Bradford City refuse to gamble on League Two ‘lottery’ but uncertainty remains for Rotherham United and Doncaster Rovers

National League clubs Harrogate Town, Halifax Town and York City will now have to see how League Two’s decisions to end their season impact on their promotion hopes.

It was thought yesterday’s meeting between the 47 clubs who make up England’s bottom two divisions would finally end their attempts to draw the 2019-20 campaign to a conclusion, but after six League One clubs publicly raised objections, the choices and potential consequences were simply laid out to clubs to digest ahead of another meeting on Monday.

It seemed the matter had been kicked into the long grass for another weekend, but instead League Two clubs met separately to agree that their season should end, and final placings be decided on a unweighted points-per-game basis. They also requested no relegation into the Conference, a proposal Harrogate and Halifax will be hoping the Football League and Football Association refuse to ratify.

Playing their remaining nine matches would have given Bradford an outside chance of making up the four-point gap to the play-off places but with no fans allowed to attend matches, they decided it was not worth it.

“Decisions are taken on a division-by-division basis,” explained the Bantams’ director of communications Ryan Sparks. “Financially League Two is a different place and the additional cost required to get the next season done were just too high.

“I would describe it as buying a rather expensive, non-refundable lottery ticket.

“The (coronavirus) testing alone would cost £140,000 at least, the furlough scheme would end for us (the Government are currently paying 80 per cent of players’ salaries up to a maximum of £2,500 per month) and then there’s all the additional costs. We had games at Exeter, Port Vale, Northampton and Forest Green, which are a long way away and overnight stays are not a possibility at the moment, so the logistical challenges were not worth taking on.

“We need the season to be finally brought to a close.”

In becoming England’s first professional league to decide a formula for resolving the season, League Two have potentially set a template for the divisions either side.

They have proposed a unweighted formula to take into account how many home and away matches each team had played. Bradford’s away record has been a massive handicap in their attempt to return to League One next season but will remain ninth under the system.

The plan is still to hold play-offs, but unless or until League One votes to have relegation, it remains to be seen if they will be needed.

The National League has decided to abandon its regular season but kept open the option of play-offs. They have been waiting on the Football League before deciding if there should be promotion and relegation, and how.

Harrogate and Halifax would remain second and sixth respectively in a unweighted points-per-game table, qualifying them for the Conference Premier play-offs, but Conference North leaders York would drop to second, meaning they too would have to play off.

If League Two successfully argues bottom-placed Stevenage should not be relegated, play-offs might not be needed in the Conference Premier. One extra team was already needed to return the Football League to its normal 72 clubs next season, although it is far from inconceivable others could go bust.

Nothing has yet been set in stone for League Two, with no formal vote and ratification needed. That could yet take a fortnight, Sparks suggested.

“It’s not a decision we’ve made per se,” he stressed. “It was a coming together of people who are in similar situations.

“As the meeting progressed it became quite obvious we were not going to achieve anything without everyone getting our views on the table. Everyone revealed their thoughts and we realised which way we should go but there wasn’t an actual vote. That will take time.”

Rotherham chairman Tony Stewart was left frustrated his division could not be as decisive.

Peterborough United, Oxford United, Sunderland, Fleetwood, Portsmouth and Ipswich Town released a joint statement on Thursday saying they had “no desire for voiding the season, points-per-game scenarios or letting a computer decide our footballing fate”.

“It is ridiculous,” said Stewart.

“I believe there are two options now, one is to fulfil the fixtures totally and the other is the top two will go up, and the (bottom) three will go down, and the next four from the top will be in the play-offs.

“There was a split but I do believe (if) it went to a vote it would be a cancellation.

“I am frustrated by the indecision - it is not just the EFL, we have got the Premier League, all the moneybags, the PFA has not been helpful whatsoever.

“It just seems like they need to bang their heads together. We need a decision.”

Editor’s note: First and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you. James Mitchinson, Editor