League two clubs vote to end season

[upthemaggies]

Neal Ardley: Notts County boss harbours promotion hopes via play-offs

Notts County are hoping to regain their EFL place at the first attempt after being relegated in May 2019
Notts County manager Neal Ardley hopes there is still a chance of winning promotion back to the English Football League via the play-offs.

County are third, three points behind Harrogate and seven off leaders Barrow.

The EFL said on Thursday that clubs will still be promoted and relegated from its three divisions if seasons are ended amid the coronavirus crisis.

With the regular National League season having been ended, Ardley hopes play-offs might still be an option.

"The play-offs would be my first choice," Ardley, whose side were relegated from the Football League for the first time in their history last season, told BBC East Midlands Today.

"You're going to need four weeks of training to go into play-offs so these decisions need to be made.

"They can't just drag it out and and say 'we're not sure'. It's gone on long enough now."

Under normal circumstances, the National League champions and the winners of the six-team play-offs would be promoted to League Two.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52758430

Exact same BBC interview with a completely different spin.
If they were going to be of any real help to us as an influential and widely trusted source of news and opinion, they should have ran with the headline "Notts County boss demands National League make play-off decision." Pressure needs to be applied on the NL to pull their finger out.

[upthemaggies]

The original "Let's give it to Harrogate" story got taken down, somebody must have had words.

[BigFatPie]

If Stevenage staying up is the price that has to be paid for a permanent extra promotion place, than I think it’s a price worth paying.

I don’t think the league will go for it though.

[Oldstripy]

Dagenham and Redbridge's managing director fears the National League may not be able to resume until well into the autumn.

Fifth-tier clubs voted to end the season a month ago due to coronavirus.

But Steve Thompson says unless clubs can play in front of crowds, it is unlikely the 2020-21 season will begin on 8 August as originally scheduled.

"It may not be until September or October or even later before we are allowed to resume," he said.

Dagenham, who played in the English Football League from 2007 to 2016, have furloughed all their players and many of their non-playing staff.

Thompson said he is constantly reviewing the club's costs to try and get it in the best financial shape for when football resumes and will not be signing any players until a confirmed start date for the new season is known.

And he believes it is unlikely that sides at National League level will have the funds or facilities to replicate bringing players back to training, with Covid-19 testing, as is happening in the Premier League and Championship.

"The protocol around the return to training for Premier League and Championship clubs is so onerous and costly, it is hard to see how the rest of football can replicate it, even in a limited play-off scenario.

"But things are changing daily so it cannot be completely ruled out," he told the club website.

"For clubs like Dagenham & Redbridge, the focus must now be on when the start of the 2020-2021 season might be.

"As mentioned, the current costs involved in returning to training are too much to be currently viable in the National League, nor is the prospect of playing games at our level behind closed doors."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52805481

[Oldstripy]

English Football League clubs are set to meet on 8 June as the league aims to rubber-stamp proposals on how to end a season early because of coronavirus.

The EFL board "unanimously" agreed upon a framework at a meeting on Wednesday, but now needs clubs to approve it.

The new framework was laid out on 21 May, including promotion, relegation and play-offs remaining.

Teams in League Two have already indicated they wish to end the season, but League One sides remain undecided.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52847826