Extending the season to cope with a fixture backlog cannot be ruled out, according to Carlisle director of external affairs John Nixon.

Carlisle are among the clubs to have been badly affected by postponements, with Saturday's game against Crawley one of many in Sky Bet League Two falling victim to freezing conditions this weekend.

And although Nixon stressed that extending the season is not currently under discussion, the EFL board member said no options would be off-limits.

"It's definitely a topic that's there to be discussed," Nixon said in an interview on Carlisle's official website.

"In terms of getting our season completed as a league, absolutely no topic is a non-starter when it comes to helping us all to facilitate that.

"At Carlisle United we were ready to kick off at 2.30pm the other day for a Tuesday game, so that shows that there's flexibility and that people are willing to listen if sensible and common-sense solutions are put forward.

"Everyone hopes the vaccines will lead to the virus situation easing, but if clubs do have fixture backlogs to contend with then talks about an extension are definitely not going to be taken off the table.

"Look, being honest, and for a lot of good reasons, extending the season isn't desirable, but when you see clubs who have small squads, as we have at Carlisle, it will bring pressure if they have to play Saturday-Tuesday and then have to squeeze other games in on top of that as well.

"A lot of clubs have full weeks between now and May at the moment, and they'll all face similar pressures, so the EFL will monitor how things are going very closely."

Nixon also highlighted that clubs are currently not receiving expenses to cover travelling costs when games are postponed.

"In our own case we've been to Harrogate twice, and halfway to Newport, and we haven't kicked a ball at any of them," he added.

"That incurs significant costs, which is frustrating when there is no end product. Other clubs are in the same boat, so it's something we will be looking at.

"To be clear, nobody is actually talking about a season extension as things stand, but we do know that different clubs are facing different issues and we need to be constantly aware of that."