Major boost as Leeds handed new Ch’ship re-start date, EFL committed to 19/20 campaign – report
Leeds United and West Brom have been given fresh hope in their bid for automatic promotion, with a report stating that the Championship is set to re-start in the second week in June.
The Championship was indefinitely suspended last week amid the Coronavirus outbreak but the message that came from the Premier League and the EFL was a commitment to finish the remaining fixtures when it was safe.
Following that, the Sun on Sunday (p64) has given the date in June as the next re-start date, with week commencing June 8 the timeframe for Leeds’ promotion bid to get on track.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has also suggested an end date for the Championship, according to Leeds Live.
They reported: “He has now claimed that he wants both UEFA competitions to be concluded by August 3 – suggesting that the Championship may have a similar deadline to be completed.”
The Mirror has reported similar plans for a June re-start in the Premier League.
Closed doors
The June 8 re-start date seems a lot more realistic, with two more months to work out a plan how to play the remaining fixtures safely.
If that does happen, there would be almost two months in the calendar to get the remaining nine fixtures played.
We think these will be behind closed doors, which will mean Leeds fans missing out on their side’s likely promotion party.
That’s extremely tough on fans who have been waiting a long, long time to see their side secure passage back to the top flight.
However, these are unusual times and playing behind closed doors is a much better option for us than not finishing the season.
There’s too much at stake for Leeds, with Marcelo Bielsa unlikely to stay for another season in the Championship.
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