Legia Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
While we have this impasse on how to decide League 1 between all the vested interests it's struck me that there is a possible middle ground in all this, allowing every team that wants to stop playing to do so and those that want to play on to also do so. This basically works by allowing those teams that do not want to play to have all their remaining games decided 0-0, while all the remaining games are played to their conclusion. Amongst the bottom half it looks like only Tranmere would want to play on, while in the top half from what I understand Doncaster would be unlikely to want to play on, so on that basis the most games anyone would have to play would be Rotherham with 6. We would have 4 - Oxford (h), Peterborough (h), Wycombe (h) and Gillingham (a). A table prior to the resumption for those that want to carry on would look something like this:
1. Coventry 40 - 73
2. Portsmouth 41 - 66
3. Peterborough 41 - 65
4. Rotherham 38 - 65
5. Sunderland 42 - 65
6. Fleetwood 40 - 65
7. Wycombe 40 - 65
8. Oxford 39 - 64
9. Doncaster 44 - 64
10. Ipswich 43 - 59
11. Burton 44 - 57
12. Gillingham 39 - 55
13. Blackpool 44 - 54
14. Bristol Rovers 44 - 54
15. Lincoln 44 - 51
16. Shrewsbury 44 - 51
17. Accrington 44 - 49
18. MK Dons 44 - 46
19. Rochdale 44 - 46
20. Wimbledon 44 - 44
21. Tranmere 39 - 37
22. Southend 44 - 28
23. Bolton 44 - 24
This would allow everything to still be decided on the pitch, while protecting those clubs that financially don't think they can play on. Tranmere would still have a shot at staying up if they were good enough. All the promotion issues would be decided that way too, but with half the games required to play than at the moment, which makes it more practical. There's even an argument that this situation effectively becomes a play off in its own right, so promoting the top 3 without play offs also becomes a possibility, to reduce further games. The only clubs who might feel this adversely affects them are Ipswich and Gillingham, who are probably only pursuing the play on mantra at the moment in the outside chance that the 10 team play off proposition comes into play, so if this came into force they might decide not to play on, reducing the number of games needed even further.
1. Coventry 40 - 73
2. Portsmouth 41 - 66
3. Peterborough 41 - 65
4. Rotherham 38 - 65
5. Sunderland 42 - 65
6. Fleetwood 40 - 65
7. Wycombe 40 - 65
8. Oxford 39 - 64
9. Doncaster 44 - 64
10. Ipswich 43 - 59
11. Burton 44 - 57
12. Gillingham 39 - 55
13. Blackpool 44 - 54
14. Bristol Rovers 44 - 54
15. Lincoln 44 - 51
16. Shrewsbury 44 - 51
17. Accrington 44 - 49
18. MK Dons 44 - 46
19. Rochdale 44 - 46
20. Wimbledon 44 - 44
21. Tranmere 39 - 37
22. Southend 44 - 28
23. Bolton 44 - 24
This would allow everything to still be decided on the pitch, while protecting those clubs that financially don't think they can play on. Tranmere would still have a shot at staying up if they were good enough. All the promotion issues would be decided that way too, but with half the games required to play than at the moment, which makes it more practical. There's even an argument that this situation effectively becomes a play off in its own right, so promoting the top 3 without play offs also becomes a possibility, to reduce further games. The only clubs who might feel this adversely affects them are Ipswich and Gillingham, who are probably only pursuing the play on mantra at the moment in the outside chance that the 10 team play off proposition comes into play, so if this came into force they might decide not to play on, reducing the number of games needed even further.