Report suggests massive boost to Leeds United's promotion hopes if season is scrapped

The news will come as another big boost to Leeds United's promotion hopes and suggests the Whites would achieve Premier League status without kicking another ball in the event their season cannot be completed on the pitch.

Both the Premier League and EFL seasons remain suspended amidst the country's ongoing battle against coronavirus which has already led to the remainder of several other leagues in Europe being cancelled.

Championship front-runners Leeds would have been promoted under the system used in France with placings settled by current league standings with a similar strategy being adopted in Belgium.

It has, though, been a different story in Holland with the Dutch FA effectively null and voiding their season aside from Champions League and Europa League qualification spots.

That meant second tier leaders SC Cambuur missing out on promotion despite sitting 11 points clear in an automatic promotion place.

In England, both the Premier League and EFL have repeatedly stated their intentions to properly complete their seasons by fulfilling all remaining fixtures when it is safe to do so.

But in the event of the Premier League being unable to be completed, a report in The Times reveals that FA chiefs would block any attempt to declare the Premier League season null and void and abandon relegation.

The report, by Times chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler, says that "under wide-ranging powers given to the FA in an agreement signed in 1991 when the Premier League was established, the governing body needs to consent to any changes to promotion and relegation from the division and to the number of teams in the top flight."

Relegation from the Premier League would naturally mean no chance of null and voiding the Championship season with teams needing to be promoted from English football's second tier.

Leeds currently sit top of the Championship and one point above second-placed West Brom with Marcelo Bielsa's side holding a seven-point cushion in the division's automatic promotion places with nine games left.

And in any case, EFL chairman Rick Parry has already declared that he would expect three teams still to be promoted from the Championship even if the current season could not be completed.

United would clearly go up as champions if current standings stood, and also if the season was settled on points per game.

"We expect three Championship clubs to be promoted - the Premier League are aware of our position on that," said Parry.

"The Premier League expects three clubs to be relegated.

"The lawyers are going to get wealthy [if relegation from the Premier League was removed].

"There would be a degree of outrage from a number of clubs in our Championship, and it would be a breach of the tripartite agreement.

"The safe answer is that it would get very messy. Our expectation is there would be three clubs promoted from the Championship."

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