Premiership Doormats Don't Wanna Be Doomed by Relegation Formulas

Published on 31-May-2020 by Axel Krüger

Soccer    Soccer Daily Update

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Premiership Doormats Don't Wanna Be Doomed by Relegation Formulas

Gotta face the reality: the United Kingdom hasn't exactly been a standard bearer in the battle against Covid-19.

That's a concern for Liverpool.

When the Premiership season resumes on Wed 17 Jun, the Reds want to put the pins in their phenomenal season without any compromising qualifiers.

It's even more of a concern for the clubs fighting for survival at the table's existential end.

 

The financial consequences alone are devastating. As in the vicinity of £50million.

Premiership clubs receive around £90million per year from the league's various revenue streams, and although relegated sides are given a £40million parachute, the difference is still in mega-dosh territory.

Then there's the wear-&-tear on the roster:

  • The Premiership schedule consists of 38 games, while
  • The Championship schedule features 46 games.

Played in the same time frame, that means a minimum of eight weeks with multiple league matches on top of the various competitions those sides are obliged to play for financial reasons. That's as opposed to Premiership clubs, who often sandbag less prestigous cup runs by fielding reserve squads.

 

With that sorta fate awaiting a relegated club, it's no wonder the last thing they want to see is some sorta jury-rigged calculation replace results on the pitch if another Covid-19 surge forces the Premiership to halt proceedings for a second time.

If that happens, chances of a second restart are slim.

And Slim left town.

 

The anticipation is such a formula would be based on determining each team's points-per-game rate.

While that sounds like a simple alternative, the stark fact that each side's fixture list features varying degrees of opponent difficulty totally reeks of disparity.

 

Here's what the race for Premiership survival looks like when the green flag comes down:

There is currently zero chance of the Premiership bagging relegation while accepting the Championship's promoted sides. After all, the league broke away from the English pyramid in the first place because it wanted to keep the revenue it was generating.

Adding three more shares to the distribution is not on, and it'd surely face what would be justified legal action if the promoted clubs were denied entry.

 

Everyone's got until the resumption of play to figure this out.

Right now, their best hope is the UK finds a way to break out in health, because it's clear that the doormats aren't gonna budge on this issue without a bloody fight.