‘Nuclear option’ in the Championship is played down by Sweet

Town chief executive Gary Sweet played down rumours that Championship clubs were pressing ahead with a so-called ‘nuclear option’ due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speculation emerged recently that second tier clubs had been involved in discussions that would have led to a group administration being declared.

That would involve every Championship club being placed into administration on the same day, staff let go and entire playing squads becoming free agents, with each owner then buying the club back and negotiating new contracts.

However, Sweet revealed that hadn’t been mentioned in any of the discussions he's been involved in, saying: “In all of the meetings and conversations I’ve had with Championship clubs in particularly, the word ‘nuclear’ has never been mentioned, so I don’t quite know where that’s come from.

“We, as clubs, see this as an opportunity to reset football and there are lots of opinions going around between clubs particularly at the moment about how that reset should take place.

“Certainly the EFL will be thinking that, and I’m sure the Premier League will probably be too.

“That is one of the positives that could potentially come out of this, but there is no point in resetting if football or clubs can’t survive, and that is the one thing we need to take care of right now.

“It’s how we get through the next few months as a football family, because this isn’t about ultimately Luton Town’s survival.

“There is no point in Luton surviving if nobody else does.

“This is actually about the community of football thinking about the reset tomorrow, but literally surviving for today.”

With no end in sight to the lockdown measures just, or concretenews of the football season restarting, Sweet reiterated his concerns over all clubs remaining in business when the country eventually returns to normal.

He continued: “There will be clubs go into administration, undoubtedly. I think there were a couple of clubs quite close last month.

“The end of April is going to be very difficult for some, and every month that goes by without income will get worse unless there is some kind of saviour that comes in and saves the day for clubs outside the Premier League.”

When asked if he thought that the current crisis could lead to an alteration in how player's contracts are set out in the future, Sweet was unsure, although did admit it could change then being as 'assets' by clubs in the future.

He added: "There is a football creditor rule, which means that if any club goes into any kind of administration event then footballers have to be paid at 100p in the pound.

"I think that’s particularly unpalatable at the moment, particularly given that HMRC falls behind that, and when you’ve got the situation where HMRC or the Treasury itself is bailing out to some degree, businesses and football, through the JRS scheme and the business loan scheme.

"I think it’s only right that they are the first ones that are paid back in due course, if any events or administration were to happen – and there will be some.

"Ultimately that is what holds up transfer values and transfer fees. Post Bosman days – there are still Bosmans effectively, but the one thing that can bond football together is actually the debt that clubs have with each other, and that clubs and players have with each other.

"If you dilute that, then you dilute the transfer system on the whole.

"So the question is, do we want to dilute the transfer system on the whole?

"Well, maybe we do. Maybe part of this reset is a complete rethink about how football trades with players and sees them as assets.

"So if you also consider that if the transfer system is in some way diluted, then so is academy football.

"It has that knock-on effect to academy football, if you can’t protect those assets, then how do you make academy football work?

"Who’s going to invest in that?

"So I think it’s quite vital that there is something there to protect those contracts, absolutely.

"But I think it’s also vital that players are all willing to compromise in this particular situation, because ultimately, if they don’t compromise, then football is going to break."

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