Monday 16 March 2020

To be relegated without completing the season can't be fair

There would be quite a few Southampton fans smirking if Bournemouth were to be relegated on goal difference with the table frozen as it is at the moment after 29 games. Oliver Holt suggested that it would be absurd to make the season null and void and writing in the Daily Mail suggests that Norwich City, Aston Villa and AFC Bournemouth should be relegated and Liverpool would be crowned champions.
Mass gatherings are likely to be banned in the UK this week, perhaps today. 
That would cause lots of legal battles in my opinion. The Premier League season is made up of 38 games and each team plays each other home and away. Some teams would have played different teams up to this stage and many of them in the top six, whereas others may still have harder fixtures to come. So to let the season end now and the tables stand would be an injustice. Aston Villa still have a game in hand. If the teams were able to restart and play in April we could see a very different table at the bottom of the league after just one more game. AFC Bournemouth and Aston Villa could well then be out of the bottom three.
Also imagine how angry clubs like Charlton Athletic and Tranmere of the Championship and League One would also feel if they were relegated on a frozen table from 13 March 2020 when the decision to stop playing football in the English Football League was made.



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 I hope the authorities take a balanced view of how best to conclude matters. I could well imagine the season when it starts with nine/10 or so games to go being used like a pre-season. Once it is over the teams can be relegated and promoted and after a couple of weeks break the new season could begin, perhaps playing some times twice a week. Perhaps the European competitions could be modified to have fewer games as well with just the title holders taking part - I know it would mean less revenue for the game, but something will have to give somewhere.
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The weeks ahead are going to be full of suggestions that fans desire that would suit heir club and not others. A bigger problem will just be trying to keep the current 91 league clubs in business. An extended summer break will be disruptive to the Premier League but perhaps catastrophic for the lower league clubs.

 Previous post on Cherry Chimes - How easy will it be to restart the league in early April?
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1 comment:

  1. MikeyVital16 March 2020 at 07:22

    Villa fan here. Very balanced view of a really unique situation. Hope the Cherries don’t fall foul of any injustice! Good luck for whatever happens this season.

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