BBC journo shares what Rick Parry told him about ‘Major problem’ still facing EFL after voting
EFL chairman Rick Parry has revealed that clubs voted in their overwhelming majorities to decide on the fates of their seasons.
League One and League Two clubs voted to curtail the 2019/20 season on Tuesday while the Championship looks set to resume on June 20, with the points-per-game model there as a back-up in case there is a second peak to the coronavirus pandemic.
Leeds United and most other Championship clubs want to play out the season and play all remaining games but those in the third and fourth-tiers didn’t hold the same stance, with many of those clubs facing huge financial issues due to the lack of matchday income.
Parry is fully aware that the financial issues in football haven’t gone away despite clubs reaching widespread agreements this week.
“If you look at voting figures division by division in terms of the decision to curtail, they were pretty much overwhelming. Wasn’t marginal. I don’t think it was a decision that anybody wanted to take,” Parry told BBC journalist Simone Stone, as quoted on Twitter.
“Those challenges have not diminished in any way shape or form. There is a major problem still facing us but at least we can now concentrate wholly on that problem and how we solve it.
“We will be working 24 hours a day to make sure they (clubs) survive. That is the aim. We can’t give guarantees. Who knows whether we have seen the end of this crisis or if there is going to be a second spike. Nobody has got clarity, least of all people in football.
Not every club is like Leeds.
We are in a great position at the moment, both in terms of the Championship table and in terms of the club’s finances.
There is no denying that Andrea Radrizzani has run a tight ship since becoming the owner of Leeds back in 2017 and while he has faced criticism for not spending as much as what some fans wanted, the fact he held back on the spending has ended up being a stroke of absolute genius.
If Massimo Cellino was still in the Elland Road boardroom, the club would no doubt be in the bottom half of the Championship and in a real financial crisis right now.
In other Leeds United news, this Leeds defender target is no Ben White.