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MARTIN SAMUEL: Premier League B teams and breakaways were bad ideas before the coronavirus pandemic... and they still are

Coronavirus is a time of big ideas. Vaccines by Christmas, Covid passports at airports, multi-tiered lockdowns and, of course, Championship breakaways and B teams.

To be fair, those last two pop up like hardy annuals even without a global pandemic, but they have more resonance now, with football in economic crisis and its leaders searching desperately for the golden ticket out.

So there is a debate to be had, but not this one. Premier League 2 comes around every time some of the bigger Championship clubs feel threatened, and Greg Dyke was talking about putting Premier League B teams into the lower leagues as FA chairman six years ago.