‘Promote them’ – Sky Sports pundit backs West Brom for PL return amid Coronavirus uncertainty
Sky Sports pundit Mark Bosnich has called for West Brom to be promoted alongside Leeds United this season.
The former Aston Villa goalkeeper also suggested that the Premier League should scrap relegation this term, with five sides facing the drop at the end of the 2020/21 campaign.
Professional football in England has been brought to a standstill amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic with little concrete indication as to how this season will be resolved.
EFL chairman Rick Parry has previously stated that he expects three sides to still be promoted from the Championship, regardless of whether or not any remaining matches in the division are played.
And Bosnich advocates handing promotion to the top two, provided relegation from the top flight is not enforced.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, he said: “There are a lot of teams in and around that relegation zone who deep down – and it’s not a problem, it’s understandable as well – would probably want relegation scrapped.
“So you could probably understand that.
“Ideally, if you were able to set out a thing that was absolutely ideal in this moment of time I would scrap relegation and the two clubs that are far and away looking as though they’re going to get promoted from the Championship, West Brom and Leeds – promote them and then have five go down next season.”
But despite him calling for the Baggies to return to the top flight, Bosnich’s suggestions aren’t likely to be overly popular amongst fans or footballing authorities.
Aside from the obvious issues with sporting integrity that come with handing out promotion after an incomplete season, the Express & Star reported last week that Slaven Bilic has already told his players to get ready for an imminent return to training.
That sounds like a manager who is eager to wrap up a return to the top flight properly, rather than because of the intervention of a governing body.
And most fans will surely feel the same way.
Nobody wants to have a great big asterisk next to their name in the history books – if we’re going up, we ideally want to go up the right way.
Moreover, according to The Athletic, the prospect of an expanded top flight would be a difficult sell for authorities.
The outlet reported last week that the prospect of an overly congested fixture list could be a huge obstacle for many clubs to clear, while there could also be problems with distribution of central income should two extra clubs join the Premier League.
Credit to Bosnich, at least he is trying to think outside the box to find an unconventional solution to a highly unorthodox problem, but it feels unlikely that his idea will gain much traction.
In other West Brom news, Exclusive: Phillips suggests Baggies may unearth new Mahrez amid 16-goal attacker link.