Former Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock: We have to finish

Most professional leagues across the world have been postponed or delayed as governments impose lockdowns and restrictions on large gatherings to deal with the pandemic.

But with championships, promotions and relegations still to be decided in the UK, there is increasing pressure for seasons to be concluded when the sport finally resumes.

Liverpool need just two wins to claim their first title in 26 years, while Leeds and Albion are on the verge of automatic promotion to the Premier League. Warnock, who also played for Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Leeds in a 16-year senior career, is keen for those issues to be decided if the professional game is to retain credibility.

He said: “For me, everything has to finish. You’re almost trying to finish a season and start another one without completing the previous one. It doesn’t make any sense to me.

“There’s no timeframe on when this season will start again. There doesn’t have to be a timeframe on when it finishes because there doesn’t have to be one on when the next season starts.

“The most important thing is to find out who the winners are and who the losers are. That has to be done. It is what sport is all about and why the season needs to be completed.

“I don’t agree with what the Belgian league has done, where they finished their season and crowned the champions already. That’s probably caused a lot of problems.

“When you think about the Championship alone and what’s at stake, Leeds are in a great position of being top of the league, or the promotions place, but there is so much to play for.

“To be that close to being a Premier League team after so long away, to suddenly make a decision that there is no promotion or relegation, teams deserve to be relegated. They were either not managed or coached properly, or they didn’t buy well, or they simply weren’t good enough.

“Why should those teams stay in the Premier League with those faults and another team, or three teams in the Championship, who have been superb for more games within a season, don’t deserve to then be promoted? It needs sorting out.”

Warnock also fears an extended break from action could spell the end for a number of lower-league teams, who have been left without income due to the restrictions.

He added: “The biggest concern from English football’s point of view is that we are going to see clubs going bankrupt. I think that is the biggest worry.

“My concern is that if it doesn’t start up soon, is there a safety blanket for those clubs where people are going to help them out, or fund them for a while if that’s what is needed? That is the biggest worry. I am hearing that there are a lot of clubs in trouble.”

Staff a number of English Football League sides have been placed of furlough during the Covid-19 pandemic, but Warnock believes even that may not be enough to save clubs.

“When we look at teams that get relegated, there is always a knock-on effect and jobs are affected,” he said.

“More often than not it is the staff in the club and not the players. The players are usually sold to make up the difference in money and to recuperate some of it, but there’s no opportunity to do that here.

“There’s no income stream and only expenditure, with money going out every day, week and month. There’s nothing coming in to top that up.

“I fear for a lot of people who are not working and not getting paid, or are on furlough, but if the club goes into administration or goes bankrupt that could disappear. It’s worrying times.

“As much as it’s difficult for the big clubs as well, because they live within their means as well, they need to look after these so-called smaller clubs, because they’re the future of the game as well.

“How many players that played in the World Cup for England or the Euros in last couple of years, have been on loan to those so-called smaller clubs, those feeder clubs?

“How many of those players actually playing at those smaller clubs as well, through the years, and then worked themselves up into the Premier League?”