By Benjamin Ron.
On April 7th, the FA came to the decision to suspend all three National Leagues indefinitely due to the Coronavirus outbreak with the potential chance of cancelling all future fixtures left in the season if another solution to play all the remaining fixtures can be found.
Later in the month on April 22nd, A meeting took place where the National League board came to the conclusion and announced that all remaining regular-season fixtures are to be cancelled after a vote had taken place with the majority of clubs voting in favour of the season to be scrapped. The league has now had to ask clubs to vote on the sporting outcomes of the season. The result of this vote saw 18 of the 24 National League South teams vote in favour of ending the regular season, with 2 clubs voting against the decision and another 2 giving no response.
On May 5th, the National League Board announced they were going to meet and discuss whether the play-offs are to be postponed or cancelled. The board would then consider the options for how the season is to be decided. These options will then be presented to clubs for a further vote. From the meeting, the National League Board decided they want to wait on the EFL’s decision before making their own decision on the outcome of the season and the final playoff places. The league still hopes to keep two promotion spots to the EFL, however, if League 2 is unfinished then only one national league club is likely to go up. If the playoffs were to take place, the league would need to first apply for an extension to the regular season which currently ends on June 1st. Making the whole season null and void has not been ruled out by the board but it is still unclear on what the decision will be for the outcome of the season.
How will this impact The Beavers?
After a playoff semi-final loss in 2017, a playoff final loss in 2018 and a poor 15th place finish in the 2019 season you’d think it couldn’t get any worse for The Beavers, could it? Well, it just has. With The Beavers being on the edge of the playoff places with three-quarters of the season completed, the national league board has come to the decision to cancel all remaining fixtures with the potential chance of the whole season being null and voided. If this was the case and the season was to be voided, The Beavers would miss out on promotion and would have to spend another year in the National League South Division.
In what is going to be their 100th year as a professional football club next season, fans and players were all hoping to end their current season with a promotion to the Vanarama National League and start their iconic season with a promotion, however, due to the Boards decision to cancel all remaining games, promotion for them is now unfortunately looking very unlikely.
The Beavers currently sit in 8th place in the league and were only one position away from the playoff places before the board's decision to cancel all remaining league fixtures. Being three points away from the playoffs and having two games in hand on the teams above, the cancellation of the league couldn’t have come at a worse time for The Beavers. Now it’s looking like it’s going to be another season in the Vanarama South division for The Beavers with the hope of securing promotion or even a push for the title next season.
However, this may not be the case and there could still be a small glimmer of hope for The Beavers. There are rumours that the English Football League’s 1, 2, and Championship division are going to finish the season off using a points per game model system. This system works by using a club’s current home and away record to predict their remaining home and away fixtures.
If the points per game system were to be used, this would have a huge impact on The Beavers and their current season as it could potentially lead to them finishing in the playoff places if the same points per game model were applied to the National League South Division. In a recent interview with the National League Paper, the National League CEO Michael Tattersall says, “In the pyramid your boat is tied to another boat. Our boat is tied to the EFL’s boat. The EFL’s boat is tied to the Premier League’s boat. They do move in coordination with one another, hence why we need further information before we commit to a final answer.” Going off of this, it looks as if whatever the EFL decide, the National League will follow suit. We will be sure to keep you up to date on all the latest news and how this will have an impact on The Beavers their season.
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