Brighton and Hove Albion’s chief executive Paul Barber has come up with a solution to the coronavirus pandemic, which will affect Nottingham Forest.
All games in the Championship have been suspended until at least April 3rd after the illness hit the shores of the UK. Our club owner Evangelos Marinakis was infected and was advised by doctors into self-isolation.
With the rumours that leagues could be cancelled, Barber came up with an idea that will disregard all of Forest’s hard work this season.
Speaking with BBC’s Football Focus, the Seagulls’ official believes that the Championship should be settled with just two teams promoted.
“If we were to freeze the league it would be incredibly unjust for Liverpool to not be awarded the title”, he said. “Because everybody in the game appreciates what a fantastic season they have had. Equally, it would be unjust for teams to be relegated with nine or 10 games to go in the Premier League.
Will Forest achieve promotion to the Premier League this season?
Yes
No
“I think it’s a possible option to leave the 20 teams in the league as it is but bring the top two in the Championship up.
“It gives us a larger league, with four relegation places next season and then two teams coming up again. It has some merit but there are a lot of issues to be worked through.
“If we can’t complete the season we have to look at radical solutions to get over a short-term hump, as it is.”
This is one of several solutions that are on the table to get around the current predicament that not just football, but the world has to deal with. If reports are true about coronavirus peaking in “about 10 to 14 weeks“, it would be highly unlikely that Forest will play any football in April.
To suggest that those sides fighting for the play-offs are simply disregarded is an ill-informed and tunnel-visioned solution. The biggest picture must be considered as we deserve to be included.
Like La Liga’s ruling, the third spot in the Premier League should be decided by a head-to-head rule. Going off this season, we would be promoted back into the top flight for the first time since 1999.
The EFL must do the right thing and provide an element of recognition to those teams that have given West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United a challenge this season, the two sides that currently sit in the automatic promotion places.
Time will tell whether they will or not. But whatever happens, Forest have earned a say in what should happen going forward.
