With rumours coming out of Germany that they may end their season early and are considering how to resolve the mess that will come from taking such a decision, what do you think the FA, Premier League and EFL are likely to do here?
I think there’s much more than a strong probability than the season doesn’t reach its full conclusion so which option is best?
1. void the season and start again after the summer, no honours (sorry Liverpool), no promotion/relegation and European places are given to the same teams that received them the previous season
2. take the current standings as they are and use them going into next season, if that was done today that means relegation for the Addicks...
3. an interesting option they are considering in Germany is to commit to only promotion and no relegation and gradually reduce the number in the Bundesliga back to 18 via an increased number of relegated teams over the next two or three seasons, so we would see a 22/23 team Premier League, a 25/26 team Championship etc. for 2020/21. Can imagine the top clubs nipping this one in the bud due to “fixture congestion”.
Or can you think of something better?
1
Comments
Also can't see them going for increased league sizes and more games as we're only 2 seasons away from the chaos of a winter world cup in 2022 which will already mess up 2 months of the season.
Personally i think it's almost inevitable that the Euro's will be moved to 2021 and that league seasons will be extended into June to finish.
I'm glad I'm not involved in the decision making.
(Not a competitive one at least )
The plan from UEFA is to move Euro 2020 to next year and allow the leagues and cup competitions to run into June to finish. Much less disorder than cancelling or halting in current league positions.
If you just cancel it, there will be court cases galore. Leicester will miss out on the champions league is a good example.
If you pause it, how long for? If you can't play all the remaining games by the end of June half the players, especially in the lower leagues will then be out of contract.
If you play it behind closed doors half of league 1 and 2, possibly some in the championship will go bust.
But as there are probably either confirmed or undiagnosed cases at every club already you can't just keep playing even behind closed doors.
I think most people would agree that the "football" implications, in the grand scheme of things don't matter, the financial ones could have ramifications that would change the game for ever. Any of the 3 would cause some clubs to go out of business.
There is another precedent though. The War. Accepting it was a long time ago. The season was just cancelled then.
I just wouldn't be able to handle it.