Should the football season be written off completely? Do we extend it into the summer? Can we just take the final league positions as they are now?
It's low on a list of priorities all things considered right now, but the coronavirus crisis has left the footballing authorities with some big questions to answer on how best to conclude the campaign.
Fortunately, Lyon owner and president Jean-Michel Aulas has come up with the perfect, sporting, sensible, and not-at-all biased solution to fix what had seemed an unsolvable problem.
Writing on Twitter about what he considers the fairest way to finish the Ligue 1 season, Aulas said: "According to specialists, there is another solution: the historical classification over 3 years or 5 years?
"But the best solution would be to finish the championship but it will be more and more difficult."
The Lyon chairman is suggesting that if the season cannot be finished, then club's league position for this season should be determined by their average league position of the past three seasons.
Lyon currently sit seventh in Ligue 1, nine points off Lille in the final Europa League spot, and 10 points off Rennes in the final Champions League place.
Should they fail to bridge that gap, it would leave the club without European football for the first time since 2001.
Alternatively - putting Aulas' genius plan into action - Lyon's average finishes in the last three seasons would leave them third in the league and miraculously gift them Champions League football for next season.
Isn't it funny how that works out?
Similarly, Lyon's women's team, who Aulas pumps considerable money and resources into, currently lead Division 1 Feminine by three points. Having won the league for the past three seasons, they would regain their crown.
Aulas' plans regarding a potentially voided season around three quarters of the way through it are similar to those put forward by West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady.
Writing in her column in The Sun, Brady said: “As games in both the Premier League and in the EFL are affected, the only fair and reasonable thing to do is declare the whole season null and void.
"Who knows who would have gone down or come up if the games have not actually been played in full?”
So that's the plan - Champions League football for Lyon, Premier League football for West Ham, no long-awaited title for Liverpool, no promotion, and Bolton Wanderers survive relegation to League Two despite being 21 points from safety.
Fair's fair and everyone's happy, right?
Source :
90min
