League One clubs have been hit with more delays to the vote on how the season should end, according to reports.
A decision on how the campaign concludes is due on June 8, and Bristol Rovers and their rivals were told they would receive their ballot papers on Tuesday evening.
The EFL had set a 2pm deadline yesterday for clubs to submit any last-minute proposals for how the season should end, and voting was to begin afterwards – with clubs given the best part of a week to mull over their decision.
But the ballot papers are still yet to be received, according to the Portsmouth News, it is unclear if the decision will be announced as planned next Monday or if there will be further delays.
There is an expectation around the league that a small majority will back proposals to end the season immediately and use a points per game calculation (PPG) to determine promotion and relegation.
However, there are several clubs, particularly those in play-off contention, fighting hard to have the season finished on the pitch, following the lead of the Premier League and Championship.
Should the league be curtailed and decided by PPG, Coventry and Rotherham would be automatically promoted with Wycombe, Oxford, Portsmouth and Fleetwood making up the play-off spots.
The top two are keen to end the season, as are Wycombe, with a PPG solution propelling them back into the play-off spots.
But the vast majority of the rest of the clubs in the top half, plus Tranmere Rovers in the bottom three, are desperate to find a different solution, particularly Sunderland and Peterborough United who want a chance to force their way into the play-off picture.
Most clubs want to play on, while Tranmere have called for a margin of error to be used in PPG calcluations, which would save them from the drop.
Ben Garner’s mid-table Rovers are keen to return to action, too, so he has an opportunity to oversee his squad in more games before the 2020/21 season begins.
League One, of England’s top four divisions, has lacked clarity the most when determining how the season should end.
League Two has already voted in favour of curtailing the campaign, while the Premier League and Championship are set to restart in the next two weeks.
But League One’s future remains up in the air, with some stakeholders claiming time is running out to fulfil the fixtures – should clubs vote to do so – by July 31, which is viewed by many as a backstop date due with out-of-contract players’ severance pay ending on that date.
Ipswich Town boss Paul Lambert is just one manager to criticise the authorities.
“The uncertainty’s incredible,” he told talkSPORT last week.
“It’s the only league I think not to know what’s happening, I don’t think anybody does.
“It’s a decision - what are we’re doing, are we playing, are we not playing, are we going for next season? I haven’t a clue.
“We can’t do anything at the minute, we’ve not even started back training, we’ve not even been given a start date. You can’t have a training date if you haven’t got a start date.
“The way it’s been going on I don’t know if anybody knows what’s happening with it, everybody’s feeling the same, other than the Premier League and the Championship, they seem to know what they’re doing, but the rest of us they don’t really know.
“Are we playing? Are we not playing? Just somebody tell us what we’re doing and I think everybody has to abide by that but until we know that I think this is going to keep going on.”
