'If I was a Leeds United player, I’d be furious' - ex Whites and Liverpool defender on season conclusion

The ex Liverpool, Aston Villa and Whites defender believes the removal of relegation from the top flight and the denial of promotion places to Championship sides would be a slap in the face for clubs who have fought tooth and nail to escape the second tier this season, not to mention a financial blow.

Yesterday EFL chairman Rick Parry told a Commons Select Committee that he was expecting relegation from the top flight to take place and revealed the 'cut off' point for the season as July 31, when player contracts end.

Warnock however insists there is no rush to conclude the current season and spoke out about the idea that it could be declared null and void, in an appearance on the Football Ramble Daily podcast.

“I don’t actually agree with that with the no relegation, if I’m being honest, cause if you look at the teams in the Championship, and you’re thinking of Leeds, West Brom, Fulham, the teams in and around the play-off places, the financial gains for them to go up are incredible," he said.

"These teams have worked so tirelessly, so hard throughout not just this season now, it’s work that’s been going on for a number of seasons, especially when you’re looking at Leeds. You think about how they’ve gone about their business over the last couple of years trying to get out of the Championship.

“And for someone to turn round and just say, ‘thanks for all your efforts this year, but it’s not been quite good enough, we’ll give you compensation of x amount of money, but you’ve got to try and get out of that league again.’ It’s not as simple as that, it doesn’t just come down to the size of the club and the manager who’s in charge. The Championship is a ferocious league and it’s very difficult to get out of, as Leeds have found out since they’ve been in there. So when you’re talking about the integrity and the honesty of the leagues, we need relegation and we need promotion as well."

Warnock said in March that it would be unfair if Leeds and West Brom were handed promotion without playing for the privilege and completing the final nine games of the season. He wants to see the campaign finished.

“We have to finish this season. If we null and void it, it will never have been the correct way, it will always be ‘that was the wrong decision, we should have waited, why did we have to do things so quick’.

“I think that’s what it all comes down to again – why are we in such a rush to get this sorted? If I was a Leeds player, I’d be furious, because they, as well as West Brom and Fulham, have all worked so, so hard and you want to pick a trophy up at the end of it or you want to be promoted. You want that final day feeling of getting promoted, that sensation. That could be taken away from them. There’s so many things that could potentially happen in football that we just don’t know.”

Addressing his other former club, Premier League runaway leaders Liverpool, Warnock feels it is unlikely that the example set by Ligue 1, who declared PSG the champions when the season was cancelled.

"I just think, without being disrespectful to the other leagues, the Premier League is the biggest league and the most exciting league in the world and I think what the Premier League are trying not to do is jeopardise their brand, if you like, and they want to finish it," he said.

"To have Liverpool win a league with an asterix next to it to say ‘they won it, but they didn’t officially win it’, I don’t think the Premier League want that. I think they want to play out the remaining games of the season.”

Listen to the episode HERE