FRESH PLAN WOULD END BLUEBIRDS’ PROMOTION HOPES
ANUMBER of Championship clubs are keen for the 2019-20 season to be curtailed and decided by a points-per-game system – which would end the promotion hopes of Cardiff City.
The clubs are also said to want the final promotion spot to be decided by a play-off.
The EFL is keen for the Championship season to be completed behind closed doors, but with the 24 home stadia to still be used.
But the head of the UK’s Football Police Unit, Mark Roberts, has cast doubt on that happening.
As a result, The Times says that a growing number of Championship clubs believe the problems of finishing the season will be too challenging and want a points-per-game system to be used.
The proposal would see a final table produced by dividing a team’s current points tally by the games played, which would then give a points average.
That average would then be multiplied by 46 – the number of games in a season – to give a final points total.
Goal difference would then be used as a deciding factor should clubs have the same points total.
There has been a suggestion that there could also be a ‘weighted’ points-per-game system, which would be used to address the fact that some teams have more home games than away games remaining or vice-versa.
Under a weighted system, points-per-game would be worked out separately for home and away games, with the resulting average for each multiplied by 23 – the number of home or away games across a season.
Both totals would then be added together.
Under a weighted system, the current top two, Leeds United and West Brom, would be promoted to the Premier League, with Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Preston in the play-offs.
The move would extinguish Swansea and Cardiff’s hopes of promotion, with both sides within three points of the play-off positions.
Under the points-per-game proposal, Cardiff would finish eighth while Swansea would be ranked 10th.
Bluebirds boss Neil Harris has already said he would like the season to be completed for the sake of the competition’s “integrity”, echoing similar thoughts from Steve Cooper made earlier in the lockdown.
Cooper told BBC Sport Wales: “I think we have to do everything we can to finish the season.
“For the integrity of the game, how far we are into the league, it’s the right thing to do.
“What that looks like and how that’s done is the million dollar question right now.”
While it is understood that there is little appetite among League One and League Two clubs for the season to finish, the EFL is keen for the Championship to follow in the same steps as the Premier League – but this looks to be increasingly challenging.
Promotion play-offs could decide the final places in League One and League Two.
The clubs in those divisions are set to vote next week to stop the season with too many obstacles, such as the continued threat of the coronavirus pandemic and the cost of staging games behind closed doors, perceived to stand in the way of concluding all the outstanding matches.
The EFL reportedly remains openminded to deciding the final play-off spot, with one scenario seeing the two-legged semi-finals of the playoffs scrapped, with two one-off matches at a neutral venue before the winners meet in a final.
A number of scenarios are being looked at and the board will meet again next Wednesday, where key decisions for all three of the EFL divisions could be made.
There is no risk of the Premier League scrapping relegation and promotion as the FA will block any attempt to declare the season null and void under wide-ranging powers given to it in the 1991 Founder Members’ Agreement.