Lee Bowyer would feel sorry for Leeds United but slams 'scandalous' calls over season's conclusion

CHARLTON ATHLETIC boss Lee Bowyer says it would be "scandalous" to settle the Championship table on current standings or points per game, even if "feeling sorry" for his former Leeds United side.
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Bowyer's Charlton outfit sit two points inside the Championship dropzone as confusion and doubt surrounds how the currently suspended campaign will be concluded due the country's fight against coronavirus.

It has been suggested that if the remaining fixtures cannot be completed that the EFL would look to decide standings on a weighted points per game basis which would promote front-runners Leeds as champions but leave Charlton third-bottom.

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Bowyer, though, says such a move would "kill" his football club with the Addicks boss believing the only fair way to settle a season without completion would be forming a table after each team had played every opponent once.

DIFFICULT SITUATION: For Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer and also his former Leeds United side. Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images.DIFFICULT SITUATION: For Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer and also his former Leeds United side. Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images.
DIFFICULT SITUATION: For Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer and also his former Leeds United side. Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images.

The other option would be to null and void the entire season - ruining Leeds United's promotion bid - for which Bowyer says he would have sympathy for.

"I'd feel sorry for the teams at the top, Leeds and West Brom," said Bowyer in an interview with Sky Sports News.

"It's a difficult situation. Leeds have worked hard and put a lot of money into it, they are reliant on promotion this season.

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"Our league is so tight. QPR are only six points off the play-offs and could easily make that up."

Assessing the thought of standings being decided by points per game, Bowyer said: "It would kill our football club.

"We would struggle. I don't know the extent but it would be bad. We're not in a great position anyway.

"There is meant to be a meeting later in the week with the managers and hopefully someone from the EFL, and I'll be saying to them what I'm saying to you.

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"To be called as it stands today would be scandalous, it would be wrong on every level. For us as a club it wouldn't be acceptable. I don't think they'll (the EFL) give too much away because they never do.

"I think we'll be guided by what happens in the Premier League. We've only been in there (relegation zone) for six days for the whole season. If they had called it the week before, it would have been Middlesbrough in the bottom three.

"If they have to call it a day - the fairest way would be halfway through the season - so you're judging it when everyone played each other once."

The EFL have always maintained a desire to complete their remaining fixtures in full when safe to do so with a view to playing all remaining games in a 56-day time frame in the summer months.

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The Government have also given permission for top level sporting action to resume from June 1 behind closed doors but only if sufficient progress is made in limiting the spread of the virus between now and then.

EFL chairman Rick Parry has also said the EFL season would need to completed by July 31 - the date when around 1,400 players' contracts run out.

There have consequently been reports that the remainder of the League One and League Two seasons will be scrapped with fears the Championship and even Premier League campaigns could go the same way,

The EFL have said they expect to be able to complete all remaining fixtures within a 56-day time-frame but there are already only 80 days until the July deadline and teams are not even back in training yet.

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Leeds have been following individual programmes at home in the meantime with the EFL having identified May 16 - this Saturday - as a suggested date for sides to return to training.

Parry has already stated that he would still expect three teams to be promoted from the Championship even if the rest of the season cannot be concluded and that the Premier League still expect three teams to go down.

Just about viable model for deciding league placings would have United in first or second with the weighted points per game method seemingly favoured and the only threat to United in the event of remaining games not being played would be the campaign being declared null and void, as has effectively been the case in Holland.

United sit top of the Championship with nine games left, one point clear of second-placed West Brom but crucially with a seven-point cushion in the division's automatic promotion spots.

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FA chairman Greg Clarke has also told Premier League clubs that English football's governing body will not sanction 'no relegation' or voiding the season.

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