Paul Warne: Rotherham boss says health must come before wealth in coronavirus crisis

Paul Warne has been Rotherham manager since 2016

Rotherham United manager Paul Warne would take automatic promotion now if it was offered, but would prefer the League One season to resume safely.

Most clubs in the division have 11 or 12 games yet to play in the third tier following suspension in March.

Warne's side were second, only three points ahead of Peterborough in sixth, the final play-off place.

"I'd like to think health will come before wealth but I'm not so sure," Warne told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"Also, I'd like to think we'd be rewarded for the season, and to write it off 80% through would be difficult.

"I'm biased, the best way to decide would be to automatically promote the top two. It would be a bit disingenuous to say otherwise because I want this team to go up."

While other top flight leagues in Europe have set timescales around a return, including Germany's Bundesliga which is back on 16 May, others such as the Dutch and French leagues have abandoned their campaigns.

In France, Paris St-Germain were awarded the Ligue 1 title, but there was no champion in the Netherlands where they just allocated European places.

"It'll be difficult [to make a decision]," Warne added. "I think it will be led by what the Premier League do, whether they relegate or extend the size of their league and that will have a massive impact on the EFL.

"There are all sorts of theories going around. There's the concept that the top two go up and the next four have a play-off at St George's Park.

"No-one called for this, but we had played a lot of the season, and if the floodlights failed 80% through a game the result would stand."

Safety, and security before EFL resumes

One factor delaying the return to play, in addition to receiving the go ahead from the government around safety to players, is the financial situation.

Clubs have furloughed players, effectively passing on their salary payments as income streams shrivel to nothing in the lockdown.

Warne believes clubs, notably in the bottom two divisions of th EFL, would need to be in a stronger position to resume business, particularly with proposed games behind closed doors.

"It's more difficult to get them out of furloughs and get the season going with no income for months and months," he added. "I'm not convinced the Premier League will start [either], there are a lot of hurdles to jump through.

"In League One and League Two there are players who have been furloughed and had deferred wages.

"It would be good in the short-term [to resume] but it could kill clubs. I don't want to see Rotherham go up and three or four clubs fold."