Sky Bet EFL 2020/21

[Baddar]

Watford-Middlesbrough is about to kick off the Championship season.

[Lineker]

That Watford kit is even better in action.

[FestiveJack]

Luke Jephcott puts Argyle 1-0 up in 6 minutes in our League One opener. 

[nihilist]

Bristol City scored within 20 seconds of the start of their game against Coventry City. FML. 

[Bobfoc]

Harrogate won 4-0 away in their first Football League match. I think they'll be OK in this division.

[lanky316]

Following on from last seasons very late drama... Macclesfield Town have been wound up today.

article here

It was a certain inevitability from even before Covid hit but with this factor in I don't think it's going to be the last team to go before this all blows over. Southend are on the brink and they aren't alone in that.

[gunnar hendershow]

It's a bit of a shame that these big English clubs who pay a single player a weekly wage similar to what these clubs on the brink owe are unwilling to extend a lifeline to help the smaller clubs.

I understand you don't want to create a situation where small clubs can be reckless and know they can count on a Man United to swoop in with half a million pounds to save the day. And I know the push towards a lower leagues salary cap will have a knock-on effect in a few years of protecting some of these clubs from overspending. But it's still a shame in the meanwhile, especially since there's going to be a few clubs in the Football League who probably cease to exist in the next year or two.

[Colly]

bUT WHy cAn'T I waTCh alL tHe 3 o CLoCKs on tELly?

[Bobfoc]

We're looking at clubs that have survived two world wars and every recession in living memory, but are now going out of business at a time when top-level football makes more money than ever. At risk of sounding like a bleeding heart commie nitwit, I'm saddened whenever a club that's been a pillar of a community since the nineteenth century ceases to exist over debts that are mere pocket change to players who do their utmost to avoid paying their taxes.

[Naitch]

And sue video game makers for using their name without paying for the honour.

[FestiveJack]

I mean the only person at fault here is Amar Alkadhi and if he had used what the judge described as the "ample time" he and the club had to pay the debt none of this would've happened. Blame shitty owners rather than big clubs.

[GA!]

Macclesfield were sadly in trouble, pandemic or not.

Anyone else who dies from this point on is the victim of the Premier League's greed and failed promises by the FA to divert profits to lower levels down to grassroots. Lower league football clubs live on an edgy existence at the best of times and it's terrible the Premier League teams can pay £20 million for some shithouse player when it'll take a Crewe or Oldham 10/15/20 years to have a £20 million turnover.

[Lineker]

Quote

Neil Warnock has tested positive for coronavirus and will miss Middlesbrough’s Championship game at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.

Boro’s manager was also absent from the home Carabao Cup defeat by Barnsley on Tuesday after feeling mildly unwell. A positive test subsequently confirmed the 71-year-old had Covid-19 and he is working on transfers and game plans from home. Kevin Blackwell and Ronnie Jepson will again take temporary charge this weekend.

The club said Warnock – a regular on flights between Teesside and Newquay as he shuttles between the north-east and his family home in Cornwall – was “in high spirits” and they looked forward to welcoming him back following a period of isolation. As a precaution Boro have tested their coaching staff but all received negative results.

Although the prohibitive costs dictate weekly coronavirus testing is no longer mandatory for EFL clubs and the next round of swab checks is not scheduled until mid-October, any Boro player displaying symptoms will be tested.

The reduction in EFL player testing – which will take place only after international breaks – has concerned Premier League executives to the point where one top-tier club facing lower-league opposition in the Carabao Cup this week is understood to have paid for their opponents to be tested.

On Saturday 1,000 fans will be allowed into the Riverside after Middlesbrough v Bournemouth was chosen as a pilot fixture, trialling the much-needed return of supporters to EFL fixtures.

 

[Lineker]

Coventry/QPR has been a mad game.

[DanishmadePunk]

Charlton have been taken over

[Colly]

21 minutes ago, DanishmadePunk said:

Charlton have been taken over

[GA!]

Quote

Saturday's League Two game between Cheltenham Town and Grimsby Town has been called off after a Mariners player tested positive for coronavirus.

As a result, other Grimsby players and staff have been required to self-isolate in line with English Football League and government guidance.

Grimsby have advised the league that the club considers they are unable to safely fulfil the fixture.

The Lincolnshire club's training ground will now be shut down for 14 days.

Mariners chairman Philip Day told BBC Radio Humberside that their League Two game at Bradford City on Saturday, 3 October and EFL Trophy tie at Hull City on 6 October will also have to be postponed.

Grimsby 'put safety first'

Grimsby have also disclosed to the BBC that teenage midfielder Jock Curran was the player to test positive for Covid-19, and the 19-year-old is at home with mild symptoms.

"The rest of the squad and staff, who fill in a questionnaire and have their temperature taken every morning, have not displayed any symptoms of the virus," Day said.

Day says Grimsby took the decision to call off the game after consultation with EFL medical team and the club's own medical team.

"Our initial aim was to get everyone tested, and they should be okay as they are not showing any symptoms," he said.

"But the medical advice was that the incubation period is a minimum of five days, so those tests would be of no use whatsoever.

"We don't know if the players, having had contact with Jock on Monday and Tuesday, have the virus or are asymptomatic.

"We have put safety first and asked the EFL to call off the game."

Another EFL match postponed

Grimsby's trip to Cheltenham is the second EFL league fixture this season to be suspended because of Covid-19 cases.

Leyton Orient's game at Walsall in League Two on Saturday has also been postponed, as O's players and staff isolate after an outbreak of the virus at the club.

Orient were forced to call off their third-round Carabao Cup tie on Tuesday after receiving several positive tests, and opponents Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a bye into the next round.

An EFL statement said it would investigate the circumstances of the postponement of Grimsby's match.

A revised date for the fixture will be announced in due course.

Well shit.

[Lineker]

Quote

The Premier League is to pay for Covid-19 testing for EFL opponents in cup competitions this season. Under the terms of an arrangement that will start with any Carabao Cup quarter-finals and apply to FA Cup ties, clubs will be required to comply with the process.

The decision comes after disparities in testing regimes between the top flight and Football League clubs led to concerns over safety, with an outbreak of coronavirus in the Leyton Orient squad discovered only after Tottenham, their opponents in the Carabao Cup, paid for testing.

That tie was postponed before being declared a walkover for Spurs. The loss of such a lucrative match provided “an incentive not to get tested”, said the Orient owner, Nigel Travis.

The decision on testing was taken on Tuesday following the Premier League shareholders’ meeting at which the 20 clubs agreed principles on how to curtail the season in the event of another surge in coronavirus, or another unexpected shock. If the competition is brought to a premature halt, it was decided, places will be decided by points per game.

It comes at a time of delicate negotiations over the future of the football pyramid, with the government calling on the Premier League to step in and provide financial security to stricken clubs in the EFL.

On Sunday the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, said he had been “very clear that we expect [the Premier League] to support the EFL”.

Any mechanism for such an action remains unclear, however, and the Premier League remains resistant to such calls, citing the losses its own clubs have sustained because of the pandemic and the postponement of the return of supporters as reasons for the reluctance.

There is also pushback from some of the smaller clubs in the Premier League. Those teams who may be fighting relegation challenge the idea of bailing out promotion-chasing Championship teams who are effectively their rivals.

Critics of the Premier League’s position point to the summer transfer spending at just one club, Chelsea, as having been big enough to cover the £250m in support the EFL is requesting.

Feelings are running high and all sides are asking for greater transparency as negotiations continue, with focus on clubs being open about their income and outgoings. It is understood, however, that the testing plan has been agreed in consultation with the EFL, a small sign of continuing collaboration.

 

[Adam]

It's a half measure, that. All EFL clubs should surely be getting tested weekly regardless of the cups. Apparently the PFA is sitting on millions of pounds, surely they should be contributing? Something needs doing anyway.

[Lineker]

Quote

A Spanish investor has agreed to buy Wigan Athletic out of administration and paid “a substantial deposit”, the League One club’s administrators have announced.

Gerald Krasner and Paul Stanley of the accountancy firm Begbies Traynor said the bidder had experience in football, but otherwise released no details , saying they had agreed to keep the investor’s identity confidential until the hoped-for purchase is complete.

The bidder has committed to buying the club and paying the minimum 25p for every pound owed to “non-football creditors”, the administrators said, which would mean the club can emerge from administration in League One this season without a points deduction for leaving creditors short.

When announcing a previous offer that ultimately did not complete, Krasner said in July that the club owed non-football creditors approximately £6m. Football creditors – principally wages owed under players’ contracts, and any outstanding sums to other clubs – must be paid in full, according to EFL rules. The administrators said in August that they were looking for £4m to sell the club and its DW Stadium, and that a further £5m was needed to cover costs for this season and next.

If the sale does complete and Wigan’s future is secured after a traumatic period since the club was plunged into a shock administration on 1 July, it would prompt some much-needed optimism in the EFL, whose clubs are grappling with the financial crisis caused by Covid-19.

“We are pleased to announce that we have reached agreement with a preferred bidder from Spain,” the administrators said in a statement. “The offer that has been accepted deals with not only the sale of the club but also allows the payment to non-football creditors to avoid the 15-point penalty this season. In addition, a substantial deposit has been received. We are now working with our lawyers and the bidder to produce all of the necessary paperwork to submit to the EFL so that successful transfer of the football share can be made at the earliest opportunity.”

The club’s owner, Hong Kong-based Au Yeung, put Wigan into administration days after he completed his takeover on 24 June, which he subsequently said had cost him £40m. In August Au Yeung agreed to waive any repayment of £36m in loans. The administrators announced a week later that they had conducted an investigation and “seen nothing to substantiate any allegations [of wrongdoing] against Mr Yeung”.