League One clubs will meet again next week after today's meeting ended without agreement over the future of the season.
With the campaign suspended since March 13 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 23 third tier clubs took part in a conference call this morning lasting around three hours as they tried to thrash out a way forward.
Sunderland were part of a group of six clubs - the others being Peterborough United, Oxford United, Fleetwood Town, Ipswich Town, and Portsmouth - who have publicly called for the season to be played to a finish when it is safe to do so.
But there is another group who want the season to be ended early, some because they fear the financial impact of playing behind-closed-doors, taking players off furlough, and the cost of the testing, and others because cutting short the campaign and deciding the promotion and relegation places via some variation of a point-per-game formula would favour their club.
And today's meeting ended without a decision on the fate of the season, with the clubs instead agreeing to hold more talks over the weekend and early next week.
The EFL issued guidance this week advising clubs that players should not return to training until May 25 at the earliest, and if League One clubs meet again next week the pressure will be on them to make a decision over whether to resume training on or around that date with a view to playing the remaining fixtures.
