Colchester United chairman: 'Completing League Two season would have cost clubs £400,000 each'

Colchester United will be involved in the play-offs. Credit: PA

Colchester United chairman Robbie Cowling has revealed it would have cost League Two clubs around £400,000 each to complete the season.

League Two clubs "unanimously indicated" they wanted to finish their campaign early at a meeting last week, although the decision will still need to be ratified by the EFL and the FA.

It means the table would be finanlised on a points per game basis, with the play-offs still going ahead as planned.

Colchester, who would finish sixth via the PPG method, would be one of the teams involved in the play-offs, with Exeter City likely to be their opponents in the semi-finals.

Cowling estimates the U's will still have to fork out around £250,000 just to get through the play-offs due to the costs of the testing that will have to be organised, and also taking players and staff off furlough.

  • Watch an interview with Colchester United chairman Robbie Cowling by ITV News Anglia's Andy Ward

However, that figure is still less than the £400,000 clubs would have had to budget for had the season reached its natural conclusion, and Cowling understands why chairmen and owners were all in agreement to end the campaign.

"At League Two level, it was estimated that for all of the teams to carry on and finish all of the games before the play-offs, it was estimated the cost per team was going to be £400,000," he told ITV News Anglia.

"There's a lot of teams with absolutely zero to play for - they're not going to get promoted, they're not going to get relegated, so it was felt by all the clubs that it was money they really didn't want to spend. They're rather save that money until we can get going again."

Cowling also revealed that no players have approached him yet to say that they don't feel safe enough to play, but he would back their decision 100% if anyone did come forward.

"I think some of it we'd want to talk about what their circumstances are to make sure that it's a rational decision. If somebody's got a relative living with them, or a wife who's got a condition that makes it a much higher risk then it's only football, it's not worth risking their life over," he said.

"So, we would back that if the players really decide it's not for them in this environment to come back. We would understand and I hope everybody would."

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