- Serious doubts over 2020-21 football season
There remains serious questions about whether the 2020-21 football season will start, amid COVID-19, with supporters not allowed into grounds for months to come.
Despite football kick-starting the 2019-20 season in June, after the coronavirus lockdown in mid-March, clubs and fans are awaiting what the future will have – as the 2020-21 season looms in August.
EFL clubs voted this month, with the majority of League One clubs, mooted to be 18 to 4, for the 2019-20 season to be curtailed.
A decision that could see devastating consequences for clubs in the lower echelons of football in England.
The decision will hit already cash-strapped clubs, with no finance from supporters and no TV income going into coffers.
Covid-19 has derailed football across the world and clubs face a ‘fall like dominoes’ scenario with the financial clout in League One and League Two not there – without fans.
With match-day income approximately 60% of revenues, a proposed salary cap is the latest move, in a quest to save money.
Lower league clubs have put players and staff on the Government furlough scheme, with players’ wage cuts to boot.
Finances on clubs outside the Premier League are peanuts, in comparison with basement clubs, with unprecedented numbers of football money going to players – and agents – in the Premier League.
Prior to the Premier League breakaway in 1992 distribution of funds were 50-50, between the First Division and the other three divisions; now 93% stays in the Premier League – and a paltry 7% is distributed.
EFL chairman Rick Parry is on record saying parachute payments are an ‘evil’ – that must be eradicated – citing payments to relegated Premier League clubs.
Championship club Preston North End, in a play-off position in their quest for promotion to the Premier League, as football returns behind closed doors, has seen owner Trevor Hemmings dig even deeper into his pockets in bankrolling the Football League Founder Members, with cash injections over £30m at present.
Bury FC was ejected from league football in August 2019 after the collapse of a takeover bid, and its failure to provide financial guarantees.
It’s crucial other clubs don’t follow suit – as the COVID-19 crisis kicks-in.
