Karl Robinson defends under-fire EFL amid spate of call-offs due to Covid-19

Karl Robinson has defended the under-fire English Football League and said that because of the spate of call-offs due to Covid-19 clubs have a greater duty to get matches played.

The Oxford United manager claimed that “right now we are losing control of the game” because of the number of matches that are being postponed and the approach being taken by some clubs that is putting the season under threat.

“I feel I need to say something to protect managers but also to protect the EFL as well,” Robinson said.

“We are working under conditions which we have never seen before – even how we train, how we go to games.

“There are so many things that people need to understand and I want to stop pointing fingers. Let’s just play football for what it is. Six months ago everyone was complaining and saying ‘we can’t wait to have football back’. There needs to be respect for our game and integrity. We have forgotten what we were all saying in the lockdown. There is a realism that needs to return.”

League One Oxford have already suffered three call-offs for home games so far this season with the club complaining that livelihoods are being put at stake with each scrapped fixture costing them more money.

Twice games against Crewe Alexandra have been postponed because of coronavirus issues involving the opposition and last Saturday Swindon Town were unable to play because of multiple positive cases within the coaching staff.

Robinson said that one of the complications is that the regulations are not clear as to what should happen. “Right now there are no proper rules as to what happens next. It is down to the integrity of the teams,” Robinson said.

It is a widespread problem. Accrington Stanley have recorded 19 positive Covid-19 cases and have had four League One games called off so far this season while, in League Two, Scunthorpe United next three matches have been postponed after eight confirmed cases with a further 10 players self-isolating. It is leading to a fixture pile-up.

Robinson said there needs to be a greater effort to try and fulfil fixtures with clubs allowed to expand their squads beyond the limit of 22 in League Ones and Two, which has just been introduced as part of the salary cap restrictions, at least for the time being.

“We have to finish our season,” Robinson said. “We can only name 22 players within our financial limits. I think we should also be able to name a further eight players so we have 30 – inclusive of under-23s or whoever (players under 21 are exempt) – and then before every game we should have to submit a squad on the basis of who is able to play. If that means because of Covid there are only 14, 15 players then you still play.”

Robinson said that the stress of the current situation, including the uncertainty caused by playing games behind closed doors, is taking its toll across the EFL. “Right now the game is losing control; managers are losing it because of the pressure that it is being put on them by their owners,” he said. “They are losing the plot. We have to get back control of the game again and have rules that allow us to play.”

Oxford, who reached the play-offs last season, have made a difficult start to the campaign, partly because of the call-offs and are second from bottom of the division.

“People are reacting differently,” Robinson, who signed a new four-year deal in the summer and is appreciative of the support he has received from Oxford, said.

“Managers are judged on results. Say I was a young manager at the start of my career and three home games were called off through no fault of my own and we went away and played three of the top six in the first seven games and we lost those games (as Oxford have done) where does that leave me in this current climate? Managers are put under so much pressure to play with their best players all the time. People need to lay off them and say ‘if you play with the kids, we respect that’.

“It’s okay everyone having a go at the EFL but they are only fundamentally a regulatory committee who are running the league by the rules the clubs have set up.”