Nigel Travis: Leyton Orient chairman wants short-term EFL loans as Covid cover
- Published
Leyton Orient chairman Nigel Travis believes the EFL could introduce 10-day 'hardship' contracts to prevent matches being postponed due to Covid outbreaks
Clubs should be allowed to sign players on short-term deals to avoid postponing games due to Covid cases, says Leyton Orient chairman Nigel Travis.
He says the English Football League could adopt a model like basketball's NBA, where players are brought in on 10-day "hardship" contracts to provide cover for those in isolation.
Increasing cases of the Omicron variant in December and early January has meant widespread disruption to fixtures.
Orient have had three games affected.
"The suggestion I made to them last week is to take the NBA example, where you can sign someone for 10 days [to replace those in Covid isolation], and perhaps have limited loans at their discretion," Travis told BBC Radio London.
"So if they think a club has a problem, they allow a couple of limited loans from another club."
In the NBA, for each player placed in the league's Covid protocol, one player can be signed as a replacement in that time.
EFL rules state clubs with a minimum of 14 fit players, including a goalkeeper, must play their matches.
League Two Orient had matches on 26 December, 29 December and 15 January postponed because of Covid cases, either in their own squad or their opposition's.
Travis says more could be done within the current system to ensure matches could go ahead, such as clubs turning to their youth teams to field enough players.
He added: "I'm doing this not just for our players but also for our fans - who have spent a lot of money - and it's got to stop."