Premier League Promotion: Why is it difficult to land on one decision to determine the fate of season amidst Coronavirus outbreak

Premier League Promotion: Why is it difficult to decide the fate of the league for English FA amidst the Coronavirus outbreak in the world.

The world is at a standstill due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and football has also been a major victim of it. All the leagues around Europe are suspended either till further notice or first week of April.

Most probably, the suspension will be further extended as the virus is still spreading and the number of casualties is also increasing. Meanwhile, the football calendar has also been halted in one of the most hectic months of the year.

The English FA has also postponed all of its matches across all professional leagues till April. But the solution is temporary in front of the larger problem.

The outbreak will possibly still exist in the following weeks and the English FA along with the league officials and clubs will have to decide the fate of the season in the coming days.

As of now, three options stands, either the leagues can be postponed until the outbreaks slow down, end the league here and determine the final result with current standings or declare the season void.

However, all three options have their consequences and that is why to decide one option is difficult as a lot is at stake in terms of financial terms and hard work. Thus the Sportsrush will explain all the limitations in the above scenarios.

1. Postponement until the outbreak dies

This sounds to be the fairest alternate among three but it has its demerits, the first one is that the football calendar is too stocked that for the next season at least the whole schedule would be shuffled.

Although it is not a major problem since the world is facing a pandemic, so it is a little price to pay. Moreover, shifting Euro 2020 to 2021 wouldn’t be a big problem too.

However, it will surely affect the contracts signed by the players. Usually, the contracts of the player expire on the June 30th of the year of expiration in the contract.

If the player is either or the last or second last year of his contract with the club then it will bring in financial, commitment and tactical confusions.

Moreover, certain players could also go unemployed in the middle of the season. Adding further, this will also massively affect the summer transfer window.

Usually, the teams give importance to summer transfer windows as it allows new signings to gel into the team during the pre-season and give a buffer time to the manager to make tactical adaptions around the player.

But if the postponement further extends then the clubs would be forced to make a signing in the last phase of the season, this could strip other clubs from their prominent players or could compel players to take an untimely transfer.

So, even though it seems unavoidable or fair, the association will have to add clarity and form guidelines. if they opt for this decision.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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