Now all Premier League football has been postponed until the 3rd of April, people all over the footballing world are discussing how the League will be played out. Here at West Ham centric Green Street Hammers, we thought we would give our two cents on the subject.
There seems to be a lot of options being floated around, from postponing games and then playing them through the summer, to voiding the whole season and starting again from scratch for the 2020-21 season.
Jeremiah
This has got to be one of the craziest times in recent history especially considering that English Football has never taken a break since the dawn of WWII. Obviously, I’m already missing West Ham football or any football for that matter, but the important thing is to make sure all stay safe and this “disease” gets figured out.
As for the EPL, shutting down now might not be the popular move but it’s probably the right one. However, if this is the call that they make then it needs to be done correctly and give reward to the teams in the Championship that have performed. Promote the 1st and 2nd place sides and have a 22 team Premier League table next season. At the end of the year relegate the bottom 5 and continue with the status quo for promoting and relegating every other league.
Adam
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No Prem? No problem! Realistically, it doesn’t look like the virus will be contained in the next few weeks despite a hockey-less Canada’s best efforts. So, the season looks to be voided, which I approve of.
The league can focus on containment and next steps without the pressure of trying to shoehorn a restart back into the schedule. Instead, no relegation, top two teams from the Championship promoted, and run a five-team relegation for the next season.
Liverpool should be awarded the title, unfortunately, but they are head and shoulders above their closest competition. No team deserves to be relegated based on the remaining games and the closeness of the bottom of the table. It’s not a perfect solution but it is one that fairly awards those in specific positions!
Louis
It’s a bit difficult to understand what the best solution is in terms of concluding the final stretch of the Premier League season. It doesn’t look like the coronavirus is going away any time soon, so if clubs were to eventually play the remainder of their league games, it most likely wouldn’t be before the summer. If that was to happen, though, that brings the 2020/2021 Premier League season into a debate about how that particular season will pan out.
Some people are suggesting that Liverpool are crowned Premier League champions regardless of if the remainder of the season is declared null and void or not, as they are so far clear ahead at the top anyway. It isn’t so easy to figure out what the rest of the league will do, however, and it is unlikely that the FA will reach a conclusion where everyone is satisfied.
I, personally, don’t think promoting Leeds Utd and West Brom from the Championship and forming a twenty-two team league for one season is the worst of ideas, and it could go some way to resolving the difficult matters at hand.
Henry
I do hope that the season will be able to be finished. It could be a good idea to play a majority of games behind closed doors for the safety of fans and players. If this was to happen then it all games should be streamed to fans so they can at least cheer their team on from home.
If the season does have to be cancelled, however, then Liverpool should be awarded the league as they are just so far ahead of everyone else. At the bottom end of the table, there should be no relegation as it is so close and wouldn’t be fair on any of them to be relegated.
Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion, however, should be promoted to the Premier League for the 2020-21 season resulting in a bigger league for that year. This will be corrected for the 2021-22 season by having five teams relegated from the Premier League down to the Championship, meaning normality will hopefully be restored.
Overall, everyone thinks that there should be a larger Premier League for the next season, this could cause huge drama in the relegation battle with five teams going down. At least if these are the plans to be put in place West Ham United will remain in the Premier League for at least one more season.