The announcement that the English Premier League will resume in mid-June was met by joy by many fans around the world. The Premier League is regarded as being the best league on the planet, so naturally it was vital the season would concluded with all games played.
However, while the topflight of the English game has long been discussed in terms of how it could restart, there is more to English football than the Premier League.
The Championship is a good example and this league has a direct impact on the Premier League in terms of both promotion and relegation. It was announced on the weekend that the Championship would resume on the 20th of June.
This will be over three months since the league was shut down due to the outbreak of coronavirus. It is great news but the English football League have been keen to stress it will only resume "subject to the strict proviso that all safety requirements and government guidance is met".
There are 108 games remaining in the Championship this season but there are also the play offs to consider. It is understood the play off final will be played at the end of July and all matches, including the play off final, will be played behind closed doors. In addition, teams will be able to use 5 substitutes during games and name a match day squad consisting of 20 players rather than the usual number of 18.
The dates have been chosen to try and coincide with the end of the Premier League season so relegation and promotion can be decided at the same time. However, while relegation and promotion between the Premier League and Championship now looks straight forward the same cannot be said for the Championship and League One.
At the time of writing, the future of League One remains up in the air. Clubs appear undecided whether to try and continue the season behind closed doors or bring it to an early end. League Two is set to be cancelled but there will be a meeting between the leagues on June 8 in a bid to make a final decision. If the season in either or both of League One and League Two is not completed the EFL have said they will use an unweighted points-per-game system to decide final league placings.
That scenario would benefit some teams and hinder others as they look toward promotion or attempt to avoid relegation. There is also the issue of teams potentially being relegated from the Championship having completed all of their matches and being replaced by teams from League One who did not finish the season. The same scenario applies between teams in League One and League Two.
It does not seem right to have clubs moving between divisions having ended the season in different ways. However, given the situation there is always going to be some sort of compromise to be made, which could work for some teams and against others.