EFL WILL BE PULLING OUR STRINGS IF WE LET THEM
ALTRINCHAM chairman Grahame Rowley fears the National League’s failure to void the season has left them at the mercy of the EFL.
Clubs at Steps 1 and 2 have been asked to vote on a proposal to cancel all remaining regular season fixtures, with a decision expected next week.
However, the plan also contains a caveat stating promotion and relegation issues will be decided by future polls.
“I don’t see any football being played before May or June at the earliest,” said Rowley, whose side lay fifth in National League North when the season shut down.
“So it’s sensible to end the season now and give everyone a bit of certainty about things. What comes after that is a bit more contentious.
“Personally, I think the question of promotion and relegation is one that the National League could answer if it wanted to.
“Unfortunately, we’re beholden to the gods from above and it negates our own body’s ability to make a conclusive decision.
“For instance, it’s all very well us saying ‘Well, we’ll promote two teams’. But if the EFL turn round and refuse to relegate anyone, we have no say in that. Equally, if the EFL want to relegate a team, or two, the National League wouldn’t want to say ‘Sorry, we aren’t putting anyone up’. It’s a real predicament.”
Rowley believes the FA should have made a decisive call, as it did in expunging all results from Step 3-7.
“Personally, I’m an advocate of the null and void option,” he adds. “And the guidance on that should have come from the FA, as it did with levels 3-7. I think they should have done exactly the same with the National League.
“There’s never going to be a totally fair way of doing this. Somebody will be upset. And nobody actually knows what would have happened.
“I mean, we were top of the form league, 14 points from six games. King’s Lynn have got four points from their last six games, and we were due to play them. So would they have won the league? I can’t say that for sure, and neither can they.
“And at the end of the day, we don’t want to lose our autonomy as a competition. Otherwise, we could find ourselves in a position where the start of next season is dictated by the Premier League and EFL.
“If they decide they’ll finish the season in August, we’ll have to wait until October. That wouldn’t help anybody at this level.”