You've not had a quiet break, i've seen stories where the ownership is questionable, how much does Lee Power actually own, he's temporarily(permanently?) laid off the playing staff and coaches at Waterford FC in Ireland. We were one of the first to release a load of players off contract. Copied from the other thread... Out go Rory McArdle(Big wage gone) James Perch (Bit of a cult hero, gave it his all) Andy Butler(He's done unfortunately) Jordan Clarke(Gutted - hope signs back) Kgosi Ntlhe(Not bad) Yann Songo'o(Started well but lost his place) Levi Sutton(Gutted - hope signs back) Adam Hammill (Big wage gone) Yasin Ben El-Mhanni (Not league standard) Cameron Burgess(Big wage gone) James Horsfield(will sign for someone like Mansfield and be a world beater) 5 have had contract options taken up and 13 remain on contract - The likes of Eisa, Van Veen, Watson and Colclough.
We don't play that nice of football now Tisdale left. Much less pretty possession stuff and its now a more exciting, aggressive style- or so it seems
Tbh, I’m not interested in Waterford. Power got strung up by the Irish FA by not allowing Waterford into the Champions League despite qualifying for it - think he lost interest after that. He’ll be gone from us soon enough, too. All the ownership shenanigans point to his exit strategy.
Does anyone know how long we have to wait until the Play Off's are actually confirmed, or have they been? League one hasn't been agreed yet, has it? So not sure L2 can be confirmed without L1 and the Championship? A lot of our fans seem a bit clueless. Also who's paying for the testing / costs? It looks like we could be £400k out of pocket at the end of the play offs which is going to give all play off teams an extremely big disadvantage next season whether they go up or stay down? Surely the EFL will need to reimburse us somehow? And why is the final being set at Wembley? Surely that's ridiculously expensive and not needed? Why not at a neutral smaller ground like Swindon? Spectators can't go anyway so why fork out for Wembley?
All will be revealed Tuesday, apparently. Personally, based on nothing at all, I don’t think the POs will take place. You’re right, though. It’s a big financial hit to be taking these days.
If they don't take place then that means surely league one's play offs won't take place, and I'm not sure I can see the EFL going up against all those teams in a legal battle. All will be revealed Tuesday, or will they just push it back... Again? How many deadlines have we passed now?
Well, the EFL seem happy to let individual leagues vote on their own circumstances - hence our league has gone with unweighted ppg. Tbh, I don’t really have a clue what’s going on now!
I think Exeter are maybe the most deserving, and if the season had finished properly, then Northampton would have slipped out of contention. Maybe Cheltenham are the dark horses for this?
Is the situation at Pools really that bad then? For what it's worth I think all the ex league clubs will survive this. Not all businesses have suffered due to the whole covid business, some have even prospered in fact, and there will always be those businessmen wanting to buy/or help in some way a lower league club. I don't know if this is the way it works but if it were me wanting a club I'd rather look at a well supported ex FL club like Pools or say Darlo, then some village team that can barely attract 300 locals for a home game.
Not entirely sure how it works but Mark Palios alternative PPG method which is up for voting on next week isn’t a bad idea actually from City’s point of view...with the top 9 teams in League Two all playing off for 3 promotion spots. I know it has been all thought out to stop Tranmere from being relegated but anyway.
I do rate the Cobblers and IIRC I did predict them to go up back in the summer, but I think you're right and they looked set to miss out on the po's, with Port Vale taking that spot instead. I believe the play offs will take place. Cheltenham are my dark horses as well, while Col U are the least likely to go up IMO, if only because they will miss Luke Prosser and the others they were forced to let go.
Tranmere, who’ve I’ve always thought to be a decent, uncontroversial club, have managed to become a loathsome spotty reptile of a club over this. The drop from L1 to L2 isn’t immensely life changing in the scheme of things. And if there remains no crowds allowed for the foreseeable future it may not even matter much in the end. There’ll just be a mismatched rump of clubs who’ve survived which may make up a couple of shortened leagues. If there is anything like an upsurge of Covid in the next couple of months most of us can kiss goodbye to our clubs.
Our players have agreed a 25% pay cut which will be reviewed on a monthly basis. This was despite the PFA telling them to wait before agreeing anything. Our Chairman says this has saved the club and we should now be able to carry on indefinitely as long as PL and EFL payments carry on as they are. He also still thinks there will be no football in lge 2 until crowds are allowed back as most won't be able to afford the testing and safety measures without crowd income. He also said all players and staff had been paid in full for March, April and May as the club topped up anyone earning more than the furlough scheme provided, so no player has so far lost any wages.
I just hope that when football does restart our fans remember this gesture from this group of players and keep off their backs if one or two of them are having a bad game.
I’ve heard that any new contracts being offered include different options depending on how things turn out with the virus. Seems sensible. Football commences with crowds = full contract takes effect Football commences with no or limited crowd = lower value contract takes effect Football doesn’t start anytime soon = here’s your P45!
On the latest EFL statement it's worth noting this part: "Sky Sports will broadcast 30 of the remaining 108 Championship matches alongside exclusively showing the 15 games across all EFL divisions in the Sky Bet Play-Offs. The 30 live League fixtures will also be streamed on a Club’s iFollow (or equivalent) service, where access will be provided for Season Ticket holders." Sky Bet Championship returns to Sky Sports
