Nottingham Forest returned to training this week, and the hope is they will get the chance to resume their promotion push.
But one League One owner has claimed he was told by a senior English Football League executive that playing each club twice is not a basic requirement of the season.
It is hoped the Championship campaign will be able to resume next month, giving Sabri Lamouchi’s Reds the opportunity to earn a place in the Premier League.
With nine matches left to be played by each club, there remains a strong desire from the majority of Championship sides to ensure the season is completed on the pitch.
However, the same can not be said about League One, with the division currently split on whether to continue or call time on the campaign.
Tranmere Rovers owner Mark Palios has been a leading voice in protesting about a proposal to relegate Rovers on a points per game basis, if the current campaign can not be completed.
And - in a conversation which may well be of interest to Forest - he says, in a report in the Daily Mail, an unnamed executive “insisted that the idea of home and away matches against every league opponent is not the accepted, finite structure of the season - which can be curtailed and considered concluded at any time”.
“They're trying to make their rules fit the argument, not the other way around. A senior EFL executive seriously tried to redefine the end of the season to us,” Palios said.
“He said it doesn't actually say you have to play every team twice, so the season ends when you've played all the games you can play. That was his justification.
“Good luck with that when there is about 150 years of precedent.
“Before the start of every season, the leagues announce a fixture list.
“What is the fixture list if not confirmation that you are meant to play everybody twice? Why does everybody's season ticket include 23 home games in the league?
“We've got sponsors, commercial agreements, media agreements — why would these people be demanding rebates for missed games if there was no definite expectation of what a season means and the number of matches it includes?
“Everything is shaped around playing everybody twice and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous. It is all getting so muddle-headed.”
The Mail say: “It suggests the EFL are increasingly worried about a backlash from clubs — and about the attitude of the Premier League — if they fail to finish this season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
