League One and League Two clubs will have the chance to decide whether to curtail the season on June 8.
At Wednesday’s English Football League board meeting it was decided to progress with the proposal outlined last Thursday “in respect of changes to EFL Regulations in the event Season 2019/20 is curtailed in any EFL Division”.
A statement from the EFL read: “The board has to date been consistent in its approach that playing out the remainder of season 2019/20 when it is safe to do so, is the preferred position and whilst the Championship have advised of their intentions to resume fixtures, League Two clubs have indicated their preference to curtail the season. At present clubs in League One are still undecided.
“A decision on whether or not to curtail the season is a matter to be considered by clubs in any affected division, but only once a framework for resolving open issues in such circumstances has been agreed by all members across all divisions through a Regulation change.
“After a full and comprehensive review of the club submissions, alongside consideration of views stated at the club meetings of 13 and 15 May 2020, the board unanimously agreed to continue with the original approach and is now proposing to call a meeting of clubs on Monday 8 June 2020 to consider and, if thought fit, approve the proposals to introduce the Regulation change.
“The EFL Articles allow Member Clubs the opportunity to propose amendments to Regulations and should any club wish to propose an alternative, it must do so by submitting such a proposal by no later than 2.00pm on Tuesday 2 June 2020. The EFL will issue any notice of meeting later that day.
“Any such club proposals will be considered at the same meeting as the Board’s proposal.”
Last week the EFL underlined that relegation across all three divisions is “integral to the integrity of the competition”, which appeared a blow to League Two’s plans to curtail the 2019-20 season without a team being relegated to the National League.
The EFL board states a club should be relegated to the National League “provided we have assurances that the National League will start season 2020-21 (i.e. the relegated club in League Two has somewhere to play)”.
As well as setting out the principle on relegation, the EFL board said the play-offs should be played in the event of curtailment but should not be extended beyond the regular four teams.
It also said that the decision to curtail in each division should require a 51 per cent majority among the clubs concerned, with League One sides in open disagreement about whether to stop or play on.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here