Barnsley are going to take the EFL to the cleaners if they are relegated due to the “inability of governance to hold its members accountable”
This could be a one sided fight due to Barnsley having owners with serious coin at their disposal.
The EFLs quest to redefine the word "integrity" looks like it has run into difficulties:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/25/barnsley-relegation-letter-efl
I think so.Wouldn't this just make the EFL more inclined to clear Derby and SW of any wrong doing?
Wouldn't this just make the EFL more inclined to clear Derby and SW of any wrong doing?
Since when have Barnsley had super rich owners? They have not behaved this season as if they had, having the youngest squad in the league and selling some of their best players again.I do not see how it can; whatever happens there will need to be transparency.
Provided Barnsley do not jump the gun and take action before the cases relating to P & S breaches have been heard and rulings given, they hold all of the aces.
They also have something the EFL do not have, the massive cash resources of very wealthy owners who will no doubt have a very high powered legal team.
I think so.
Utlimately, what are Barnsley going to do?
They start in the division they are put in or lose their golden share. A good court win isn't going to compensate for that
Equally, Barnsley have zero power to dictate what division they are in though. What are they going to do; turn up to Oakwell and wait for a championship team that will never arrive, while their league one opponents have a kick around at their empty home ground?There is no legal precedent for what the EFL are proposing.
The EFL keep talking about maintaining the integrity of the game yet their actions in proposing a PPG solution are destroying that integrity.
There are no grounds for taking away Barnsley's Golden Share; it is not them in disrepute, it is the EFL.
I am not so sure that the EFL have the power to take that share away; it would need to be subject to a vote involving all members, a vote the EFL would struggle to win.
There is only one absolute certainty in all of this and that is the EFL Governance is not fit for purpose; that is what you get when it is riven with self interest
Since when have Barnsley had super rich owners? They have not behaved this season as if they had, having the youngest squad in the league and selling some of their best players again.
And again, what are they going to do?
In September they will be in League 1 one way or another. If the EFL have not finished their case against Derby and co by then, what exactly are Barnsley going to do about it through the courts?
They say they won't accept relegation. It isn't theirs to accept or reject.
I don't disagree with the first point. But unfortunately, the offending teams, especially Derby, are a lot better at cheating than the EFL are at noticing. Derby will get off; their exec being on the EFL board is a blatent conflict of interest but will see them miraculously cleared. The fact that Derby have been cheating and the EFL more or less waved them through having not noticed will be decisive.Clubs do not deserve to be relegated when other Clubs in the League have been guilty of blatant cheating; and the number of Clubs in that bracket could be as high as 8
Clubs do not deserve to be relegated when the League has not been concluded and the powers that be come up with a barking mad idea in how to decide that league.
The only Club in the Championship with wealthier owners than Barnsley are Stoke and Chien Lee is not too far behind the Coates family.
As for selling players; they are governed by the same rules on P & S as all other Clubs should be - the Owners cannot come in throwing money around it is not allowed.
Besides that, they are implementing a long term plan based on developing their own players and having the correct structure in place for that to happen.
There will be more than a few Clubs following that plan in the very near future.
Equally, Barnsley have zero power to dictate what division they are in though. What are they going to do; turn up to Oakwell and wait for a championship team that will never arrive, while their league one opponents have a kick around at their empty home ground?
My point really is that the kind of action Barnsley are talking about is one that could take months and years to resolve. Barnsley are time limited; the EFL is not. If you haven't got that amount of time (and Barnsley haven't) before the outcome becomes irrelevant then you surely aren't holding a winning hand?
I agree there is no precedent for PPG, but that is why we are in unprecedented territory and why it will go to a majority vote. Although if you believe Alan Nixon the majority of the championship are determined to play anyway.
My one prediction in all of this is that Derby at least will get off scot free; possibly by ignoring the most nefarious of their practices and clearing them only on the more ambitious ground related matters.
I don't disagree with the first point. But unfortunately, the offending teams, especially Derby, are a lot better at cheating than the EFL are at noticing. Derby will get off; their exec being on the EFL board is a blatent conflict of interest but will see them miraculously cleared. The fact that Derby have been cheating and the EFL more or less waved them through having not noticed will be decisive.
Second point I disagree with. I have seen several barking mad solutions to ending the season, one of which sees 17th place Sheffield Wednesday promoted in third. PPG (my preference is for weighted rather than unweighted) is about the worst solution; except for all the others. In our division at least (because everyone has more or less played the same number of games) it more or less leaves the placings where they are.
There are winners of course (ourselves, who I think may well have collapsed and dropped out of the playoffs; Hull, who were absolutely destined for relegation) and losers, but I've yet to hear a good solution; so I'll take one that's good for my team.
I cannot imagine in any circumstance an injunction to prevent the SBC season starting, given the implications that has for hundreds of players and thousands of fans.Its not about power; its about standing up to a potential flagrant injustice.
Barnsley only have to show that they are victims of arbitrary decision making; the threat of Court action may stop that decision making dead in its tracks, alternatively, if the EFL decide to proceed, Barnsley could fast track Court action through to CAS or failing that, take out an injunction to prevent next season from starting until a definitive decision has been made.
Chien Lee's wealth may not have an immediate impact on the Clubs fortunes on the pitch but it certainly would in the Court room.
I cannot imagine in any circumstance an injunction to prevent the SBC season starting, given the implications that has for hundreds of players and thousands of fans.
The precedent that would set for future speculative action against relegation on the basis of any old thing would be devastating.
Legal process or not, no court is going to allow that.
You probably know more about CAS than me, but I have yet to experience CAS and 'fast track' in the same sentence.
I'm not disagreeing with you on the morals, simply the practicality. I think Barnsley would be half way through a League 1 season at best before they even got to third base on this, and the idea of them refusing to play in league one is dead on arrival. There will be 24 teams in the championship next season and Barnsley won't be one of them no matte show many smart lawyers they have, imo.