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SOME English Football League clubs, including those where a number of Zimbabwean footballers ply their trade, will “disappear within five to six weeks” unless they get financial support, says Nigel Travis, chairman of League Two Leyton Orient.

He also said ‘Project Big Picture’ – a plan by Liverpool and Manchester United to reform the English football pyramid – was a “great proposal”.

The idea includes reducing the Premier League to 18 clubs and scrapping the EFL Cup.

In return, the EFL would get 25 percent of all future TV deals plus a £250m bail-out.

A number Zimbabwean footballers in the lower leagues of English football could find themselves in trouble, with their clubs either failing to pay them or going bust, amid concerns the game’s structure could collapse.

The British government’s decision to keep fans away from the stadia across England, as part of measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, is threatening the survival, and future, of a number of football clubs outside the Premiership.

Tendayi Darikwa is contracted at Championship side Nottingham Forest, the highly-rated Jordan “JZ’’ Zemura has broken into the Bournemouth ranks, in the same league, while midfielder Andy Rinomhota is also in the same league at Reading.

Tivonge Rushesha is at another Championship side, Swansea, where he won the club’s Under-23 Player of the Season award, while Macauley Bonne just dropped into League One with Charlton Athletic.

Adam Chickson is at National League side, Notts County, after joining them at the start of the season.

Notts County are the oldest professional football club in the world, having been formed in 1862, and now play in the fifth tier of English league football.

Shaun Sithole is at Fleetwood Town.

All these players could be affected, in one way or the other, with the clubs outside the English Premiership sending an SOS yesterday to the country’s authorities to consider their plight.

Now, Leyton Orient boss, Travis, feels it’s now just a matter of weeks before the inevitable happens.

“If clubs don’t get something soon you will see clubs disappear, I would predict, within 5-6 weeks,” Travis told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“One thing I need to quash is, this isn’t about the pandemic, this is about a crisis in football that goes back many years. “Before the pandemic, 75% of clubs were losing money – that can’t continue. The pandemic has, if you like, exacerbated the problem and we need to get it fixed.

“I know you are talking about ‘Project Big Picture’ – this is a great proposal as far as we are concerned. It is certainly very promising and clubs need it.

“Something like this has to go through.”

The British Government has agreed a funding package with clubs in the National League, which allowed their season to begin last week behind closed doors, but there has been no support for EFL clubs, with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden suggesting the Premier League could support lower-league sides.

On Monday, a West Ham source told BBC Sport that the Premier League club are “very much against” the proposal.

“The big six are using Covid for a power grab,” said the West Ham source. “If this goes through, over time they will just use more and more for themselves.”

However, English Football League chairman Rick Parry is backing the controversial proposals and is adamant those behind the plan will not be deterred, despite fierce opposition from the Premier League, government and fans’ groups. Parry also says the Premier League could have come up with its own plan but has failed to do so.

“The real villains here are the government,” added Orient chairman Travis. “They’ve thrown football into a difficult situation. They said the Premier League has to bail out the EFL.

“I understand that but now they are complaining about what is coming out of some creative people.

“Just to be brutally honest, I live in Boston [in the United States]. I know [Liverpool owner] John W Henry.

“He and I have not personally discussed this but I am supportive of the proposal because this is going to save clubs like Leyton Orient and many other clubs in League One and Two.

“The reality is you need to save football and this is the only and best proposal I’ve seen. The government did a great job with the furlough programme but they’ve given the EFL no chance other than to negotiate with the Premier League. — Sports Reporter/BBC Sport.