STEP 2 TO GO THEIR OWN WAY?
THE NATIONAL League are weighing up whether continuing with this season’s play-offs is a feasible option before deciding the solutions on how to conclude the campaign.
And it could lead to the top division taking a different path than their Step 2 feeder divisions.
On Wednesday, the league revealed 90 per cent of clubs had returned their votes on cancelling all fixtures across the three divisions up to April 25, with a clear majority in favour of ending the season.
The board chose to release the decision before the May 7 deadline to enable clubs to “make business decisions with greater clarity as soon as possible”.
The play-offs were set to start this Wednesday and be concluded on Sunday, May 10 at Wembley and although these fixtures have not yet been postponed or cancelled, clearly they won’t take place during this time period.
However, The NLP understands the National League is still pursuing the possibility of playing the play-offs at a later date.
The matter was one of the main items on the agenda when the National League board held a meeting on Friday.
The league will consult their member clubs in the coming week to get views on whether or not it is feasible to undertake play-offs.
There isn’t expected to be a vote on this matter, with the board expected to make a decision based on the responses it receives.
It is thought there could be a difference in how things pan out in the National League compared to the North and South divisions.
While the top division clubs are keen to keep their options open while they wait to see what the higher-level EFL decides to do, the part-time Step 2 clubs may prefer to come to a quicker solution.
Indeed, there is a suggestion the North and South clubs could come to a decision over play-offs in the coming week, paving the way for them to decide their final standings before their Step 1 counterparts.
Once the play-off question has been answered, the board will then discuss how to determine league tables with the options distributed to clubs to express their views on.
As well as null and void, one likely option could be deciding promotion and relegation on a points-pergame basis. In this scenario, National League leaders Barrow and second-placed Harrogate Town would be in line for the two promotion spots into the EFL.
If the National League go ahead with the play-offs and opt for points-per-game, then Barnet, in 11th, would replace Stockport County in the top seven.
However, it remains to be seen what will happen to the League Two season, which will have huge implications on the National League and could force a null and void scenario.
Should there be no relegation from League Two, Barrow could still be in line for promotion to fill the place of Bury, who were expelled earlier in the season.
This could then mean the leading club on points-per-game at Step 2, which is Wealdstone in National League South, would become the new 24th team in the National League.
Points-per-game also impacts the bottom of the National League with Maidenhead United swapping places with Ebbsfleet United in 21st – fourth from bottom is potentially in line for a reprieve due to the Bury situation.
In the North, King’s Lynn Town have a better pointsper-game than leaders York City while Gateshead would replace Spennymoor Town in the play-offs.
The top seven in the South remain the same on points-per-game. It has already been confirmed there will be no relegation from Step 2 after Steps 3-7 were made null and void.