Write off next season to finish this one – ex-Liverpool midfielder Barnes

Joe Williams
John Barnes Liverpool

Former Liverpool midfielder John Barnes thinks the Premier League and other English leagues may have to “write off a season” in order to get the current campaign finished.

There are many ideas and solutions as to how the current season should be decided after the coronavirus outbreak halted matches until at least April 3 in England.

And Barnes reckons the “leagues have to be finished” even if that means cancelling the following season.

FEATURE: How to fairly settle the Premier League season: A club-by-club guide

“It’s a sensible decision and I think delaying for a year was the only solution,” Barnes told Sky Sports News responding to yesterday’s news that Euro 2020 will be postponed for a year.

“You have leagues to be finished and I think leagues have to be finished, not just from Liverpool’s point of view or any other club in any country.

“It’s obviously bigger than that, you are talking about promotion and relegation all the way down the divisions. So I think if the leagues can even be delayed – you don’t have to rush back to them – maybe you have to write off a season.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen on April 3 [when the EFL suspension is currently due to end] and maybe they are going to delay it further.

“Even if we have to start in July or August, what we have to do is finish these games even if it takes up until December, which writes off the [next] season.

“These are desperate times and this is an unusual circumstance.”