Well that sucks. Got to feel for them, particularly since a number of EFL clubs (such as Coventry, topically) have been without fixed grounds in recent years.
So their current ground isn't up to scratch. Would they have not known about this before it came to this? Rules I imagine are pretty clear, so it's easy to understand what you must do.
It's not about the ground not being up to scratch, Gateshead council won't give them a 10 year lease/guarantee they can use it for 10 years. Think 10 years is a bit much from the EFL to be fair. 2 or 3 I can understand 10 is a bit ridiculous.
Council is trying to sell off its sporting facilities for financial reasons (what a surprise) so they can't give the club an unconditional 10 year lease. They offered a 10 year lease with a break clause in the event of a sale happening, which the club - and the National League - were happy with, but the EFL said no. The National League even supported the club in their appeal but nothing doing.
But they were already in the Football League, it appears that these rules only given teams attempting to gain promotion to the league.
I get that. Charlton were 7yrs in exile. And no signs of returning. Until someone stepped in. I wonder if Gateshead were given chance to ground share until summat permanent came along. So long as a ground met the criteria.
