Luton CEO backs plans to restart the Championship next month

Town chief executive Gary Sweet has backed the decision to potentially restart the Championship season once more next month.

With nine games to go, the Hatters find themselves second bottom in the table and would be relegated should the campaign be declared null and void, but with promotion and relegation still taking place, as is likely to happen in League One and Two.

Town return to training on Monday though, with the remaining matches proposed to start in mid-June, something Sweet was in favour of, as he said: “Yes we are and I think for a couple of reasons.

“I’ve always said I think the season should play out, the season has to close on merit if at all possible and I’ve even gone as far to say I’d rather take our chances than retain our Championship place if there was a cancellation.

“Looking at how League Two is likely to vote this week, League Two is likely to conclude with promotions and relegations, so I think it’s highly likely if the season was cancelled Luton would be relegated,clearly we wouldn’t be happy about that.

“At the end of the day, football has got to finish the season.

“For the integrity of the sport, even if it goes beyond July for me, I think is more intact by playing the season out than having a whole host of litigations from various clubs on leagues and clubs on clubs because people are looking after their own interests.

“What’s got to happen here is we’ve got to look after our own society first, football second and then our own clubs third, so from that point of view, absolutely we want to play out.”

Sweet is also aware that staying up this term has taken on even greater importance with the financial impact of the coronavirus if the Hatters were to find themselves back in League One next term.

He continued: “If we were just looking to defend the club’s position, what we would be looking to do in this situation is to do everything possible to play games firstly, because that is the most likely way to survive in the Championship.

“The Championship is safer for us, because we’ve got more central income coming into the club than League One.

“Our player salaries do drop, other people’s salaries do drop if we go down to League One, but not by the same scale as those broadcast rights.

"So from a financial point of view, we are more safe in the Championship than in League One, but it’s got to be society first and football second and club third in my view.

“It’s for the integrity of the game that I personally and Luton Town want to play the season out.

"We’ve got to do that at the right time and we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground, be level headed about this and take a sensible approach to it."

On any timescale behind getting back to action, Sweet remained unsure, but is hoping more will come to light in the next few days.

He added: "There are votes taking place this week for all clubs to take part in, in regard to player contracts and extensions to contracts.

"I think that there's some further advice coming out, after the Football League board meeting, with regards to League One and Two, but for the Championship, it's really pretty much all steam ahead.

"There are obviously clubs, managers, coaches and players that have concerns, that we, as clubs and the League, are seeking to rectify and settle any nerves that are out there.

“But, generally, I've got to say that everybody's desperate to get back actually, from where we are.

"I think it's a case of, let's just get back training for a couple of weeks.

“I think three to four weeks is the minimum amount of training time you can give players before you expect them to play competitively, so if they're coming back next week, the earliest you could really feasibly return is the middle of June, to play.

“So, that is an approximate period of time that’s in our eye, as the League, to try and target for a first game, but nothing has been set at this time and I don't think it would be sensible to do that until we have some training under our belt and we know everything's fine.

"I’m expecting more to come out, I don’t think there’ll be a complete conclusion to what’s going to happen.

"One thing, certainly with regards to promotion and relegation, that’s is not going to be a decision for League Two alone.

"It’s going to be a decision for all clubs in the EFL, because it’s a case of the same rules applying through that structure, so Championship clubs will actually vote on that as well.

“I’m sure what's going to happen is that they'll have their meetings and then put out some form of proposal for then all clubs to take a view on."