Liverpool will win the English Premier League next season, according to ex-Reds CEO Ian Ayre. But should they be given this year’s title as well?
Before the Premier League season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, Liverpool were sitting 25 points clear from second-placed Manchester City. They were two wins away from being crowned 2019-20 EPL champions.
And Ayre believes Jurgen Klopp’s side are good enough to to win the Premier League next season.
“Look at Istanbul, the League Cup final of 2012, Barcelona last year,” he said.
“It’s the Liverpool way, to some degree. They’ll either get it sorted and win it this year or they won’t, but whatever happens, they’ll bounce back.”
With a young list, not many players will want to leave. They’ll have a lot more to fight for next season.
Last season Liverpool were only a few points off winning the title, but they went on to win the Champions League. Klopp then took them to the Super Cup and on to the World Club Championship and won both of them.
“Whether they’re rightly allowed to win the league this year, what will be will be,” Ayre said.
“But I’ve no doubt that if it doesn’t happen this season, it will happen next season.”
If play was to resume at some point this year for the 2019-20 season, all Liverpool would need is two games and the title would be theirs.
Then the Premier League could say it was finished for the season and they had a winner. There is no chance any team could catch them if the remainder of the season was to be played out.
The only question left to be answered is whether the Premier League should just announce Liverpool as winners for this season, considering they are so far in front and the best team of this season.
Beni Iniesta
Guest
Of course not. If they lose their last 10 games they are a good chance not to win it. There's no way assumptions such as this can be made to determine such an important trophy. It sets a terrible precedent.
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
no solution will make everybody happy but the fairest way would be to null and void all incomplete competitions for 19/20 in England if games can not be completed to a point where a Champion, CL and EL places and Relegation places are set in stone, there s also the FA Cup to consider as well which no one has spoken about
peter ostle
Guest
One issue then for clubs in Europe would be player contracts if the season goes beyond June 30. That is the last day for the usual contract, and loan contract. For the top clubs the problem will see them have lots of players returning from loan spells, for others, even in the EPL, it will mean losing 1-3 players, who tend to be in the normal match day team. Fifa have said the contract can be lengthened, but fifa are not the law in a country. Uefa would like August free to complete the CL and Europa Cup. The knock-on effect will be season 2020-21 for most leagues will start later. A further complication is World Cup qualification usually starts in September, so those fixtures need to be catered for. [Co-efficient supposed to be, in part, based on postponed European Championship] In England some are thinking next season will be a 22 team EPL with no Carabao Cup, no FA Cup replays and five to be relegated at the end of the season.
peter ostle
Guest
Dear Nemesis, the EPL is a league not a cup competition. Further, I think you may find that this year the CL will have one legged quarters and semis, does this mean the winner of each tie is not the true winner because it was not a two legged affair? Should an asterisk be placed on Man Utd's CL win of 1999 as they were the first club to win the competition without having won their domestic league or the CL the previous year? Or let us relegate Leicester, Chelsea and Man Utd as they potentially could be relegated. If the fixtures cannot be completed then compromises will have to be allowed. In Scotland they useds average points per game to decide where clubs finished, in their bottom 3 tiers, to allocate central payments based on finishing position. The issue for them is, similar to EPL, relegation and promotion.
DJM
Roar Rookie
Even saying they need two more wins is quite possibly an exaggeration. City, the only side who could catch them, have won 18 out of 28 games this season. To think that they will go through their last 10 without dropping any points is pretty optimistic. I reckon the Reds have done enough (and no, I don’t support them).
Nemesis
Guest
Of course we can argue LFC shouldn't be given the title. Just like at Half Time of the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final in AC Milan it would've been unfair if Milan had been handed the trophy. Would it have been fair if Barcelona were awarded the UCL Semi Final after the 1st leg last season? No. Because the winner of the Semi Final is the team that prevails over 2 legs.
Chris Love
Guest
What odds were they offering at the start?
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Yeah, agree. If it was just about Liverpool then the decision wouldn't be too controversial. However, with Euro2020 cancelled, the June/July window opens up space for completing domestic competitions and starting the 20/21 season in late August or early September. All behind closed of course. It makes you wonder then would the EPL consider a free-to-air partnership to get games out to the population? How greedy are they?
peter ostle
Guest
I think few would argue that Liverpool have won the title, we did not award them the title they went and won it. The issue for the EPL is not the above but do the next four get into the Champions League, and given City's appeal has not been processed are they in or out, if the latter then it will be the fifth placed team. At the bottom are the three relegated, and note Villa have played one game less than clubs around them. If the three are relegated then which team in the Championship from the four who would play-off gains the third spot? Then you have the issues with the other divisions below the Championship. Makes the decision over Liverpool seem easy, but the rest, ermmm. [Which means the lawyers get involved and who wins then?]
JGK
Roar Guru
Yep. And not just because I had $100 on them to win it at the start of the season.