IMMUNITY ON THE BOUNTY!
Rebels will agree to restart plan only if safe from the drop
CLUBS at the bottom of the Premier League could hold the rest of the division to ransom by accepting a resumption on neutral grounds only if relegation is scrapped.
Brighton are the first to go public with their objections to playing the final 92 games of the current season at neutral venues after the Premier League said it was the only way the Government would consider any sort of resumption in the coming weeks.
But over the weekend it has emerged that those clubs against playing games at eight to 10 ‘hubs’ for the rest of the fixtures would
back the move if they were guaranteed immunity from relegation.
With the EFL season looking increasingly unlikely to be able to resume given the difficulties in getting just the top-flight games played, Leeds and West Brom, the top two in the Championship, would have a strong case for playing in the Premier League next season.
It could mean a compromise, where a one-off season of 22 top-flight clubs battle it out in 2020-21 to avoid five relegation spaces.
By cancelling the threat of relegation, though, one of the dangers is that the final games become largely meaningless, with only European qualification places remaining a live issue.
One club has also reportedly told its players that participation while the coronavirus is still rife is optional. So weakened sides could be fielded.
Brighton have Arsenal, Liverpool and both Manchester clubs remaining as home games and feel a raucous Amex crowd is their best hope of cobbling together the points they need.
It has been widely suggested that football is desperate just to get any sort of action going to ease its deepening cash crisis.
But Steve Parish, Crystal Palace chief executive, said it had nothing to do with greed.
“Some Premier League clubs are already warning they face crisis if they cannot get back to playing, and in the EFL many more may face extinction,” he said.