One of the main areas of discussion was the fixtures scheduling problems which will become and even bigger issues when the 2022 World Cup takes place during the mid-season of the European calendar.

 

On the current scheduling Harvey said that he believes that "all clubs have the squads to cope with the level of fixtures" however "weather is the enemy" and you can't "re-create time which is what causes the issues for clubs when fixtures pile up". 

 

The discussion quickly turned to the unavoidable issue of the 2022 World Cup taking place in the middle of the season and how the leagues will overcome that issue. Harvey said that "planning was now underway for the scheduling around that time but no plans have been put forward to clubs for approval". 

 

Harvey discussed the possibility of League 1 and League 2 clubs playing through the tournament with Championship just being stopped for the group stage. On why League 1 and 2 would play on through Harvey said "not many players from these leagues will have players away on international duty so they could play through but we would look at kick off times to avoid any potential clashes with England matches".

 

He added "On looking at statistics the majority of championship players who go on international duty don't play for the elite teams so they are normally get knocked out at the group stage."

 

JC