Express & Star

Former Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bosnich calls for Premier League to scrap relegation

Former Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bosnich believes that relegation from the Premier League should be scrapped - with West Brom and Leeds promoted.

Published
Last updated
Former Aston Villa goalkeeper, Mark Bosnich

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has seen a number of sporting leagues in Europe cancelled already.

Doubt over the return of the Premier League has arisen over the weekend, following a fresh positive coronavirus test among the Brighton first-team players.

With fans split over ending the season, Bosnich believes that relegation should be scrapped from the top flight.

"From what I can see from Australia, I'd ideally scrap relegation and have the two clubs promoted from the Championship, that being Leeds and West Brom." he said, speaking on Sky Sports News.

"I actually said before about playing on neutral grounds, I don't actually know what kind of difference it makes when you're not going to have any people there anyway.

"But as we know in terms of the Premier League, they need two thirds of the vote to pass something through."

Bosnich featured 198 times for Villa, also playing for Manchester United during his time in English football.

He says that it's 'understandable' why teams in the lower places of the table would like to see the idea of relegation scrapped due to Covid-19.

The Australian ex-pro believes it would be best to reward West Brom and Leeds with promotion - whilst balancing the leagues out next season, by having an extended top flight relegation zone over the 2020/21 campaign.

"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, who would probably want relegation scrapped. So you could probably understand that." he said.

"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."