Should Black Cats’ season be voided?
We’ve put your questions to our chief Sunderland AFC writer, Phil Smith, with a host of topics covered from around the Stadium of Light.
We had dozens of questions submitted via social media and our WhatsApp service, with Phil addressing all manner of subjects – ranging from contract talks to concerns over the financial implications of COVID-19, plus much more.
In the first of two parts over today and tomorrow, here's his first answer...
Do you feel like the season should be voided? Purely based on the fact that the general momentum and feel of a season has completely vanished now, feels a bit pointless now in the wake of everythingthat’shappened.
I think there’s two different elements to it.
One, can the season be completed on the pitch? And then, how are the big issues settled if not?
On the first one, this is ultimately in the hands of the UK government and we have seen that in France and the Netherlands, where it was the intervention of ministers that ultimately brought the seasons to a halt.
While the government suggest football may be able to return, I don’t have any issue with the game’s governing bodies, just like every other industry, planning and pondering in what capacity it will be able to operate in the changed environment we are likely to find ourselves in.
In fairness to the EFL, they have said at every step that the situation is out of their control, and last weekend they were candid in saying that they could not implement the kind of testing programme required if there was any impact on key workers.
I do think it is going to be very difficult for the EFL to conclude on the pitch.
The Premier League might have a chance, given that there are fewer games, less tests required, and far, far fewer players out of contract past June 30th.
EFL chairman Rick Parry admitted earlier this week that July 31 was the absolute deadline by which the season must be finished.
So what the government decides will happen past the current phase of lockdown is going to be key and it’s after that point you would expect the EFL to come closer to a definitive decision.
If the prospect of playing football still seems as jarring as it does now, then the debate will reflect that. If the season does conclude, I think we have played enough games to settle the tables.
Null and void is the completely wrong approach and it is still baffling that the Ladies side were denied a title for their efforts this season.
The FA said there were too many games left to be played to make a decision but if you look at the tables, I think in all of them, the quality of the sides has been firmly established.
That is absolutely the case in the EFL at this stage and the teams at the top are there clearly on sporting merit.
I think the best solution is the one that has settled the tables in Rugby Union.
Teams are awarded points for their remaining games based on the average points they have accumulated in home and away games (though this won’t favour Sunderland much).
The next question then is how many teams you promote and whether you relegate any teams. It will be the Premier League that does much to dictate what the EFL does in that regard.