Express & Star

West Brom promotion boost as EFL propose vote if Championship season can't be finished

Albion will be promoted if more than half of Championship clubs vote to end the season, under draft proposals put forward by the EFL.

Published
Last updated
The Hawthorns (AMA)

Elite football in Britain has been suspended since March 13 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Both the EFL and Premier League still hope the 2019/20 campaign will be resumed on the pitch with clubs having been issued with phased plans for how they should return to training.

But in a major boost to the Baggies’ promotion hopes, the EFL has now outlined a framework for the how the season could end if the pandemic does cut it short.

Leagues will be decided on an unweighed points system with football chiefs adamant that promotion and relegation in all three divisions should still take place.

In the Championship, Leeds would go up as champions and Albion win promotion as runners-up.

Charlton, Luton and Barnsley would be relegated.

Play-offs will also be played under the proposal, but with no more than four teams.

The EFL has said 51 per cent of clubs in either the Championship, League One or League Two need to agree for a campaign to be curtailed.

But before that vote can take place, the 71 clubs must vote to agree the EFL can change its current regulations and introduce the rules it has proposed.

If clubs across all three divisions do vote to implement the new framework – it will be fascinating to see how Championship clubs decide to move forward.

Playing the remaining fixtures is going to have a huge financial impact on all clubs – with those costs easier for Premier League sides to manage.

Testing for coronavirus alone is set to cost clubs £140,000 each – with Albion’s players tested for the first time today.

It is also yet to be decided if English teams will have to follow the same protocols as Bundesliga sides who have paid for their players to stay in so-called‘quarantine hotels.’

Clubs such as Millwall, Wigan and Derby would also have to recall and pay the wages of all staff they have placed on furlough if football does return.

There are also issues surrounding players who may not want to play – either for health or contractual reasons.

Under the latest EFL proposals, Albion would be promoted to the Premier League if 13 clubs decide they don’t want to play on.

Elsewhere, it has been reported the Baggies are set to receive a cash injection of around £10million following the sales of Jay Rodriguez, Craig Dawson and Salomon Rondon last summer.

Rodriguez was sold to Burnley last July for an initial £5 million, with the remaining £5 million to be paid this July.

Dawson joined Watford last summer for £5.5 million with Albion owed a further instalment in 10 weeks’ time.

The Baggies are also due a further payment in August for Rondon following his £16.5 million move to Chinese side Dalian Yifang.