Report: EFL make big PL demand on dramatic day of updates, will block just Leeds & WBA going up
There was a dramatic day of updates from the major players in the football world on Wednesday, with the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden also having his say.
As reported in the Sun, the Premier League has now committed to ending the season by July 31 so UEFA can play the European competitions out in August.
It was reported this deadline was agreed after crunch talks with “UEFA, the major European leagues and leading clubs.”
It is still obviously contingent on games getting the go-ahead from the government.
The EFL, which is currently hoping to re-start the season in mid-June has made a big demand of the Premier League – that three clubs will be promoted and relegated whether the season is finished or not.
This is a legal agreement and the EFL want it enforced.
It was also reported that there would be a “blocking minority” against just promoting Leeds and West Brom.
The third promotion place could be decided by play-off games using the current table.
Culture Secretary Dowden urged the Premier League to screen games for free when the season does resume.
This is huge news for Leeds.
Getting three teams relegated from the Premier League is the key to Leeds getting promoted.
That would be true whether the Championship gets completed or not – or indeed if the Premier League gets done.
The Premier League might have agreed to end the season by July 31 but there’s no clear path to football starting again in the UK at the moment. UEFA is calling the shots here.
The third promotion place from the Championship could prove to be a real mess but thankfully Leeds won’t get embroiled in that.
It appears that even if the Championship can’t complete all its fixtures then it could play a mini play-off to decide the last promoted team.
We have to stress though that the plan is still to play both the Premier League and the Championship to the end and that is our preferred option. We want Leeds to win promotion on the pitch – Marcelo Bielsa and the players deserve it.
However, this seems like a brilliant back-up plan for Leeds United that could ensure promotion back to the top-flight irrespective of what happens.
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