Portsmouth chief Mark Catlin relishing play-off challenge after League One finally given green light

League One clubs finally settled on the fate of the stalled 2019-20 campaign at a Football League EGM yesterday.

Following a morning vote which settled on a four-team play-off format, promotion and relegation and an unweighted points per game model, attention turned to whether to resume the season.

The overwhelming majority of League One’s 21 members favoured curtailing the league campaign.

That meant a play-off semi-final for Pompey, matched against Oxford, with Wycombe and Fleetwood competing the line up.

Now Pompey can focus on the challenge of a return to the Championship, albeit through a format which has provided heartbreak on three previous occasions.

Catlin told The News: ‘We are ready. The players are champing at the bit, the staff are keen and the excitement is building.

‘I am sure when the dates are announced, the anticipation will also grow among our fans.

‘It’s great there’s finally some clarity on whether there’ll be an end to the season.

‘However, it’s tinged with disappointment that we couldn’t achieve a shot at promotion by finishing the season off in the correct way on the pitch.

‘I always felt that unweighted points per game was the right way to go, but, whether I think something is right or wrong, it’s a majority vote so out of your hands.

‘You are always on guard against things which you are not directly controlling. But it became apparent over the last two weeks that it was going to be the way it went.

‘It has been very stressful and time consuming in dealing with other clubs and the EFL – now we have a play-off semi-final to look forward to.’

Pompey and Peterborough were among four clubs which voted for the League One season to continue.

And Catlin conceded he wasn’t surprised at the one-sided nature of the vote.

He added: ‘We voted to adopt the board’s viewpoint on what should happen if the league was curtailed, which was unweighted points per game and to let the play-offs carry on.

‘But, in the later vote, we were true to our principles in voting to continue with the season.

‘In the end, not very many supported that view. I don’t want to give the final figures, but the longer that this went on, a lot of clubs which would have liked to have carried on really didn’t have the appetite to.

‘That was based on the time left to get it done before the end of July.

‘Given the timescales, this was going to be the logical outcome.’

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