EFL board member John Nixon says the Professional Footballers’ Association should consider “helping” with the cost of ramping up Covid-19 testing for lower-league clubs.

Carlisle United co-owner Nixon said he would “encourage” the players’ union to contribute.

The call comes at a time the testing process in the EFL is high on the agenda.

Regular testing is currently not mandatory in the lower leagues, which has led to problems such as Leyton Orient’s Carabao Cup tie against Tottenham being called off after 17 players from the League Two side tested positive after tests paid for by their Premier League opponents.

Grimsby have seen three games postponed after a player tested positive, while Bradford’s game with Stevenage went ahead despite the Hertfordshire club recording three positive tests.

There will be further talks among clubs this week about the testing situation at a time Covid-19 infections are rising across the country.

The cost of regular testing has proved too high for some clubs to conduct them regularly.

Nixon said: “In the period of April-May, we joined a group of PFA reps, and I was part of it with [people like] Gary Neville, and we tried to get the players and PFA to understand the seriousness of the problem with football. I think it worked. We spread a bit of knowledge about.

“It would be great if they could help, and I would encourage them to think about helping.

“Before the end of this week we will be debating different testing processes, because of the current situation.

"We’ve also got to ask the question, which we’ve read in the press, as to whether all the clubs followed the protocols. That investigation is taking place.”

Nixon said he hoped the PFA – still under long-serving chief executive Gordon Taylor – could help, although he played down the idea they could use a reported £50m they have in the bank.

“I know [people talk] about the £50m, but it’s sitting in a trust account. Despite what anybody says, they’ll have a hell of a job prising that out for day-to-day expenses.

“They’ve got enough problems trying to select a new CEO at present.”

Nixon suggested the cost of regular testing would not necessarily be as steep as it had been for clubs at the initial height of the pandemic when football resumed.

He said: “The processes and procedures now are probably less expensive than in the early days. [Back then] we knew the cost of testing and it was horrendous.

“To try and get the game back on the road again, the Premier League went into a massive testing programme, twice and thrice a week, which we simply couldn’t afford. The Championship got into that as well.

"We were the first, in League Two, to say we’ll finish the play-offs, and every one of the League Two clubs agreed that we would all 24 of us pay [semi-finalists] Exeter, Cheltenham, Northampton and Colchester for their testing.

“That still stands; that will come out of our distributions in the next two seasons. This was on medical advice, scientific advice.

“By the time we started to open [football back] up at the end of July/beginning of August, the testing processes were such that the advice was you need to test everybody before you start [training], which we did. 

“We couldn’t use NHS testing, we had to use a specific one, the reason being…you want to go through one set of labs, [so the EFL] know everybody’s done it.

“One club actually did break away and used some other testing. We were offered that here at Carlisle – ‘we’ll come in and do the test free of charge’ - but you can’t, because the EFL need the assurance that all the players had been tested.

“We did them before we started, and midway through pre-season training, and before we started again, and we were getting negative results all the way through by the time we came to the end.

“But I think it’s inevitable now, after what’s happened over the last week with Leyton Orient in particular, that before this week has ended I will be part of a debate as to additional testing.

“The cost of that and where it comes from, that’s another financial burden. Again, at this point in time the clubs can’t cope with it. So we will be pushing it to find a way to getting that covered.”

Nixon added that he had been “proud” of the way Carlisle staged the recent test game which saw 1,000 fans attend the Southend match at Brunton Park.

That came just days before the Government shelved further such pilot events for supporters.

He said it proved that United “are ready” and expressed his hope that fans would be back at grounds before March, which is the current projection.

“Personal opinion, if the numbers start to drop, I think there’s a chance we’ll start back on the 1,000 in and start moving forward, because the industry needs it.”

He added, though, that postponements such as Grimsby’s raise the risk of the season becoming further misshapen.

He said: “It’s a real concern, because the season’s already compressed, we’ve got Grimsby who are going to miss their next two games now, and then you’ve got to get them squeezed in and make it credible.

“The week after next we start Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday, miss a week then back to Saturday-Tuesday…it’s going to make it really difficult.

“We’re into a second wave, we don’t know what’s going to happen. If the measures that the country are taking actually start to work, there’s a chance. If it doesn’t, I haven’t got a crystal ball, I don’t know what’s going to happen for any of us.”