A growing number of Football League clubs are questioning the wisdom of attempting to finish the 2019-20 season.

League One and League Two clubs are increasingly highlighting the problems of ensuring the safety of players and staff even if the lockdown restrictions are eased and the English Football League restarts games.

Many have expressed reservations this week, with Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt the most vocal, telling Sportsmail that it makes no financial sense for smaller clubs to play on and even threatening to boycott matches if forced to finish the season.

Accrington owner Andy Holt said it will cost them half a million pounds to finish the season

Premier League clubs are still discussing the possibility of awarding Liverpool the title and abandoning relegation, although the vast majority want the season to finish because of the legal and financial problems if it does not.

The Premier League also face enormous logistical and medical challenges to restart the season.

Entire squads and support staff may have to stay in lockdown hotels for at least 40 days to minimise the risk of contracting the virus, That would cost up to £500,000.

That isn't realistic in lower leagues where the most pressing problem is that so many players will be out of contract on June 30.

In lower leagues the most pressing problem is that some players will be out of contract in June

Holt, owner of League One Accrington, said: 'It will cost us half a million pounds to finish this season, if that's what the EFL decide they want to do. I would rather use that money on rebuilding for next season instead of spending three more months now watching it die.

'If it is a choice for us between playing dead rubber fixtures or surviving, we will be surviving. The main risk for Accrington Stanley is for the EFL to force us to spend money we have not got on games that do not matter to us.

'I hope it doesn't come to this but maybe it will get to the point where we are losing points because we have not fielded a team. Even if that gets us relegated, my job is to make sure Accrington Stanley stays afloat.'

Another EFL club owner said: 'The walls are closing in because of the number of players who will be out of contract on June 30. Several club owners are saying they have no intention of paying those players beyond then [if the season were to run into August]. They haven't got the money.

'And if some of the players have agreed to join other clubs, they'll be reluctant to risk themselves for their current clubs. Whatever happens, the integrity of the competition will be compromised.'

The Premier League clubs are discussing the possibility of putting players up in hotels to minimise the risk of them being infected and testing them every two days. If Government advice changes, they hope to start training in mid May and resume the season the week of June 8.

Premier League medical advisor Mark Gillett is coordinating plans for a restart, but it is impossible to be clear as to how it could work.

The Premier League have insisted that they would only authorise regular testing of squads when there was sufficient laboratory capacity to support the mass testing within the wider community.

Premier League clubs are still discussing the possibility of awarding Liverpool the title

Several issues have been raised in recent days by clubs, including:

How to deal with players who suffer from asthma, one of the at-risk groups. One club owner has told Sportsmail that they won't allow one of their players who has asthma to participate in any restart as the risks of contracting coronavirus and developing a serious illness are too great.

Whether clubs might have to perform heart scans on players who have contracted the virus for myocarditis or inflammation of the heart muscle. It's as yet unclear how the virus might affect humans long term.

How to protect support staff, who are often less fit and over 50, and so are at more risk than younger players. Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is 72.

How to treat injured players when private hospitals are being used to relieve pressure on the NHS. If you could scan a player at a private hospital, it is questionable whether he could then return to the quarantined group at a hotel.

The policy if a player does contract the virus despite quarantine? Will a team have to then isolate for a further 14 days, delaying fixtures again?

Whether neutral venues such as Wembley should be used, hosting three matches in a day to minimise the number of medical staff, TV camera operators and support staff who need to travel?

There continues to be talk of awarding Liverpool the title and dispensing with relegation if the season cannot be finished.

Brighton owner Tony Bloom said: 'I don't foresee a situation, if the season's not played out, that teams will get relegated on a points-per-game basis. I just don't think it's fathomable that a team which is not allowed to play out the season, may lose out on 0.2 of a point based on this system.

Brighton owner Tony Bloom cannot see how a team could be relegated on points per game

'Also it does not take into account the strength of the teams you have not played.

'You may get a title winner, obviously Liverpool deserve it, you may use that criteria for European qualification but I do not see how anyone can vote for that, certainly the (70) per cent needed, for teams to get relegated.'

No detailed plans can be finalised until Government advice changes, with lockdown currently extended until May 7. There is an expectation that training will restart soon after, as long as the government projections about the pace of the pandemic are met.

There is no prospect of fans being allowed in, with many experts saying that is likely to remain the case until a vaccine is in widespread circulation.

One Premier League club has told players they are likely to be in a hotel quarantine for around 50 days to finish the season. But that raises mental health issues if players can only leave a hotel to train and are unable to see their families.

West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady outlined some of the problems facing the Premier League in her newspaper column on Saturday.

West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady outlined some of the problems facing the division

'Everyone at the stadium - and even behind closed doors this is about 300-500 people - including security, staff, medical officers, players, referees and media, will have to have temperature checks, fill out health questionnaires and observe social distancing,' she wrote.

'Then there is the issue of injuries. All this is manageable but what if a player is injured, where do we send him? It can't be to an NHS hospital that is already under pressure and private hospitals are carrying out NHS procedures and not taking in injured footballers. So then what?'

No one has come up with a clear plan if a player or member of staff contracts coronavirus during the restarted season.

That could mean the entire squad having to go into another 14 days of isolation, holding up the season again.

Dr Bharat Pankhania, a senior clinical lecturer at Exeter University Medical School, who specialises in infectious disease management, said: 'If Player A has now shed the virus I will only know for sure if player B, C, D and E have picked it up or not in 14 days' time.'

The Bundesliga is planning to restart in early May and clubs have already started training

Additional testing might help, but Dr Pankhania said: 'You could test negative today but you could be incubating the virus and you could be infectious up to three days. You can test negative and you may not have signs and symptoms and then go to work and infect people.

'But if a team of say 40 players and staff are kept segregated and another team of 40 are kept segregated and no one is showing signs of infection and we have tested and checked and we've done a lot of due diligence, then play the game. But who is going to take those decisions?'

The Bundesliga is planning to restart in early May and clubs are already training. Teams are likely to be tested every two days, but Germany is currently performing more than 100,000 tests a day. In the UK, the government said 21,389 tests were carried out on Friday.