EXETER are among the clubs to have been left furious at the international break after England saw eight players withdraw from the squad.
Lee Carsley‘s final squad as interim manager was hit by chaos as he was forced to draft in eight replacements for stars who were forced to pull out of the squad.
Many of these stars included players who had originally been called up to England youth teams.
And this has had a subsequent knock-on effect for more squads, and consequently hit clubs in the EFL where many players from the Under-21s and below star.
Clubs in the lower leagues that have at least three players called up for international duty over the break can ask for their fixtures to be postponed.
However, they must do so before 5pm on the Sunday before an international week.
And League One Exeter have fallen foul of this.
The Grecians’ clash against Lincoln is set to go ahead despite three of their stars being called up to represent their nations, including a last-minute call-up for 19-year-old Kamari Doyle to go to the Three Lions U20s after he was moved from the standby squad.
In a statement, Exeter said: “Exeter City’s match against Lincoln City will go ahead on Saturday, November 16 despite the international call-ups of three players, Josh Magennis, Ilmari Niskanen, and Kamari Doyle.
“EFL regulations state, clubs are eligible to request the postponement of a league fixture if they have three or more players called up for international duty.
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“However, to seek the postponement clubs need to request this at least five clear days before the fixture date.
“Due to the late call-up from the standby list for Kamari Doyle to the England Under-20 squad, we have been left no choice but to go ahead with Saturday’s match against Lincoln with a weakened squad.”
Manager Gary Caldwell also left no room for doubt on his feelings on the matter.
He said: “As the leading supporter-owned club in England, we are used to facing the continual financial challenge of competing against much bigger clubs in League One and decisions like this only highlight the constant challenges that smaller clubs like ours face at this level.
“We will continually meet this challenge through our determined squad, our phenomenal academy success and our amazing fans.
“It is hard enough to compete against these odds without being penalised by rules that no longer seem fit for purpose in the current financial climate of League One, and call into question the sporting integrity of the league overall.”
The ex-Scotland international has urged the EFL to consider postponing all League One fixtures during each international week or at least correlating the deadline for postponements with a deadline for call-ups.
The Sunday deadline is imposed to stop late postponements costing supporters.
However, Charlton called off their home game against Peterborough just six days prior to the clash after they saw three players called up, much to the anger of Posh fans.
Saturday afternoon matchday revenue remains key to keeping many clubs going, despite a new broadcast deal, and many feel the impact of missing out on that revenue when fixtures are postponed.
Leyton Orient are one team who have been hit acutely hard by this.
With their game against Mansfield postponed, the O’s have now missed out on three Saturday home games this season – the other two being against Peterborough and Huddersfield.
The club estimates that the rearranged midweek games will see them earn £70,000 less from tickets and match-day income than they would get for a Saturday.
This means they will have lost around £210,000 due to the international call-ups, while this may even have a knock-on effect due to fans being less eager to renew season tickets with the persistent rearrangement of fixtures.
According to the Daily Mail, the East London club have spoken with the EFL in the hope that something can change with this.
The report adds that the EFL are aware of the challenge facing clubs due to the increased number of international call-ups seen in League One.
