Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United are top of the Championship table – but could their Premier League dream become a nightmare?
Simon Jordon admits that Leeds United would be left ‘apoplectic’ if the 2019/20 season is declared null and void but, speaking to The Sun, the former Crystal Palace owner believes a £10 million settlement would at least soften the blow somewhat.
Leeds’ dream could still turn into a nightmare.
With just nine games remaining in a Championship campaign that looked destined to end in promotion, Whites fans everywhere are being forced to endure a nail-biting wait.
With the global health pandemic postponing the beautiful game indefinitely, there remains a possibility that Leeds’ best season in generations could be expunged in it’s entirety.
And while Jordan understands that a ‘null and void’ verdict would break hearts in West Yorkshire, he believes that handing promotion-chasing sides like Leeds a sizeable compensation fee would be the best possible recourse in a worst-case scenario.
“Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds would be apoplectic if they were to miss out on a return to the Premier League after 16 years away,” he says. “The one thing that will ease some of the pain that deals with the elephant in the room is compensation.
“The Premier League pays the three teams a total of £180 million in year one parachute payments – but they won’t without relegation. If half of that went into the EFL, that’s £90 million to cover the loss of revenue at each club.
“Leeds could get £10 million. Perhaps that would be scant consolation for owner Andrea Radrizzani but it would be better than nothing.”
If the 2019/20 season is cancelled completely, it will throw up a whole host of questions. For example, what would this mean for the deals that saw Leeds agree to an obligation-to-buy clause in the contracts of loanees Helder Costa and Jean-Kevin Augustin?
This certainly is a testing and confusion time.
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