believe that the situation should be dealt with the same way as a number of other countries have.

“France have produced a final table on average points per game and I believe Scotland have done something similar so the mechanism is there.

“[Null and void] would be difficult to accept and to swallow, but we have got some fairly clear cut positions in this country. Liverpool are all but there as champions in the Premier League and Leeds and West Brom are well clear in the Championship.

He added: “It is for the [EFL] board and member clubs to decide, but we believe that would not be the fairest route.”

Six further clubs are expected to join their vote, making the number of clubs voting to end the season less than the number of clubs who intend to vote to play on.

Those six clubs include fellow promotion chasers Rotherham United and Wycombe Wanderers, along with Burton Albion, Shrewsbury Town, Accrington Stanley and Rochdale.

As is the case in any election of vote, it is the swing voters who could have the final say.

Six clubs remain “on the fence” about how the season should be complete, the survey shows, with Doncaster Rovers, Blackpool, MK Dons, AFC Wimbledon, Tranmere Rovers and Bolton Wanderers currently neither strongly opposed to playing the final games nor ending the season now.

Tranmere and Bolton both look set