PPG BASIS IS EASIEST TO ACCEPT
HARTLEPOOL manager Dave Challinor says he would give up a shot at the play-offs if it meant avoiding a null-and-void season.
Pools were ninth when the season shut down, two places and three points behind seventh-placed Stockport County.
And with three of their final seven fixtures against teams in the relegation zone, it is little wonder that Challinor would like to see the campaign resume.
But if the ongoing crisis renders that scenario unworkable, the 44-year-old says he would vote to decide the final standings on a points-per-game basis.
“If I was given a choice between null and void or some kind of points-pergame, Duckworth-Lewis type scenario, I’d go for the latter,” says Challinor.
“If that means we lose out on our slim possibility of being promoted, I’d accept that. I’d be more disappointed if promotions were taken away from the clubs like Vauxhall Motors who have earned it.”
Without financial aid, Challinor struggles to see how the season can be played to a finish.
“The problem is that most contracts come to an end on May 2 or a week after the final game of the season,” he adds. “As it stands, that could be July or August. If you try to continue the season, clubs will be required by law to keep paying those players for another 12 weeks. They haven’t budgeted for that, and it’s money they’ve got no chance of finding.
“You could furlough the players and staff, as our owner has. But it then becomes a question of whether the club is in breach of contract. On the flip side, government rulings mean players can’t physically come to training, potentially putting them in breach of contract.
“If players, clubs or agents take advantage of that, it wouldn’t be morally right. But I’m sure plenty will try to use the situation to their benefit. Take that situation away and I think every club in every league would want the season played to a finish.”
Challinor now believes a ‘catastrophe’ rule will be permanently added to the FA handbook to avoid such a minefield again.
“I think something will now be drawn up,” he says. “For instance, if 75 percent of the season is completed then you move to a pointsper-game decision. It would all be done and dusted.”