EFL clubs warned of 'looming nightmare' as one chairman predicts up to 60 clubs going out of business

The pandemic has resulted in all football being suspended and while Premier League and Championship teams have returned to small-group training ahead of a possible return to action at the end of next month, clubs in League One and Two seem increasingly unlikely to do so.

League Two clubs have already indicated a willingness to curtail the season early with the table decided on a points-per-game basis, while clubs in the third tier are split over whether to complete the season or curtail it and use a similar measure to decide on promotion and relegation issues.

Sunderland want the season to restart as it is the only way they stand a chance of winning promotion this season having dropped out of the play-off places.

Either way, all games will be played behind-closed-doors for the foreseeable and there is no guarantee yet when next season will be able to start or when fans will be allowed back in, with clubs facing huge losses in matchday, hospitality and commercial income.

Huddersfield chairman Phil Hodgkinson warned over the weekend that up to 60 clubs in the English football pyramid could go out of business if action is not taken now to reset the way the game is run.

"Let's not pretend that football didn't cause this problem, it did," he told the Yorkshire Post.

"Football has created the position we are in.

“What we have now is the opportunity, with this COVID-19 pandemic, is to get football back into a place where it's run better.

"Football has caused this problem and football should fix it.

“If this isn't solved, you could be looking at 40, 50, 60 clubs in the pyramid ceasing to trade within the next six to 12 months; that's how big this problem is."

Salford City owner and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville disputed that figure though speaking on The Football Show he made it clear clubs are facing some difficult days ahead.

Neville told Sky Sports: “It will be July, August, September, October where the real pressure comes.

“I do think there will be clubs considering going into administration in the next three to four months, basically just to save themselves.

“Everybody’s looking down at their own feet and they’re not seeing the carnage that’s coming economically in the next three to four months.

“I do think there is a looming nightmare economically for the EFL clubs, quite a few of them. Whether it’s up to 60 I’m not sure.”