County’s season may be over with latest plans

LEAGUE One and League Two football will be axed until next season with promotion and relegation set to be confirmed - meaning an end to the season for Newport County.

That’s according to The Athletic, who suggest the action in tiers three and four will not be resumed.

The report claims the EFL will tell clubs in Leagues One and Two there is no chance of continuing the season, requesting a vote on how to decide promotion and relegation.

The plan remains for the Championship and Premier League seasons to be resumed if possible.

EFL chairman Rick Parry told MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee that a resolution for tiers three and four was only a matter of days away with a key meeting taking place on Thursday.

And it seems a decision could come early next week, The Athletic reporting that the EFL are preparing to give clubs the news.

The plan is to agree on a method for promotion and relegation with the EFL already receiving proposals from a number of clubs.

The current favourite is said to be a points-per-game model, weighted to reflect home and away games.

That would remove any bias given to teams who have played more home games than others up to this point.

This method would see Coventry City crowned champions, with Rotherham United and Oxford United joining them in the Championship.

Tranmere Rovers, United and Bolton would be relegated.

Swindon Town, Crewe Alexandra, Plymouth Argyle and Cheltenham Town would be promoted to League One with Stevenage relegated to the National League.

Mike Flynn’s Newport would be unaffected as they currently sit 15th in League Two.

Southend Wanderers

MEMBERS of the Red Wall have been re-living some of the glorious moments of years gone by during the course of the coronavirus lockdown.

But it’s led to a serious debate among supporters on social media.

What is Wales’ best performance of the current century?

We went through the history books and compiled our list of favourites and ranked them in order.

This list comprises of competitive games only, so friendly matches – including the 1-0 win over Germany in 2002 – do not feature.

Here goes nothing...

12. Finland 0-2 Wales (2002)

After impressing against stellar opposition in a number of friendlies earlier in the same year – including earning a famous 1-0 triumph over Germany – Wales kick-started their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign away to Finland.

And the national side’s improvement under Mark Hughes became evident as goals from John Hartson and Simon Davies earned them a stunning 2-0 victory in Helsinki.

That result was, of course, followed up by an even more remarkable triumph (more on this later!), but the win in Finland signified the dawn of a new era.

11. Germany 0-0 Wales (2007) Frankfurt was the venue for the climax of what had been a largely frustrating Euro 2008 qualifying campaign for Wales.

A star-studded Germany were side expected to wipe the floor with Wales at the Commerzbank Arena.

However, the visitors – without the likes of Craig Bellamy and Gareth Bale in a side packed with Under-21 players – defended stoically and held on for a share of the spoils against the Germans.

10. Wales 2-0 Switzerland (2011) Having been beaten 4-1 by the same opposition in Basel almost exactly 12 months earlier, Wales ended their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign strongly.

After an awful start to the campaign, Gary Speed’s men were showing real signs of improvement by the time the Swiss came to South Wales, and second-half goals from Aaron Ramsey and Bale in Swansea proved enough for the hosts.

Speed tragically died less than two months after this fine victory at the Liberty Stadium, but the legacy he left will always remain intact.

9. Belgium 0-0 Wales (2014) Having collected seven of the first nine points on offer in qualifying for Euro 2016, Wales took on Belgium in

Brussels in what was unquestionably their toughest game of the campaign on paper.

Chris Coleman’s men stuck to their brief, throwing bodies on the line in doing so, and kept a clean sheet to earn a hugely valuable point against the odds.

It was a night where the dream really felt like it could become a reality.

8. Wales 2-0 Hungary (2019)

The stakes couldn’t have been higher in Cardiff as both sides went into the match knowing that victory would