Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony’s masterplan for the resumption of football in England includes the possible scrapping of the EFL Cup and £600k loans or lower division clubs

All football is currently suspended in England until April 3 at the earliest, although no-one expects a resumption that soon.

The EFL are due to meet tomorrow (March 18) to make contingency plans so MacAnthony e-mailed them tonight with his suggestions.

He has radical solutions that include scrapping the Football League Cup. He also believes the Premier League and Sky should loan all League One and Two clubs £600k to tide them through a tough economic spell. National League Barnet today placed non-playing staff on notice of redundancy.

MacAnthony disclosed the contents of his letter to the EFL on his youtube channel tonight.

His main points were..

PLAN A

*Voiding the current season must be taken off the table. The current campaign has to be finished to secure the integrity of the competition.

*As long as the players are back ready to start playing by June, the season could be completed by the first week of July. “We need five weeks to play nine matches,” MacAnthony said.

NOTE: FIFA TODAY ANNOUNCED ALL DOMESTIC COMPETITIONS MUST BE COMPLETED BY JUNE 30

*Clubs could be given a couple of weeks to get their players back up to match fitness before the campaign resumes.

“Players could be tested regularly for the coronavirus to ensure they are clear when matches take place.

*After the season has finished players could get three weeks off and then return for pre-season training ready to start the 2020-21 campaign in September.

*Scrapping the League Cup competition would free up several Tuesdays and enable clubs to make up for the later start and still complete 46 League games.

*FIFA must be lobbied to change the transfer window dates to take into account the change in start dates for the new season.

*There must be an amnesty on player contracts. They should be extended by a month to expire at the end of July.

*All loan players should be allowed to stay at clubs until the current season is over. This should be an extra month free of charge.

PLAN B

*If the current season cannot be extended players must report back in the middle of April and games will have to be played behind closed doors.

*Again players would be tested regularly for coronavirus

*Season ticket holders would be able to watch these games free of charge on a stream.

*Non season ticket holders would be able to pay to watch the games on ifollow.

FINANCIAL WISHES

MacAnthony believes lower league clubs could be forced into administration in the middle of summer if football hasn’t restarted.

He says...

*The EFL should be talking to Sky and the Premier League to arrange £600k loans for all League One and Two clubs.

*The money (total cost £27 million) could be taken from a new deal between Sky and the Premier League worth £600million which starts next season.

*The loans would be repaid at £200k per year for three years.

*For one season there would be a freeze on lower division clubs paying to take under 21 players from Premier League clubs.

*Each lower division club should be able to take three Premier League players on loan for free, i.e no payment of wages.

*EFL clubs would then offer National League clubs the chance to take four of their players on loan, again completely free of charge.