EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES AND SAMI MOKBEL: Sacked Charlton board members have charged the cash-strapped club more than £575,000 in consultancy fees and expenses.

The PFA are on a collision course with several Championship clubs after Birmingham urged their players defer up to 50 per cent of their salaries for the rest of the season. 

The Elland Road side sought to bring in a new striker during the winter window after Arsenal cut short Eddie Nketiah's loan spell, leaving Patrick Bamford as their only option.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: Many of Birmingham's players have agreed to defer up to 50 per cent of their wages from April to help ensure all the non-footballing staff will be paid in full

EXCLUSIVE: EFL clubs want to access funds made available to business as part of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak last week.

A significant number of Championship, League One and Two players are borrowed from elsewhere, with a number of those approaching the end of their contracts at their parent clubs.

MIKE KEEGAN: The global game's governing body has recognised the current coronavirus crisis as a 'force majeure' - an unforeseen circumstance that prevents a contract from being fulfilled.

EXCLUSIVE BY MIKE KEEGAN AND DANIEL MATTHEWS: The crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak has made any likelihood of football being played at the end of next month impossible.

Huddersfield Town used Premier League parachute payments to agree last summer's takeover - leaving them behind a financial eight ball.

EXCLUSIVE BY STEPHEN MCGOWAN: As Sportsmail first revealed, American businessman Conway is in the market to add an SPFL team to his footballing portfolio.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor has said the union oppose a blanket wage deferral for players, fearing clubs will try to cash in on the coronavirus crisis.

EXCLUSIVE BY ADRIAN KAJUMBA: Championship clubs have been left quickly counting the cost of football's shutdown with some sides already more than £5m down.

The coronavirus lockdown could last for another six months and yet the football authorities are already discussing plans to restart. Our reporters have their say on how football should proceed.

Charlton have announced losses of £10.1million for the year ending June 30 2019, which matched what was lost for the same period the previous year.

EXCLUSIVE BY IAN HERBERT AND SIMON JONES: The PFA have dug their heels in over crippled clubs attempts to reduce their wage bill in the coronavirus crisis.

The Premier League and EFL have warned football supporters that there are 'no quick answers' as to how and when the season will continue due to the coronavirus pandemic.

EXCLUSIVE: Millwall furloughed a number of their non-playing staff last week - but have now informed their footballing personnel of their intention to place them on the scheme.

Senior representatives from the PFA, Premier League, EFL and LMA shared a 'constructive' meeting on Wednesday with regard to the challenges facing the game.

There is a clamour for footballers to cut their wages at the moment but not every one of us is an affluent millionaire. If you are playing in the lower leagues, you can't afford to take a wage cut.

Brentford say they can no longer 'reliably forecast' when their new stadium will be completed having been forced to scale back work on the project due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Football Association chairman Greg Clarke has urged players to settle their pay cut disputes, calling on them to 'share the pain' of the coronavirus crisis.

EXCLUSIVE BY IAN HERBERT: Many clubs are increasingly sanguine about losing players, because critical cash flow problems mean they will soon be insolvent.

In the Championship, things are not always simple. Players are under pressure from the public to take cuts, but it's not easy, as the discrepancy between what lads earn at this level can be huge.

MARTIN SAMUEL: Group administration would see every Championship club placed into administration on the same day. Staff would be temporarily let go. Players would become free agents.

Sportsmail reported last week that they would become the first Championship club to place their players on the government scheme designed to mitigate the impact of coronavirus.

EXCLUSIVE BY MIKE KEEGAN: A host of Championship clubs could start next season with points deductions as a row simmers over how the coronavirus crisis should affect financial regulations.

Andy Holt suggests football clubs should go into 'protective hibernation' to safeguard their futures during this uncertain period and fears games may not be played in front of crowds for a long time.

The Scottish Professional Football League's contentious resolution is resting on just one Championship club that failed to vote by Friday's 5pm deadline. The body received 39 responses.

EXCLUSIVE: Football League clubs have put their squads on mandatory leave - but told their British players not to leave the country. EFL have confirmed training is suspended until May 16.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: The Championship club are at the centre of a battle after their crucial vote against voiding the season was not registered on time due to technical problems.

Chelsea will have to pay £5million if they want to sign 19-year-old Derby midfielder Max Bird, who impressed Blues boss Frank Lampard when he was manager of the Championship club.

SPECIAL REPORT - JACK GAUGHAN: The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the need for football to reboot. 'Sustainability' and 'reset' have become buzzwords over the past weeks.

EXCLUSIVE: Football League clubs are growing closer to voting for the introduction of salary caps to safeguard the futures of stricken institutions, Sportsmail can reveal.

EXCLUSIVE: Football League clubs have been at pains to keep their players' secret sessions under wraps so not jeopardise the money they'll receive from the Government.

EXCLUSIVE BY MIKE KEEGAN: Sources have disclosed that a peace treaty is among a number of measures being discussed by various executives as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

Dr Zach Binney, an epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, says tens of thousands of spectators in close proximity in a stadium is 'very, very dangerous.'

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.