Premier League 2019/20

[Lineker]

West Brom and Leeds would then argue that it would only be fair to have a 22 team PL next season.

[DavidMarrio]

Suspending the season and completing at a later date is the only one that makes sense and would avoid legal ramifications across the board really. For sporting integrity it is also the best option.

Karren Brady coincidentally wants the season to be voided. Lemme just check the table and ohhh I wonder why...

4 minutes ago, Lineker said:

West Brom and Leeds would then argue that it would only be fair to have a 22 team PL next season.

Then other teams in the Championship could argue that theres time to overtake them. Especially given Leeds track record in recent years

Then you've got the money that the playoffs are worth too. The mess it causes across all the other leagues. Will the top 2 in League 1 get promoted and the top 3 in League 2 etc. 

[Tigerstyle]

If they don’t finish out the season, everyone is getting sued.

[Naitch]

I'm not sure there's a single viable option that everyone would be happy with. Voiding the league and starting again from next season is mostly just a petty anti-Liverpool jab, which even I can't get behind. Resuming when it's safe to do so is the only plan I'd support; depending on how long delays are you could cut one or both cups next season.

I've noticed that multiple teams have announced massive price reductions on their merchandise. It'll be interesting to see how paying massively inflated players' wages will work while they're self-isolating and there's no matchday revenue keeping cash flow moving through clubs.

[Lineker]

It would be outrageous if Liverpool don't get to be champions.

[Gazz]

You know the existing PL teams would bitch and moan about having a domestic season longer than 38 games.

[Tigerstyle]

The Premier League teams on the whole won’t see a problem, but it’s the worry for lower leagues.

Voiding season tickets will be a huge issue  because I believe there’s nothing written in to many of theirs T&C’s about this - and obviously for L1/2 Season Tickets is a huge huge part of their revenue which has already been spent.

TV broadcasters demanding their millions back.

Players will have performance bonuses they’re not eligible for, other clubs will have clauses not met due to the cancellations, teams going up, teams going down, there’s so much more than ‘end it now, give Liverpool the title, void the season etc etc’

I believe there’s a good chance the league will resume in early April just for the implications.

[TCO]

22 Team Premier League season next year with 5 relegations. All automatic promotion spots are honoured as-is throughout the pyramid, no relegations and it all returns to normal for 2021/2022 season.

Liverpool should obviously declared champions and awarded Best Participant after 29 Games 2019/20 Certificate.

The real victims in all this are the lads coding FM 2021.

[Colly]

Play the remaining fixtures as 5 a side games at vaguely geographically sensible venues, all televised. 15 mins a half, done in 2 days. Head height rule, no slideys no blasties. 

[Baddar]

I would rather this season gets played out in the interest of fairness, even if it means a shorter than normal season next year. 

[Colly]

Someone suggested dropping the cups next season which makes good sense to me, loses the cup lottery for the 2 or 3 lower league teams lucky enough to draw a big side, but that's not something any club should be banking on anyway. 

Sadly said person also suggested only playing each team once which I hadn't noticed, and since replying ESPN's Dale Johnson queried that and I've got completely the wrong end of the stick. I'm rubbish at Twitter.

[TCO]

Carabao Cup next year looks dead in the water at this point. Another issue is that players contracts will be up on the 30th of June. Season would have to be finished by then I would reckon.

Also there's not going to be a shortened season next year. Teams will have to play each other twice otherwise there'd be war and it'll have to finish before Euro 2021, so there's not much wiggle room. 

[FestiveJack]

You can't declare a team Champions if they can still mathematically be caught. Delaying the season would mean that next season would then have to be delayed further, else you're risking mass injuries in the long run. Maybe dropping the cups next season is the solution to that, but that doesn't seem fair to smaller clubs and almost definitely would have legal ramifications.

[Naitch]

I reckon the EFL Cup and Trophy should be knocked on the head for next season. Play the FA Cup but with no replays in any round. I'd suggest shortening the Champions League and Europa League too, but I can't imagine the teams involved would want to sacrifice the paydays. The Nations League and Europa Conference can wait until things are back to normal.

[Gazz]

I doubt Carabao would be too happy about having the League Cup cancelled.

[Adam]

54 minutes ago, TCO said:

22 Team Premier League season next year with 5 relegations. All automatic promotion spots are honoured as-is throughout the pyramid, no relegations and it all returns to normal for 2021/2022 season.

That's nonsense. In League One, the team currently in 8th is three points of an automatic promotion spot. You can't just take the tables as they are, there would be uproar.

They need to accept that the league calendar will be cocked up for the next few years. Just finish these last 10 games or so with the tables staying as they are until we can resume, whenever that is. If next season has to run from November 2020 to September 2021, so be it! Scrap the cups, forget the internationals and just work it out together.

As for having all the automatic promotion places honoured but no relegations, how would that work? More of a scheduling headache to have a 22 team Premier League, and what would become a ludicrous 26 team League One since there's currently 23 teams and three go up automatically from League Two. 26!

[Colly]

1 minute ago, Gazz said:

I doubt Carabao would be too happy about having the League Cup cancelled.

Couldn't they just extend the contract a year the other end? And as a goodwill gesture have Carabao tattooed onto Steve Bruce's heed.

[FestiveJack]

There's probably going to be uproar anyway - you can't just cancel the cups and FIFA and UEFA will laugh at you if you tried to cancel internationals.

[Cymbols]

4 minutes ago, Adam said:

That's nonsense. In League One, the team currently in 8th is three points of an automatic promotion spot. You can't just take the tables as they are, there would be uproar.

They need to accept that the league calendar will be cocked up for the next few years. Just finish these last 10 games or so with the tables staying as they are until we can resume, whenever that is. If next season has to run from November 2020 to September 2021, so be it! Scrap the cups, forget the internationals and just work it out together.

As for having all the automatic promotion places honoured but no relegations, how would that work? More of a scheduling headache to have a 22 team Premier League, and what would become a ludicrous 26 team League One since there's currently 23 teams and three go up automatically from League Two. 26!

Makes way more sense just to have one competition screwed up this season, then start back up again next season. It’s a massive blow, but then we hit reset and go again. 
 

No point dragging it out over years, which is also why they shouldn’t cancel any cups next season.

Make a decision to end this season, come up with a solution for titles/promotion/relegation, accept that some people are going to be left unhappy. And come August, we start again.

Personally, I think we just void the season, no promotion, no relegation, but honestly, if they promote and relegate teams as is, it sucks for us, but it is what it is. 

[DavidMarrio]

It makes no sense to void a season. If they can schedule a World Cup slap bang in the middle of a domestic season they can delay the end of the current season and make it work. 

Let's pretend none of this has happened this season? What about teams like Leicester who are rightfully in a Champions League spot? Even from yourselves you've got a game in hand on Bournemouth, Watford and West Ham. Even from a selfish point of view, we are hands down the best team in the country this year and deserve the league title so we're just gonna swerve of that accomplishment? Should Man City lose the League Cup they've won? I can't see even taking club loyalty out of it how it would be fair on any team. If United were walking the league it would be unfair on them to have their accomplishments just chalked off.

9 games over a few month period in the summer is nothing really and it's more than doable. Voiding the season should be the last option on anyone's minds. It opens up way too many legal ramifications and financial impacts upon a lot of teams across the leagues.