Here's why clubs don't have to vote on SPFL plan by today's 5pm 'deadline'

Result of ballot may not be known until next week

Clubs have been asked to vote on the immediate termination of the Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League 1 and Ladbrokes League 2.

Clubs cannot be compelled to vote by 5pm this afternoon on the SPFL’s resolution to bring an immediate end to the season for the Championship, League One and League Two.

The league body has requested that its 42 members send in their ballot papers attached to emails by that point today but the Companies Act 2006 provides a 28-day period be given for adopting or rejecting written resolutions.

The SPFL is confident that, as typically happens, such responses will be lodged within the time frame it has set out but the result of the ballot won’t be known immediately.

It is up to the SPFL board to decide when it makes public the outcome, and sources close to the governing body have intimated that it could be the middle of next week before the result is announced.

Early confidence in the SPFL that it has the 75 per cent threshold across all four tiers required to be reached for the resolution to pass – which equates to at least nine Premiership clubs, eight Championship clubs, and 15 of the 20 clubs in League One and League Two adopting it – appeared to erode yesterday.

One Championship club maintains there are three clubs in their set-up unwilling to vote in favour of calling the campaign on the basis of points earned per game before the coronavirus shutdown, which left most clubs with eight or nine league games outstanding.