• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Starting football again

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The relegation of Beveren in Belgium has been blocked.

It will be interesting to see what our response is. I don't envy Palios, because if we do take proceedings and fail, we could find ourselves financially damaged and way behind in terms of squad building.
 

Boz

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That decision in Belgium makes things interesting. Probably doesn’t have a great effect on what an English court would do, as they’re more likely to take the approach of Scotland and decide it should be determined out of court. What happens with the Hearts/Partick case north of the border will be more influential, but don’t know when that is expected to resolve.

I agree that Mark has some difficult decisions to make in the best interest of the club. The EFL has washed it’s hands of any responsibility for our demotion, if they’d offered something by way of compensation, it would have been something. As they are taking Parry’s approach that our situation is all the fault of the virus, it seems that the only way we would get anything out of them is by initiating legal proceedings. If they go against us that will be at significant cost to TRFC. Who’d be the Chairman of a football club!

However, it does feel like we are already behind in preparations for next season, which could begin as early as the end of August. Again, it’s not without it’s difficulties as we don’t know what league we’re playing in and are now without a manager. While Mark’s moratorium on contract renewals and signing new players made sense a month ago, things have moved on and a number of the L2 teams have been renewing contracts and recruiting.
 
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ADD

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Boz i am not sure we are behind with our preparations - I think MP simply is unwilling to splash the cash at this point and have players sit on the books on a salary with no certain date for when we will restart playing. The signings from the "moneybags" clubs are rightly getting the headlines but how many of the others are doing exactly as we are - and especially as we have no manager - he can hardly sign players himself and then say to a manager here you go you are stuck with this lot....
Also of course what division we will be in makes a massive difference as to who we would look to recruit.
I doubt he will go legal - if he had decided to I think he would have done so by now but the Belgium decision and the fact Hearts went to arbitration means that theoretically he could tailor his approach differently - eg he might say we will not go to court if a genuine independent arbitration panel decides but we will if the EFL/ FA refuse to allow it. Bit tougher for FA/ EFL to say no to that given Hearts and Belgium cases. Then 50/50 coin toss and basically free - just a bit of expert opinion costs....
 
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I don't think we are behind in our preparations, but if we seriously believed the EFL decision would be reversed that could result in delays to our recruitment. In reality, I don't think MP believes a reinstatement is possible and we will start recruiting for League Two in due course.

Any lower division club that is not bankrolled and recruits now is taking a massive risk. We still don't have any fixed date for the resumption of the season, or the number of fans that will be allowed in when we do resume. It is impossible for a club to sensibly budget at the moment with that level of uncertainty. Another instance of MP doing what is right for the club in terms of its long term stability, but probably taking a hit from supporters impatient for us to start spending money. Similar to the limited quality recruitment of last summer.
 

Boz

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ADD, purely on your first point. I understood Mark’s logic when he made the remarks at the Facebook meetings and appreciate the difficulties of being both managerless and not totally certain of which league we’re playing in. I’m not sure of the position of all L2 clubs, but Port Vale, Orient and Morecambe have all renewed contracts for existing players and don’t fall into the moneybags category. While I’d agree that new recruits should be the next manger’s remit, there should be less of an issue offering proven players new deals. Maybe that is already going on behind the scenes.

I think from what’s been said to date about EFL intransigence that we’ll need to go to court to even get reference to a tribunal.
 

ADD

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Fair point Boz- the one thing I have to admit I don't understand and it goes also to RLC's point above is what role does the FA have in this? I believe they have ultimate responsibility for football in England and Wales? Is that right? Is it feasible that they can intervene and say given the precedents in Scotland and now Belgium and I think France also? that the EFL is out of step with other countries and insist/ strongly push for arbitration?
 
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Fair point Boz- the one thing I have to admit I don't understand and it goes also to RLC's point above is what role does the FA have in this? I believe they have ultimate responsibility for football in England and Wales? Is that right? Is it feasible that they can intervene and say given the precedents in Scotland and now Belgium and I think France also? that the EFL is out of step with other countries and insist/ strongly push for arbitration?
Technically, the FA only has jurisdiction over England and technically they could intervene to ensure fair play and consistency for all leagues in England. However, they have been shamefully reticent to get involved at all. They should at least be there as a court of final appeal, ensuring clubs like ours are not ganged up on. FIFA and UEFA could also have pronounced, but have also remained silent. It’s all symptomatic of the way football is run - or rather not run.

Ironically, the one person who could have and would have shown leadership at the FA left long ago and is now running some club on the Wirral.
 
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ADD

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Just seen this on Twitter - Alan Nixon says it is genuine.
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Typical EFL. No leadership, no proposal, just a vote. Does it not depend on the virus? Are they starting with no crowds? Presumably, clubs with lots of players signed up will want an early start. Clubs with thinner squads (and maybe no manager) will want more time.
 

bigmart

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Typical EFL. No leadership, no proposal, just a vote. Does it not depend on the virus? Are they starting with no crowds? Presumably, clubs with lots of players signed up will want an early start. Clubs with thinner squads (and maybe no manager) will want more time.
The season will.start with no crowds especially if it option 1 at least we will have a start date to aim for soon.
 
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Alan Nixon has now tweeted that Monthe is likely to go to Portsmouth, and that only Sunderland and Pompey oppose the introduction of salary caps in the bottom two divisions. A cap will theoretically be introduced in September, but clubs are yet to formally approved the proposal (more shambolic handling by the EFL).
 

bigmart

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So we.could.be selling several players but won't be able to use much of it on the squad.
 
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It will be the same for every club though. Clubs like Bolton, Mansfield and Salford could have problems because they have already spent a significant amount of money.
 

bigmart

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It will be the same for every club though. Clubs like Bolton, Mansfield and Salford could have problems because they have already spent a significant amount of money.
Mansfield will have spent plenty but I can't see how you can punish teams when currently the rule does not exist.

Also the figures being suggested are very low either £1.25 or £1.5 m for league 2 and £2.5 m for league 1, we wouldve been over the cap the last 2 seasons.

Frankly to tell ipswich,.Portsmouth and Sunderland they can't spend over the.cap.amount when they generate large amounts from sizeable gates is frankly ridiculous.
 
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The fact that all clubs bar two are in favour of the rule tells me that it is necessary to prevent serious financial problems in Leagues One and Two in the months ahead. Perhaps the clubs mentioned above should have considered the consequences before they spent big, particularly Bolton.

The EFL's handling of the issue has been a mess but I still think a cap is necessary.
 

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I have no confidence in the EFL applying a salary cap fairly. Not beyond the bounds of possibility that they’ll allow some exemption for players already on a clubs books at the time the cap is confirmed. This will again penalise Rovers for being financially responsible.
 
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I have no confidence in the EFL applying a salary cap fairly. Not beyond the bounds of possibility that they’ll allow some exemption for players already on a clubs books at the time the cap is confirmed. This will again penalise Rovers for being financially responsible.
I agree, but that does not mean it is wrong in principle, as proposed by Palios and others.
 

bigmart

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Bolton, Bury and mac
The fact that all clubs bar two are in favour of the rule tells me that it is necessary to prevent serious financial problems in Leagues One and Two in the months ahead. Perhaps the clubs mentioned above should have considered the consequences before they spent big, particularly Bolton.

The EFL's handling of the issue has been a mess but I still think a cap is necessary.
The same clubs who voted to demote us, voted to end the season as they couldn't afford play behind closed doors yet 8 of them did and 1 took our place. Excuse me if I am not in favour about what other teams want or think.
 
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Mansfield will have spent plenty but I can't see how you can punish teams when currently the rule does not exist.
That's exactly what happened to us when the EFL changed the rules in mid-season to relegate us. But you are right, this time I think they will back off, as enough clubs have already spent above the proposed limit.
 
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