Detailed: Here’s how Portsmouth’s season will be decided if it’s cancelled

There is now a growing sentiment in football the cost of restarting the current campaign is prohibitive to clubs already in financial dire straits amid the coronavirus crisis.

A number of different models have already been offered up for deciding league positions along with promotion and relegations.

Here’s some of the options being forwarded to decide the table.

Points per game

As the name suggests, this option is a straightforward average points return from the total accumulated so far. So with Pompey picking up 60 points from 35 games they would have a return of 1.714 points. That would leave them fifth in League One on the same return as Oxford (fourth) and Fleetwood (seventh). Coventry would finish top with Rotherham second and Wycombe third. If Wycombe were promoted in third it would mean Pompey would miss out on the Championship by an agonising 0.021 of a goal.

Weighted points per game

An option which has gained a fair degree of support from EFL clubs if the reports are to be believed. Unlike the standard points per game option, the version forwarded takes an average for both home and away games and multiplies both by 22 (the number of each in this League One season) before adding together to give a final total. The final table if this option was used would place Pompey seventh on 74.63 points. Coventry and Rotherham would be first and second respectively, but Oxford United would be third. That would potentially be significant if three teams were promoted.

Null and void

As the name suggests, this choice would mean completing wiping out the 2019-20 season. That would mean no promotion and no relegation with clubs having between eight and 10 games to play and we start again next term. This option makes no attempt to consider what would happen in those games with it obviously being impossible to guarantee what would occur. Although Pompey strongly want the season concluded, it’s understood they believe this to be the fairest of the options if that wasn’t to occur.

Half-way table

This apparently is a model being considered in France which fashions a final table considering every sides’ first game against each other. It’s not an option which favours Pompey given their ropey form until the start of November. The table places Kenny Jackett’s men 14th on 31 points. The top side is pacesetters Wycombe on 43 points with Oxford second and Ipswich third.

Mathematical model

This is where things go way beyond the comprehension of the average football fan. There are supporters of this option which is inspired by the Elo calculation method used by Fifa to rank national teams. The model delivers a prediction considering the average number of points earned in remaining fixtures, factoring in the strength of opponents.

Finish the season

This is the choice Pompey are in favour of and was publicly backed by the EFL and their members. This would see clubs finish the campaign as and when it was safe to do so. The problem arising here is how squads will be affected if the season is not up and running when contracts run out. Blues chief executive Mark Catlin called for a month’s extension to those deals in an effort to finish this term by July 31. That seems ambitious, but Catlin believes it would still be preferable and show more integrity to finish the season even months down the line and with squads overhauled, compared to using any kind of model to decide promotion and relegation.

Promoted club variants

Using a particular type of model to decide a season’s outcome would be one thing, but that would still leave a decision to make over how many clubs to promote and possibly relegate. One view was it would be unfair and possibly leave the league open to lawsuits to send any teams down. An answer would be to promote just two sides this season and realign next term. That would leave the Premier League with 22 teams, which could be evened by sending four sides down and two up next term - an approach echoed in the Championship and League One. Sending three teams up from League Two would see the third tier return to 24 clubs following Bury’s expulsion. Many interpretations of the models have maintained the status quo in terms of promotion and relegation, however.