EXCLUSIVE: Championship clubs are pushing increasingly hard for the introduction of a permanent salary cap amid the ongoing battle to force their players into accepting wage cuts.

Gary Neville is 'acting as a peacemaker' in the ongoing dispute over wage cuts between English Football League clubs and players during the coronavirus crisis, according to The Sun. 

EFL Chairman Rick Parry has described the coronavirus pandemic as football's most 'challenging issue' other than the two World Wars. He added that football could resume behind closed doors.

The Cottagers, like every Championship club, have their players training individually at home while football is shut down due to the deadly pandemic, but some have coped better than others.

Hunter won 28 England caps. The legendary defender made 540 appearances for Leeds and won two First Division titles, the FA Cup, League Cup and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups.

EXCLUSIVE BY DANIEL MATTHEWS AND ADRIAN KAJUMBA: A percentage of Reading's U23 squad will be affected, understood to be those less likely to be involved with the first team.

Championship strugglers Luton Town have dismissed manager Graeme Jones and three of his coaching staff as the coronavirus lockdown bites down on EFL football.

EXCLUSIVE: Out-of-contract players are going to clash with EFL clubs over plans to ask them to play through July without extra payment. Many are coming to the end of their contracts in June.

The figures come from an annual survey carried out by the EFL titled 'Staff Salary Benchmarking 2019'. Marked 'strictly private and confidential', it was handed to clubs in November.

England's top football cop has said that playing football matches at their original venues would 'present challenges' to the police and has suggested that neutral venues be considered.

EXCLUSIVE BY IAN LADYMAN: After an EFL board meeting, club captains and PFA reps have been told to relay to their team-mates the very real possibility of no more football being played.

EXCLUSIVE: On Friday, Premier League clubs will discuss the numerous obstacles to overcome if football is to return from the coronavirus suspension sooner rather than later.

EXCLUSIVE BY MIKE KEEGAN: Instead of closing on September 1 officials want the window to remain open 'for as long as possible' according to a confidential memo obtained by Sportsmail.

In a letter to the Football League's Championship, Leagues One and League Two clubs today Parry confirmed the EFL remain in talks with the government about a return date.

The EFL are locked in talks about how to resume the campaign behind closed doors amid the coronavirus crisis, which is threatening to bring an early end to the League One and Two seasons.

With drastic measures proposed, involving promotions without relegations and revised leagues with additional places, Sportsmail takes a look at how English football could shape up.

Meslier, currently on loan from French club Lorient, has made a huge impression after replacing Kiko Casilla while he began a suspension for using racist language towards Jonathan Leko.

Relegation is likely to apply when the Premier League resumes and the FA Cup final has been pencilled in for August 8 at Wembley as more details of football's Project Restart emerged.

SPORTS AGENDA: Big, unexpected news out of the BBC on Friday when, in an illuminatingly terse email, staff were informed that Radio 5 Live Sport editor Mike Carr had left the building.

The Aston Villa captain has auctioned off the famous No 10 shirt with all proceeds going to NHS Charities Together following the outbreak of the coronavirus.

EXCLUSIVE: The Football League are seeking to re-negotiate the controversial television contract with Sky Sports that came close to splitting the three divisions last season. 

Speaking via videolink to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday, Parry confirmed that discussions have led him to believe that promotion and relegation will go ahead as normal.

EFL chairman Rick Parry has pleaded for a rescue package from the Premier League with clubs financially crippled by the coronavirus crisis. He also branded parachute payments 'evil'.

SIMON JONES: The ugly row behind Charlton Athletic's ownership has taken another twist after police were called in to recoup two club cars from former chairman Matt Southall.

IAN LADYMAN: England's top clubs will survive Covid-19. But for those looking to join them for more than the occasional season, the landscape threatens to become unrecognisable.

Should the Premier League and Championship return the vast majority of the outstanding 200 matches may be played at different hours of the day with all of them shown on television or online.

The FA has the power to block any plans by the Premier League to axe relegation. Some clubs have insisted that they will only back Project Restart proposals if the threat of demotion is gone.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN CAPE TOWN: Ben Stokes is one of the best and most complete fielders in world cricket. I can only really think of Chris Jordan as someone who comes anywhere near him.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN CAPE TOWN: It was on this same Newlands ground that I first thought England might have found someone special when Jimmy Anderson burst through in 2003.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN CAPE TOWN: It is an English trait to focus on what a player is not quite so good at, but after his century it is best to concentrate on what Dom Sibley can do very well.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN CAPE TOWN: The way he led, the moves he made and the way his players responded in this second Test have provided him with the perfect template.

NASSER HUSSAIN: Former England captain and Sportsmail columnist sits down to talk to assistant coach and his former international team-mate Graham Thorpe.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN PORT ELIZABETH: There should be no doubt Jofra Archer is the best man to replace Jimmy Anderson in the third Test here and must be given every chance to prove himself.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN PORT ELIZABETH: When the ICC asked me to vote for my world cricketer of the year, it was an absolute no-brainer. I just ticked the box that said Ben Stokes.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN PORT ELIZABETH: Joe Denly has impressed me in his Test career and looks to have the game to be a No 3 in international cricket, but he clearly has to work on his tempo.

INSIGHT BY NASSER HUSSAIN: Yes, I know Kagiso Rabada already had thee demerit points and has been a serial offender. He has probably been warned time and again.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN PORT ELIZABETH: We know what Ben Stokes can do. But for me the more eye-catching and important innings for England on Friday came from Ollie Pope.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN PORT ELIZABETH: The young players are really finding their way under Joe Root and it does look as though it is the England captain who is moulding his side.

This feels like the changing of the England guard now. Over the last 10 days of Test cricket we have seen Joe Root fully in charge of his side.

NASSER HUSSAIN: The Wanderers pitch has been one of the bounciest in the world for five or six years, so the key for England is to adapt to that.

NASSER HUSSAIN IN JOHANNESBURG: Joe Root endured a chaotic, frenetic morning ahead of the first day of this final Test but the England captain impressed me with his calm decision making.

NASSER HUSSAIN: The England dressing room did not exactly need lifting anyway but if anything could lift any team it has been Mark Wood's performance here.

NASSER HUSSAIN: The real challenges will come with India next winter and Australia the following one, but this comfortable 3-1 series win represents the green shoots of recovery for Joe Root's England.

NASSER HUSSAIN: If you were picking a tennis squad to play on clay you wouldn't fill it with grass court specialists so I can see the argument for horses-for-courses selections.

NASSER HUSSAIN - VERDICT: The first thing England's women should do ahead of Thursday's Twenty20 World Cup semi-final against India is do whatever the opposite is of a rain dance.

As with every other sport, cricket has been thrown into crisis by the coronavirus pandemic. Here, Sportsmail's Nasser Hussain answers the key crisis questions...

NASSER HUSSAIN: You have to think outside the box at times like this and Sky had the idea of trying to emulate Gogglebox with their look at the last day at Headingley.

Etiquette expert William Hanson stepped out of his refined comfort zone and onto a Ryanair flight from Nice - to find out if the no-frills airline 'could really be as bad as they say it is'...

Etiquette expert William Hanson said senders should cut out the waffle and keep messages as clear as possible. He also believes people should not bother with 'hopeless chase ups'.

Past guests include Lloyd George, Sir Winston Churchill and the cast of Bond film Goldeneye. Now it's William Hanson's turn to try out the legendary Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo...