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Of all the challenges which face Wanderers in the coming months, potentially the most damaging is coronavirus itself.
Clubs across the EFL expect to hear over the next couple of weeks whether they will get a bail-out from the Premier League and in what form it will take.
EFL chairman Rick Parry has warned that some of his clubs “will go to the wall” without a £250m rescue package from the Premier League or the taxpayer, and the financial landscape outside the top-flight remains delicately balanced.
The source of funding remains in some doubt, with digital, culture, media and sport secretary Oliver Dowden calling for the Premier League to “step up to the plate” and provide support for the rest of the football pyramid.
Premier League stakeholders are said to be unwilling to part with the cash blindly and there is serious concern over the sustainability of several Championship clubs, who had already been treading a fine line before the pandemic hit.
Even if the issue of funding is solved, however, the practicality of ensuring the season goes to completion is arguably an even bigger problem.
Bradford City have seen their weekend game against Grimsby Town called off after one player, Jock Curran, tested positive for covid-19, forcing the closure of the training ground and the Mariners squad to be put into self-isolation for 14 days.
That spell runs out on Friday, October 9, just 24 hours before Ian Holloway’s team are meant to take on Bolton at the University of Bolton Stadium.
The game is not currently in any doubt – but Grimsby have also had to cancel games against Cheltenham in the league and Hull City in the EFL Trophy, leaving many clubs – including Wanderers – concerned about how the EFL would tackle mass cancelations.
Wanderers have already sold more than 8,000 season tickets and are now having to come up with inventive ways to substantiate the cost to supporters, given the government’s indefinite ‘pause’ on supporters returning to stadia, which was originally planned for October.
Building in away games into the iFollow streaming service is an option that many clubs favour, although it would require constitutional change in the EFL and is not expected to be implemented quickly.
Meanwhile, the considerably less stringent covid-19 testing protocols outside the Championship mean the risk of more games being cancelled is high.
The cost of testing would make following similar guidelines to those followed in the Premier League impractical but many clubs are now raising the issue of what would happen if games are cancelled regularly in what is already a truncated campaign?
“There’s going to have to be something put in place as a contingency for what would happen if every week we missed a game,” said Bradford City’s director of communications and commercial Ryan Sparks.
“I’ve looked at our calendar with the club secretary and I don’t see the gaps. Where are you going to play the extra games?
“We’re obliged to finish the season on time and there are reasons to do that – which involves not impacting on the 2021/22 season.
“In my view there is a huge amount at stake this season for clubs in Leagues One and Two in terms of the future viability of football in this country outside of the top two tiers.
“I say that with no hidden agenda. That’s just a fact.
“We’ve got to do it safely. Do we think as a club we won’t be impacted by the virus? Absolutely not, we’ve not got the blinkers on.
“We know what can happen but in the same breath we’ll try to take as many steps as we can to ensure we’re as safe as possible.
“The reality of the situation is that we’ve got to do our best to get the season over the line.
“As an EFL member club, we are obliged to fulfil our fixtures and that is what we are trying to do.”
Source
Clubs across the EFL expect to hear over the next couple of weeks whether they will get a bail-out from the Premier League and in what form it will take.
EFL chairman Rick Parry has warned that some of his clubs “will go to the wall” without a £250m rescue package from the Premier League or the taxpayer, and the financial landscape outside the top-flight remains delicately balanced.
The source of funding remains in some doubt, with digital, culture, media and sport secretary Oliver Dowden calling for the Premier League to “step up to the plate” and provide support for the rest of the football pyramid.
Premier League stakeholders are said to be unwilling to part with the cash blindly and there is serious concern over the sustainability of several Championship clubs, who had already been treading a fine line before the pandemic hit.
Even if the issue of funding is solved, however, the practicality of ensuring the season goes to completion is arguably an even bigger problem.
Bradford City have seen their weekend game against Grimsby Town called off after one player, Jock Curran, tested positive for covid-19, forcing the closure of the training ground and the Mariners squad to be put into self-isolation for 14 days.
That spell runs out on Friday, October 9, just 24 hours before Ian Holloway’s team are meant to take on Bolton at the University of Bolton Stadium.
The game is not currently in any doubt – but Grimsby have also had to cancel games against Cheltenham in the league and Hull City in the EFL Trophy, leaving many clubs – including Wanderers – concerned about how the EFL would tackle mass cancelations.
Wanderers have already sold more than 8,000 season tickets and are now having to come up with inventive ways to substantiate the cost to supporters, given the government’s indefinite ‘pause’ on supporters returning to stadia, which was originally planned for October.
Building in away games into the iFollow streaming service is an option that many clubs favour, although it would require constitutional change in the EFL and is not expected to be implemented quickly.
Meanwhile, the considerably less stringent covid-19 testing protocols outside the Championship mean the risk of more games being cancelled is high.
The cost of testing would make following similar guidelines to those followed in the Premier League impractical but many clubs are now raising the issue of what would happen if games are cancelled regularly in what is already a truncated campaign?
“There’s going to have to be something put in place as a contingency for what would happen if every week we missed a game,” said Bradford City’s director of communications and commercial Ryan Sparks.
“I’ve looked at our calendar with the club secretary and I don’t see the gaps. Where are you going to play the extra games?
“We’re obliged to finish the season on time and there are reasons to do that – which involves not impacting on the 2021/22 season.
“In my view there is a huge amount at stake this season for clubs in Leagues One and Two in terms of the future viability of football in this country outside of the top two tiers.
“I say that with no hidden agenda. That’s just a fact.
“We’ve got to do it safely. Do we think as a club we won’t be impacted by the virus? Absolutely not, we’ve not got the blinkers on.
“We know what can happen but in the same breath we’ll try to take as many steps as we can to ensure we’re as safe as possible.
“The reality of the situation is that we’ve got to do our best to get the season over the line.
“As an EFL member club, we are obliged to fulfil our fixtures and that is what we are trying to do.”
Source