EFL chairman Rick Parry has admitted today that the Football League season cannot stretch beyond July 31 due to the end of 1,400 player contracts.
The former Liverpool chief executive appeared in front of the Digital, Culture and Media Sport committee, and also outlined that a decision about resuming matches amid the Coronavirus pandemic needs to be made “within days”, having last month set out a plan for the season to be completed within 56 days.
At Luton Town Luke Berry, Danny Hylton, Callum McManaman, Glen Rea, Elliot Lee and Marek Stech are the first team players out of contract from July 1, though severance packages would see them paid up until the end of that month, while the clubs has options to extend the contracts of Kazenga LuaLua, Jacob Butterfield and Donervon Daniels.
Premier League clubs have been meeting about ‘Project Restart’ but Parry said that their approach would not benefit the three EFL divisions.
He said: “The one plea I would make is that, which is a very sincere one, is that I think the Premier League and the government are working on a twin-track approach.
“Essentially, work out when it is safe to return to train, start training, and then take a decision on when it is safe to play.
“That absolutely does not work for us. We have to work backwards. Our end date is essentially the 31st July due to the situation with player contracts. We can’t go beyond July.”
Luton Town have furloughed staff whose day-to-day work has been affected by football’s shutdown, while manager Graeme Jones left the club last month along with assistant Gary Brabin, first team coach Inigo Idiakez and technical goalkeeping coach Imanol Etxeberria.
Parry added: “To expect clubs to bring people back into training now, only then to find they can’t play in a month, would be a complete mess.
“We need to be making decisions within days. What we need is criteria on returning to play and we need it very quickly.”
Parry had previously set out the EFL’s desire to complete the season, though admitted it would likely be done behind closed doors and only when safe to do so.
And Hatter chief executive Gary Sweet has made clear that Covid-19 tests for footballers should not be expedited ahead of frontline NHS workers.
This Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to set out the government’s plan for phase two of dealing with Coronavirus and the potential easing of lockdown.
Parry said: “We want to resume playing, purely from the point of view of sporting integrity, when it is safe to do so.
“We want to make decisions based on hard fact and data rather than speculation.
“We’ll return when the government says it is safe and sets the criteria.
“We’ll do so in a way that makes sure all our players are safe and healthy, and there is no stress on the NHS, frontline services and emergency workers.”
