Sky Bet EFL 2019/20

[Colly]

The games gone.

[Adam]

Someone threw up jargon all over Stoke's Twitter feed, then?

That may actually be the single worst tweet I've ever read from a football club's official account. And that's saying something.

[Colly]

They want to take you up to the business sky.

[Lineker]

Quote

Charlton Athletic has been plunged into crisis with the club’s main financial backer and their executive chairman locked in an extraordinary dispute.

KSI holdings, of which Syrian businessman Tahnoon Nimer is the majority shareholder, only bought the Addicks in January, with former agent Matt Southall installed as chairman.

But the club’s hierarchy have had a bitter falling out, with Nimer making a series of accusations about the conduct of Southall and announcing late on Monday night that he had withdrawn his financial support for the Addicks.

In response, Southall used Charlton’s official media channels to take aim at Nimer, claiming the Syrian businessman has never ploughed a penny into the club and has yet to meet EFL demands to provide proof of funds. He also criticised Nimer over a recent attempt to buy Romanian club Dinamo Bucharest.

Chairman Southall’s statement read: “I want to let Charlton fans know and understand what is happening before rumours and speculation run completely out of control.

“On Monday, Tahnoon Nimer sent an incredibly damaging letter on behalf of Panorama Magic General Contracting LLC to members of the club’s senior management team. In the letter, he made allegations about me and my conduct, which my lawyers immediately rebutted.

“It has been brought to my attention that he has repeated and, indeed, expanded upon the malicious falsehoods made in the initial letter. As a consequence, I will now be meeting with my lawyers to discuss an action for defamation.  However, my immediate priority is to protect the club and its staff from these damaging statements.

“Also contained in that letter were claims he had appointed a chief executive officer, an action that I am advised by the club’s lawyers would be outside the parameters of Panorama’s influence. Even more worryingly, the letter also threatened members of the senior management team with legal action if they did not comply with his demands. This is completely unacceptable and detrimental to the morale of such a loyal and dedicated staff and the smooth running of the football club.

“One of the claims in the letter was that ‘disadvantageous contracts’ had been authorised by me. I can only conclude that the majority shareholder disagreed with my decision to give Lee Bowyer a new contract on the terms agreed as that is the only major contract signed in my time as executive chairman.

“For the avoidance of doubt, both Jonathan Heller and I have passed the EFL’s owners and directors’ test. However, the majority shareholder has yet to satisfy the EFL in respect of the source of his funds, despite numerous requests made by the EFL and a number of deadlines that have been ignored by him.

“This failure obviously limited our ability to deal in the transfer window although I liaised closely with the EFL and made sure they were aware of every deal we were planning so that they could be sanctioned appropriately. I continue to be in close contact with the EFL, who are also aware of the dispute between me and the majority shareholder.

“It is a crucial time of the season and it would seem appropriate that all the stakeholders direct their efforts in support of the team and the club. Therefore, it is disappointing that the majority shareholder should act in such a manner and be attempting to purchase Dinamo Bucharest to the point where he posted a picture of himself in Romania during Saturday’s fixture.

“The board and the senior management team are determined that Charlton Athletic be run in a sensible, responsible and sustainable manner but this is being made very difficult by the majority shareholder’s actions and his failure to provide either the necessary satisfaction to the EFL or the funds that he has consistently promised to invest. To date, not a single penny of the promised funds has been provided.

“The board will continue to make decisions in the best interests of club its fans, its players and its staff with the full support of the dedicated and loyal senior management team.

“We look forward to a successful conclusion to the season.”

Charlton fans now have serious fears for the future of their club, who are currently locked in the Championship relegation zone.

They were hopeful of a brighter future under their new owners, after they took over from the unpopular Roland Duchatelet in January.

But Duchatelet still owns The Valley and the training ground and there is huge uncertainty over how the club will be funded moving forward.

[MDK]

EFL is going to be suspended, apparently

[Colly]

Harsh on any Brentford fans who've already started the arduous journey to Fulham.

[Lineker]

3 hours ago, MDK said:

EFL is going to be suspended, apparently

Until at least April 4^th.

[Lineker]

The plane crash that killed footballer Emiliano Sala was caused when the aircraft broke up while being flown too fast for its design limits and the pilot David Ibbotson was probably affected by carbon monoxide poisoning, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

[DavidMarrio]

1 hour ago, Lineker said:

The plane crash that killed footballer Emiliano Sala was caused when the aircraft broke up while being flown too fast for its design limits and the pilot David Ibbotson was probably affected by carbon monoxide poisoning, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

The other bit of news is regarding him not being licensed to fly the aircraft

[Lineker]

@MDK

[Baddar]

It's being reported that Cardiff City legend Peter Whittingham has died after falling down stairs.

[King Ellis]

On 17/03/2020 at 17:14, Baddar said:

It's being reported that Cardiff City legend Peter Whittingham has died after falling down stairs.

His condition has been upgraded to alive.

[DanishmadePunk]

Cardiff on Twitter say that he has passed on 

Quote

It is with an immeasurable amount of sorrow that we must inform supporters that Peter Whittingham has passed away at the age of 35.

on twitter

[FLiam]

Awful news

[Colly]

What a shitty way to go.

[Kyle]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52230105

Quote

 

The English Football League season can be completed in 56 days when it is safe to resume amid the coronavirus pandemic, clubs have been told.

But it is assumed that matches will be played behind closed doors.

A letter sent to all 72 EFL clubs by chairman Rick Parry said no training should resume until at least 16 May.

The EFL said it was hopeful the campaign could finish in the summer, but there is still no indication of when it might begin again.

All 24 sides in the Championship still had nine matches to play when the league was suspended on 13 March, while some clubs in League One have 12 games remaining.

But the EFL estimates it can finish all fixtures within two months, including the play-offs.

"How and when we return (including training) is clearly subject to change and any decisions will be taken in conjunction with the government and relevant health authorities," the letter said.

"It is our working assumption at this stage that matches will be played behind closed doors when we eventually return and as part of our contingency planning we are absolutely mindful of the need to try and mitigate the cost of this to clubs as best we can."

 

Seems optimistic but never gonna complain about the return of football.

[Lineker]

Luton have sacked their manager. Because this is apparently the time to do it.

[Adam]

Happy Marcello Trotta Day!

Still the most dramatic end to a football game I've ever seen, or am ever likely to. Still got the train tickets from the day in my wallet.

[Liam]

Where an on-loan Fulham player misses a penalty to cost Brentford. Gotta love it.

[Lineker]

Quote

One of the key arguments for the return of the Premier League season is being challenged by the Football League, with a row brewing over controversial parachute payments.

As the chairman of the EFL, Rick Parry, appears before a government select committee to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on Tuesday, claims that the Premier League’s return should be hastened because of the benefits it brings to the game outside the top flight have provoked frustration.

The Crystal Palace chairman, Steve Parish, wrote in the Sunday Times that a return to play is “partly about the money” and that “it is the Premier League that largely funds the whole football pyramid”. The culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, had previously told parliament he wanted to get the Premier League “up and running as soon as possible in order to support the whole football community”.

This interpretation is disputed by the EFL, however. The Premier League transfers £400m a year to the EFL but £260m of that goes to just nine clubs, those relegated from the top flight over the preceding three seasons, who receive the money in parachute payments. This mode of redistribution has long been controversial with claims that it distorts competition lower down the leagues and the EFL believes it should be reformed.

The EFL is also uncertain what benefit it would receive from the restart of the top flight, if games in the lower leagues were not able to restart at the same time. Last month the Premier League brought forward £125m of solidarity and parachute payments, which had been due at the end of the 2019-20 season. The Premier League made no comment on the matter.

Parry is expected to raise the topic of parachute payments at the DCMS committee on Tuesday, but it will be only one of several pressing issues facing the organisation. In an article for the Guardian to be published on Tuesday, Mark Palios, the executive chairman of League One Tranmere Rovers and former chief executive of the FA, calls for “a root-and-branch rethinking of the game’s structure” if the football pyramid is to survive.

The abolition of parachute payments is one measure advocated by Palios alongside an overhaul in the approach to ownership and a renegotiation of the standard EFL player contract. He also argues that an independent regulator should be considered to enforce the rules. “The last couple of months have demonstrated that EFL members clubs are not able to do this themselves because of conflicts of interest, widely varying financial positions and stances on matters of principle, and the ostensible power of the PFA”, he writes.

At the FA, the chairman, Greg Clarke, admitted that the pandemic could create a loss of £300m for the game’s governing body and that matches, when they resume, will be behind closed doors for the foreseeable future. “It’s hard to foresee crowds of fans, who are the lifeblood of the game, returning to matches any time soon,” said Clarke, who has agreed an annual budget cut of £75m. “In a worst-case scenario, this would be necessary for the next four years to offset a £300m deficit,” he said.