Premier League clubs invited to voice Project Restart relegation objections at Thursday's meeting
The 20 Premier League clubs will be asked on Thursday to voice any objections they have to relegation in the current season, ahead of a vote next week on how the league will be decided in the event of curtailment.
Thursday morning’s shareholders’ meeting will put curtailment at the top of the agenda, and by extension will require those who oppose relegation on those terms to speak out in favour of an alternative. While certain clubs at the bottom of the table have at times during the league’s suspension raised the prospect of relegation being voided it is unclear whether there are the seven required to block a vote on new rules being established.
The most obvious solution, a points-per-game formula to decide the league in the event of it being impossible to play the remaining 92 fixtures, still has opponents. The most vocal recently being West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady who said in her Saturday newspaper column in The Sun that her club and “a number of other clubs are reluctant to decide a future PL shareholder's fate by a formula rather than a football match”.
There are powerful arguments against stopping the amendment to the Premier League’s rules that allows the league to be decided on points per game. Greg Clarke, the chairman of the Football Association, which has a special share in the Premier League, has told the shareholders that the governing body opposes the scrapping of relegation. Rick Parry, the chairman of the Football League, has warned of a legal challenge if Championship clubs are denied promotion.
There has been no support thus far for a 23-strong, expanded Premier League which would involve a smaller share of broadcast revenue for each club. The league would like to have a plan in place in the event of curtailment in time for the restart of the season on June 17. There is expected to be a vote at next Thursday’s shareholders’ meeting. All clubs say publicly that they support relegation in the event of the full fixture programme being played. The jeopardy of the relegation battle is critical to broadcasters.
The fifth round of Covid-19 testing for Premier League players and staff took place on Monday and Tuesday of this week with one Tottenham Hotspur player testing positive from 1,197 tests, the club confirmed. It is understood that the individual in question is a junior member of the first-team squad and not crucial to Jose Mourinho’s plans over this month. The player in question will now self-isolate for seven days.
The clubs will also discuss the response of local police forces to playing their games behind closed doors. The original police and government proposal for the Premier League’s Project Restart, that games be staged at neutral venues, was rejected by the clubs who believe that they will be able to prevent fans from congregating outside stadiums. It was suggested that five games will be considered as potentially problematic and moved away from the home grounds to neutral venues.
