English football is teetering on the brink of an abyss. By Christmas, some of the game's oldest and best-run clubs could be out of business, driven to extinction by the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. None have yet succumbed to the crisis but don't be fooled into thinking it is a case of "so far, so good."
Alarm bells are beginning to sound up and down the footballing pyramid, all the way from tiny Accrington Stanley to the powerhouse of Manchester United.
"November and December is when it will all start to hit home," Mark Catlin, chief executive of English Football League (EFL) League One Portsmouth, told ESPN.