IT’S NOT FAIR TO SEND TEAMS DOWN LIKE THIS
MAIDENHEAD United chairman Peter Griffin has urged the National League to call time on the season immediately – and suggested an ingenious solution to try to keep clubs happy.
The Magpies chief believes there are a number of practical reasons why trying to finish off the campaign would be the wrong move.
“There’s clearly not going to be a time when we can play football soon,” said Griffin, whose side lay third bottom when the season came to a halt following a wretched run. “We are still NonLeague and the vast majority of our squad’s contracts finish at the end of April. If we aren’t playing in April, what squad are we going to use after that?
“Would we have to recruit a new squad for when we start again? We would be working on two budgets – one if we stay up and one if we go down. If we go down, the budget will be 30 or 40 per cent less.
“If we have to play the last eight games, what do we do budget-wise? We could go for National League players on more money and end up getting relegated. Or, we could go for National League South players, but not go down.
“If we were to start again in, say, June, the players would need to be back in full training and do a pre-season before that to get their fitness levels up. Otherwise, they would go into a competitive game on day one not being prepared.
“On a number of levels, the season should be stopped now.”
As for what should happen if the season is terminated, Griffin believes he has come up with ‘a unique solution for a unique situation’.
The idea is a simple one – to decide league winners and promotion using points-per-game, but not have relegation. Another key is that all leagues in the football pyramid should be treated the same way.
“For example, Liverpool would be Premier League champions on PPG, while three clubs would be promoted into it from the Championship on the same basis. It would mean the Premier League having 23 clubs next season.
In the same way, three clubs would be promoted from League One, taking the spaces of the three clubs moving up from the Championship, and so on.
“I think voiding the season would be terrible for teams like Liverpool, Leeds, Barrow and Wealdstone. I think after three-quarters of the season, you go with points per game.
Proposal
“The Premier League would have a bigger division next year, but there’s no way whoever was in the relegation places would accept relegation.
“And teams in the relegation zones throughout the divisions would argue that they could have got out of danger.
“This way, the only teams not satisfied are the ones near to the automatic promotion places and in and around the play-off places.”
And Griffin is keen to stress that his plan isn’t motivated by Maidenhead’s perilous league position.
“If the season was voided, we wouldn’t go down and if it was points-per-game we wouldn’t go
down either – we would be fourth bottom and only three teams would need to go down because of Bury (being expelled from the EFL).
“By any proposal, we don’t go down, so I haven’t got a vested interest. People have accused me of self-interest, but I don’t care if Maidenhead are in the National League or National League South next season. I’m just looking forward to watching football again and things being normal.”
Griffin is also hoping that the Premier League and their clubs raise their game in response to the national crisis.
The Arsenal season-ticket holder, whose Magpies squad have taken a 20 per cent pay-cut, added: “The Premier League have done an embarrassingly little amount so far – they haven’t been any help whatsoever.
“If Arsenal don’t cut their players’ wages, I’m not renewing my season ticket next season. I can’t support a team that does that to the country. “There’s no excuse for Premier League players not to take a cut of ten or 20 per cent which would solve a lot of problems in football or in the wider community. “Hopefully Premier League clubs will step up – people won’t forget otherwise.”