England's Football League is canvassing clubs twice a week if their players have symptoms of the coronavirus or are self-isolating as it tries to build up a picture of footballers’ health ahead of a possible return to action.
Professional football in England is suspended until April 30, though it is widely expected a further delay will be announced, but in the meantime the EFL is attempting to establish which clubs have a clean bill of health.
Clubs have to fill in a questionnaire every Monday and Friday, noting which players believe they might be suffering from the Covid-19 virus and which are taking precautions because family members have the disease.
So far, a senior figure at one Championship club believes no player in the division has contracted coronavirus, though five players at League One Portsmouth have tested positive for it.
Championship clubs have been unanimous in their belief that the season must be completed, not least because those near the top of the division stand to receive at least £100 million (Dh455m) in broadcast revenues alone if they get promotion to the Premier League. The theory that the top flight could just promote Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion and have 22 teams next season has not been discussed by the governing bodies.
While the Football League’s television deal is nowhere near as lucrative as its Premier League equivalent, it is worth £119m a season, including £150,000 a Championship game to the clubs involved. Sky Sports have exclusive broadcast rights to the three divisions in the United Kingdom but so far they have not put pressure on the EFL to restart the leagues.
One option to compress the fixture list and help finish the season would be to reduce the play-off semi-finals to one leg which would make sense if crowds are not permitted and home advantage becomes less advantageous.
Several Championship clubs have agreed temporary pay cuts or wage deferrals at a time when their income has been reduced.
In 2017-18, Championship clubs’ overall expenditure of wages, of £748m, was higher than their combined turnover, of £701m and 23 of the 24 clubs made a loss.
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Major European clubs imposing pay cuts
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A figure at one club where pay cuts had not yet been discussed feels it is “an inevitability” they will happen elsewhere.
Another club was adamant they neither want or need wage deferrals at the moment, with their owner willing to fund salaries at the moment.
The players and coaches of Leeds agreed to wage deferrals to protect the jobs of the non-playing staff but sources elsewhere pointed out United, who have a £40m annual wage bill, could not afford to pay them without the income from matches.
Birmingham players earning more than £6,000 a week have been asked to defer half their wages for the next four months while senior management at League One Bolton have taken a pay cut and League Two Mansfield have attempted to put their players on furlough.
However, the longer discussions continue about completing the season, the less likely clubs are to get rid of off-field staff who may be required.
The precarious finances of many Football League clubs mean the existence of some has been threatened by coronavirus, with gate receipts forming a far higher percentage of their income.
Salaries were on the agenda at a meeting between Premier League and EFL clubs and the Professional Footballers’ Association, with the PFA expected to resist cuts in salaries and to object to a blanket deferral of wages.
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told the Daily Mail this week: "There is no need to make a cut if the season is completed."
Many clubs are expected to disagree.
