Irish Premiership: ‘There will be a vote’ – Lawlor on summer football

As things stand, the Irish Premiership winners, runners-up and the Irish Cup victors secure a European qualifying spot, while teams who finish between third and seventh compete in a play-off for the final position.

However, if the Irish Premiership was to lose the fourth spot, Lawlor said that the play-off may not take place.

“We would need to talk to the clubs about that and have a discussion, but it is probably the most sensible and easy outcome,” when asked would the play-off be cancelled.

“We will give the club different models but it is the reality we must adopt to.”

“When you take that out across the board, it’s hundreds of thousands coming into the league and, so, Larne need to beat the Georgian team, it’s that simple. That is the be all and end all at this stage for the good of everyone.”

A change to a summer season has split opinions within the clubs and fanbases over the years.

An argument against summer football has been concerns over part-time players, many of which are teachers, taking holidays in the summer, but Lawlor says there would be a break included to facilitate this, like there is in the League of Ireland.

Some had raised concerns of many issues including the loss of the Boxing Day fixtures when clubs play their local rivals, but Lawlor said that “it is the most ridiculous argument”.

“We keep talking about Boxing Day, for me, with all due respect, it is the most ridiculous argument.

“Yes, it is a wonderful day, but it only comes around once every two years for each club and I think we could create a weekend, and I talk about a new Boxing Day, we need to create that in the summer.

“We have our current fan base, but we want to grow that fan base and it’s not taking the current people for granted but they are bought into the product.”