NOW LET’S DECIDE TO CALL IT A DAY
THE NATIONAL League is advising its member clubs to vote in favour of ending the regular season immediately – and will then hold polls to decide the outcomes of the 2019-20 campaign.
The competition’s board met on Thursday and have approved the idea of an Ordinary Resolution to the season for all fixtures, up to and including April 25, to be cancelled.
The National League wrote to their clubs across the three divisions explaining the scenario and “recommends clubs vote for this resolution”. The resolution does not rule out the possibility of hosting the play-offs although clearly they could not be held in the scheduled timescale between April 29 and May 10.
The National League board has the power to make relevant decisions regarding promotion and relegation, subject to approval from The FA, but has given the responsibility to its clubs. It has already been agreed there will be no relegation from Step 2 in line with the lack of promotion from Step 3.
Process
If the Ordinary Resolution is passed, the league will then proceed with a poll to National League North and South clubs to determine the outcomes across those divisions. This would then be followed by a vote at Step 1.
The National League’s preference had been to resume the season at a later date having postponed matches rather than cancelled them. But, it now believes the season should end due to the lack of certainty as to when the postponed matches could be played, those matches potentially delaying the 2020-21 season, the financial stress that could be placed on clubs if squads were kept together and the opinion of many clubs to have greater certainty and to be able to prepare for the 2020-21 season without interference from this current campaign.
The 24 member clubs in the National League will have one vote each and member clubs in National League North and South will have eight votes between them, four in each league, taking the total to 32 votes.
The deadline for clubs to return their Ordinary Resolution vote is May 7, but the
National
League is urging them to decide as soon as possible and expects to have an overall decision by the end of this week, at which stage the second vote process can begin.
Solidarity
The league say they will address the outstanding issues concerning the outcomes of the 2019/20 season in due course and “will use its reasonable endeavours to ensure such determinations are commenced no later than April 28”.
However, this currently means that clubs are voting on whether the season should be ended immediately without knowing what options will then be available for deciding the outcome of the season. The
National
League say clubs will be asked for their views and the future decisions will be laid out before any final determination can be made.
But for the time being clubs are in the dark as to what they will be.
The situation is complicated by promotion into League Two which is a “feature of EFL Regulations”, according to the National League, and discussions between the two divisions are ongoing “to ensure each league’s position is regularly reviewed”.
Meanwhile, Steps 1 and 2 will receive £2m of the £125m in solidarity payments from the Premier League to the EFL and National League, brought forward from next season.
The money will be distributed to clubs this week which works out at £58,333 for Step 1 clubs and £13,636 each at Step 2.