' The Leeds United statement on coronavirus crisis '

' The Leeds United statement on coronavirus crisis '



that may well take West Brom, Cardiff City and Swansea City by surprise

Tuesday 17th March 2020

Leeds United's managing director has given his thoughts on what should happen to the remainder of the 2019/20 Championship season

Leeds United's Angus Kinnear believes the current Championship season needs to be finished

Leeds United managing director Angus Kinnear insists it's 'vital' to complete the current Championship season, despite the devastating effects of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Marcelo Bielsa's side currently sit at the top of the of the table by one point, with seven points separating them and third-placed Fulham.

With Leeds seemingly in a good position to end their 16-year exile from the Premier League, they have found themselves at the centre of discussions around what to do with the rest of the current Championship season.

One suggestion that has been put forward is to give Leeds and second-placed West Bromwich Albion automatic promotion to the top flight, and scrap the rest of the season.

That would of course see the likes of Cardiff City and Swansea City miss out on qualifying for the play-offs, despite both sides still being firmly in the running for a top six finish.

However, while such an arrangement would benefit Leeds, Kinnear believes that a solution should be found to give clubs a chance of finishing the season.
Leeds United's Angus Kinnearsays finishing the current season is 'vital'

He told Sky Sports: "From our perspective, we think it is vital that it is completed. I think there is a growing sense across the football family that this is the right thing to do.

"It is difficult to speculate on timelines and now is the time for patience and cool heads. I think for the integrity of the football pyramid and the financial security of the clubs, finishing the league is the right thing to do.

"You have already seen La Liga and Serie A come out and say they want the leagues completed and they want Euro 2020 suspended so that they can do that. I think that is probably the right decision."

The EFL faces a big challenge in completing the remainder of the season as it stands, with all action now suspended until April 3.

But that date could well be pushed further back if the pandemic continues to gather pace, although Kinnear says Leeds are open to playing games behind closed doors if it means the season can get completed.

Would he be so keen if weeds were in the bottom three
Putting money before the lives of people tw*t

Forget about football until this settles down, I can't see any matches for a long time, it may work out that by November/December or whatever month, we could resume the rest of the 2019/2020 season and teams promoted and relegated are decided for the 2021/22 season.

There is no perfect answer, but that seems the fairest and most logical outcome.

Forget about football until this settles down, I can't see any matches for a long time, it may work out that by November/December or whatever month, we could resume the rest of the 2019/2020 season and teams promoted and relegated are decided for the 2021/22 season.

There is no perfect answer, but that seems the fairest and most logical outcome.

no, there is no perfect answer but I don't see this season re starting if its after June as many contracts will have run out..
one things for sure is some clubs/people are not going to like the decision whatever it may be..

Forget about football until this settles down, I can't see any matches for a long time, it may work out that by November/December or whatever month, we could resume the rest of the 2019/2020 season and teams promoted and relegated are decided for the 2021/22 season.

There is no perfect answer, but that seems the fairest and most logical outcome.

no, there is no perfect answer but I don't see this season re starting if its after June as many contracts will have run out..
one things for sure is some clubs/people are not going to like the decision whatever it may be..

It's tricky, but if we were in Leeds position, we wouldn't want the season to be written off that's not fair at all.

Our football pyramid is built around promotion and relegation, and we are nearing the end of the season, so it shouldn't be written off.

I suppose it will depend on how quickly football can resume, personally I think it will be after September and will play out as above, but who knows?

With regard contracts we will just have to deal with that, nothing else can be done about that now, some clubs will benefit, Leeds especially as they were fading fast and will be fresh again, but thats life!

Forget about football until this settles down, I can't see any matches for a long time, it may work out that by November/December or whatever month, we could resume the rest of the 2019/2020 season and teams promoted and relegated are decided for the 2021/22 season.

There is no perfect answer, but that seems the fairest and most logical outcome.

no, there is no perfect answer but I don't see this season re starting if its after June as many contracts will have run out..
one things for sure is some clubs/people are not going to like the decision whatever it may be..

It's tricky, but if we were in Leeds position, we wouldn't want the season to be written off that's not fair at all.

Our football pyramid is built around promotion and relegation, and we are nearing the end of the season, so it shouldn't be written off.

I suppose it will depend on how quickly football can resume, personally I think it will be after September and will play out as above, but who knows?

With regard contracts we will just have to deal with that, nothing else can be done about that now, some clubs will benefit, Leeds especially as they were fading fast and will be fresh again, but thats life!

the contract issue is as complicated as the rest...you have clubs who have offered new contracts only for the player to have rejected them.. players who have asked for extended contracts who have been told no..and players out of contract that neither the club want to keep or do they themselves want to stay who would be in limbo land with the season continuing.. and of course the players under contract that clubs might have listened to offers for will become worth less and less as the contract shrinks. a player with 1 year left this June would be down to 6 months or less if the December restart happened and in effect be of none or very little value re transfer fees..
its a huge headache for the authorities.. followed by an even bigger headache from disgruntled clubs/players/fans no matter what decisions they make