The EFL issued the following statement on Tuesday evening:

“An independent Arbitration Panel has upheld the EFL’s appeal in respect of the outcome of an independent Disciplinary Commission who in June 2020 had considered misconduct charges brought against Macclesfield Town.

The charges related to failing to pay a number of players on the applicable payment dates due in March 2020, failing to act with utmost good faith in respect of matters with the EFL and for breaching an order, requirement, direction or instruction of the League.

The Arbitration Panel confirmed that the two-point suspended sporting sanction activated on 19 June 2020 from previous proceedings will stand and in addition the four point deduction, originally suspended in the latest proceedings and only to be activated in the event of a further breach of Regulation 63.7 during season 2020/21, will be activated immediately and applied to the 2019/20 table.

Today’s outcome leaves Macclesfield Town in 24th position in the table on 19 points with a points per game (PPG) total of 23.62, resulting in the Club’s relegation into the National League.

The Arbitration panel’s decision is final and binding.

The EFL will be making no further comment.”

The points deduction relegates Macclesfield to the National League and  Stevenage are reinstated to the EFL.

The decision begs the question, why is a punishment handed out on 11 August implemented immediately, while a points deduction announced on 30 July is held over until next season?

The EFL confirmed to me on Tuesday that they do not yet know when the fixtures for next season will be announced yet. So there is no reason why the punishments cannot be implemented uniformly.

Surely this statement must trigger an appeal by Charlton regarding the Sheffield Wednesday decision?