WELL WORTH A READ - STATEMENT FROM LEAMINGTON FC.
- Worth noting last paragraph about contracts.
- Also worth noting that Leamington are step 2 of Non League, 3 levels below us,
- ..and that step 3 and below (sphinx/Cov Utd step 5) have had their seasons wiped - including those who were already MATHEMATICALLY PROMOTED!
It's a fairly long one, but interesting what discussions have taken place:
"Many of you may well be wondering what is going to be the outcome for Season 2019-20 in light of the Coronaviruspandemic and why you have not heard anything from the club in recent days.
Simply put, it is because we ourselves do not know. The current situation is that all National League members, including our club, were asked a week ago to vote on a resolution that the season be ended without any further league matches being played. Clubs were asked to return their vote as a matter of urgency but in reality, the laws of such matters are that clubscould only be given a deadline of 7th May. The voting structure of the NationalLeague is that all 24 National League clubs have one vote each whilst the National League North (NLN) and National League South (NLS) clubs each have a collective four votes each. At this moment in timewe await an update from the NationalLeague Board on the outcome, which will only come when they are in receipt of amajority number of votes either in favour of or against the resolution.
Should the resolution be passed, thenclubs will then be asked to vote on their preferred options for how the seasonshould be concluded. These willundoubtedly cover a range of options of which we have no firm knowledge.Discussions across football on that topic over recent weeks have ranged from: Null and Void; Points per Game (PPG) forremaining games based on a club'saverage PPG thus far; Promote teams in the current two top spots in each league along with a number of other possible variations. Should the resolution fail then I presume we can add completing theseason to the mix.
As you can see from the above, it's a hugely fluid situation. Just these past few days ,the EFL (Leagues One and Two)announced that their preferred position would be to resume the current season at some time in the future, thus aligning themselves with the Premiership and Championship. With the lockdown being extended for a further three weeks and the health of the nation quite rightly at the forefront of everything, the perceived wisdom is that there is no chance of anyfootball taking place before the 1st June and even that is a highly questionable unknown. If you factor in that UEFA may be looking to hold the final of the Champions League on 29 August, then the degree of uncertainty is pronounced. Where does that place us all for the commencement of Season 2020/2021?
Contracts of players at Step 2 (NLN andNLS) largely end on the last day of the season although some players will have 52-week contracts that conclude on 30th June. Whilst FIFA have provided guidance on how contracts may be rolled on for an extended seasons end, respected sports lawyers have advised that under English law no player can be forced to extend his/her contract. We certainly sit in uncharted waters!"