League two clubs vote to end season

[BanjoPie]

If only there had been a rule in place beforehand, surely they will have to insert one in before the next campaign begins.

I am not posting much these days but I say this; F*ck the next campaign, lets just finish this one first whenever we can - then have a two month break then start a shortened next campaign, simples.

[boland]

L1 has only 23 teams, not L2.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I am not posting much these days but I say this; F*ck the next campaign, lets just finish this one first whenever we can - then have a two month break then start a shortened next campaign, simples.

Exactly and these were my original thoughts. But it was far too simple and easy to just mothball this season and do the same with clubs and pick up where we left off when it's safe to do so.

Also players could have still been released, given new contracts or new players signed at the end of June regardless. The transfer window used to shut in March and that was only about six-eight weeks before the end of the season. Besides any clubs doing well would want to keep their squads together it would only be the relegation threatened clubs who would try and make a load of new signings to help them stay up with the nine games remaining. We did that last year in January and still went down. So it would still be a challenge for those down the bottom of each league and there would be no guarantees they would stay up. Likewise it's the same for those pushing for promotion and playoff places.

At least it would have got resolved on the field instead of scrapping 8 months of hard work. Then decide final placings on a spreadsheet and using a calculator which may happen with PPG if the EFL adopt this approach.

[navypie]

I am not posting much these days but I say this; F*ck the next campaign, lets just finish this one first whenever we can - then have a two month break then start a shortened next campaign, simples.

I wish it was that simples.

[jurgenpie]

I keep forgetting there's only 23 clubs in L2.
25 would mean another season of one team going without a game each week, which wouldn't be ideal. I expect the Premier League's decision on whether to relegate or not will dictate what everybody else does. Every week there seems to be a meeting by some league or other but everything is still up in the air, if anything it just seems to create even more uncertainty and confusion. If only there had been a rule in place beforehand, surely they will have to insert one in before the next campaign begins.

There are 24 teams in L2 not 23 and 23 teams in League 1, Bury were in L1 and only 3 now getting relegated to make up for their expulsion.

[upthemaggies]

There are 24 teams in L2 not 23 and 23 teams in League 1, Bury were in L1 and only 3 now getting relegated to make up for their expulsion.

Yeah, I was thinking in terms of next season without any exchange with the NL, I keep forgetting L2 is going to be one short. It shouldn't mean only one team goes up though just because it's "unfair" on Stevenage, how is it less unfair on us and other play-off hopefuls? What's so special about Stevenage and their supporters? They should play off against Macc to decide who goes down.

[slack_pie]

Hello everyone. Hope you are all well.

I've been following this situation from afar, and all I can say is that it seems like an almighty mess. Some thoughts and questions:

Why are teams allowed to vote on the outcome of the season? With the majority having nothing to play for, the vote was always going to be to write the season off. But this is totally unfair on those with something to play for.

As far as I'm concerned, you can't promote or relegate any teams until the season is concluded. Doing so is purely guesswork. If a marathon was called off 3/4s of the way through, would you say that the person leading at the time won the race? No, of course not, because we all know that a marathon is 26 miles, not 20. Anything could happen in the final stages.

Given that nobody knows when things will return to normal, meaning we can't even plan to start a new season in August, why didn't the powers that be just wait until the first opportunity to finish the season? Why sacrifice a season already underway for one that hasn't happened yet?

Here in the Czech Republic, the season is set to be concluded over a couple of weeks starting at the end of May. Two games a week, all behind closed doors but televised. In Germany, football has resumed already. So why not in the UK?

Finally, why is every division voting independently of each other? What good is voting to have teams promoted if the division above votes against having teams relegated? Why aren't the heads of all England's footballing bodies working together to agree on a joined-up approach that ensures consistency and integrity across the leagues? And what's all this crap about NL teams being 'invited' to play in L2? I thought rules were in place ensure that teams could be promoted from one league to another, otherwise why would anyone bother starting a season?

This crazy approach has resulted in the farce that is L2 deciding that it's OK to promote teams before the season is over but not to relegate them. You can't have it both ways. For the integrity of football, that decision cannot be allowed to go through.

Apologies if most of these points have already been covered. I guess I'm venting. I don't expect special treatment or a free pass for Notts, but I do expect every team to be given the chance to finish what they started, as soon as is safely possible. Teams that don't fancy finishing the season should be docked points. After all, why's it up them when the season ends?

[ncfcog]

Hello everyone. Hope you are all well.

I've been following this situation from afar, and all I can say is that it seems like an almighty mess. Some thoughts and questions:

Why are teams allowed to vote on the outcome of the season? With the majority having nothing to play for, the vote was always going to be to write the season off. But this is totally unfair on those with something to play for.

As far as I'm concerned, you can't promote or relegate any teams until the season is concluded. Doing so is purely guesswork. If a marathon was called off 3/4s of the way through, would you say that the person leading at the time won the race? No, of course not, because we all know that a marathon is 26 miles, not 20. Anything could happen in the final stages.

Given that nobody knows when things will return to normal, meaning we can't even plan to start a new season in August, why didn't the powers that be just wait until the first opportunity to finish the season? Why sacrifice a season already underway for one that hasn't happened yet?

Here in the Czech Republic, the season is set to be concluded over a couple of weeks starting at the end of May. Two games a week, all behind closed doors but televised. In Germany, football has resumed already. So why not in the UK?

Finally, why is every division voting independently of each other? What good is voting to have teams promoted if the division above votes against having teams relegated? Why aren't the heads of all England's footballing bodies working together to agree on a joined-up approach that ensures consistency and integrity across the leagues? And what's all this crap about NL teams being 'invited' to play in L2? I thought rules were in place ensure that teams could be promoted from one league to another, otherwise why would anyone bother starting a season?

This crazy approach has resulted in the farce that is L2 deciding that it's OK to promote teams before the season is over but not to relegate them. You can't have it both ways. For the integrity of football, that decision cannot be allowed to go through.

Apologies if most of these points have already been covered. I guess I'm venting. I don't expect special treatment or a free pass for Notts, but I do expect every team to be given the chance to finish what they started, as soon as is safely possible. Teams that don't fancy finishing the season should be docked points. After all, why's it up them when the season ends?

Agree with pretty much all of that. I think every one of those points has been discussed to death now and the real issue is as you said the lack of any consistency between the leagues.

There was nothing in the rule books that I’m aware of relating to the season not being completed, just teams unable to fulfill fixtures so you could argue the authorities are in unknown and unaccounted for territory hence the inconsistencies. Add to that the uncertainty over player contracts etc you can understand why some clubs would prefer to stop the season, however in this case everything should then be declared null and void, at every level.

The only issue to resolve then would be how the EFL deal with the Bury situation, personally they should play with a team less and agree a system for promotions/relegations accordingly prior to the start of the next season so everyone knows what they are playing for.

Of course there will then also be the legalities of this, if a season is null and void what have the fans paid to watch if essentially every game was a friendly. Would teams on the cusp of promotion want compensation for missing out on the financial benefits that promotion presented to them etc.

Yep, it’s a mess alright.

[upthemaggies]

Why are teams allowed to vote on the outcome of the season? With the majority having nothing to play for, the vote was always going to be to write the season off. But this is totally unfair on those with something to play for.

Exactly, this is the key point. If the lower league clubs had a vote every single year with 10 games left to play, whether or not to finish the campaign, no season would ever get finished, not one, ever. There's always going to be a majority who wouldn't want to risk dropping into the relegation zone, have nothing to play for or are in the auto promotion spots and will snap your hands off to go up now.
On any given week, there's only 8-10 clubs for whom it would make sense to vote to carry on, but that's not the rules we all sign up for.

[BigFatPie]

All a result of exceptional circumstances and not having any rules or procedures in to deal with those exceptional circumstances.

Maybe a surprise if the EFL as a whole go for no relegation from League 2 given that it might set an unpleasant precedent for relegation from the Premier League.