“I’m dead against that” – 10x title winner urges FA against potential coronavirus workaround

Former Rangers striker Ally McCoist has urged the Football Association against handing Leeds United the Championship title if the season cannot be resumed.

Play is currently on hold until, at least, April 30 after the English Football League, FA and Premier League agreed to postpone all remaining fixtures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The freeze in action has cast doubt over if Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites will be able to secure the club’s long-awaited return to the top-flight, having looked set to land a Premier League berth before the pause with United seven points clear of the Play-Off places with nine games remaining.

Leeds are also atop the Championship standings by a point to title-rivals West Bromwich Albion, but the prospect of missing out on promotion is the main concern at Elland Road having dominated so much over the 37 games played.

Concerns over our promotion hopes saw one supporter, Brad, call in on talkSPORT’s morning show on Tuesday to put to McCoist, host Laura Woods and former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara that the season must be completed.

McCoist, who won 10 Scottish Premiership titles with Rangers, agreed in that the season should be completed if possible, but argued vividly against handing out titles if a full campaign is not played.

“Every opportunity should be made to complete the season,” McCoist urged. “But, what I’m totally against, 100 per cent against, is calling it a day right now and the results stand as they are, because I just don’t think that’s right at all.

“Liverpool have been an absolute joy this season, they have been fantastic. Will they win the [Premier] League? Yes, they will. But until they do, they can’t be given the title.

“I don’t care if it’s one point they need or ten points they need, they can’t be given the title. You can’t give somebody something that hasn’t been achieved in my book.

“You can’t reward somebody for something that hasn’t been achieved and more importantly, and it is more importantly, you can’t punish somebody for something that hasn’t happened.

“Jamie was talking about [Aston] Villa with a game in hand, how can you possibly send somebody down for something that hasn’t happened? So I’m dead against that.

“But I do take Brad’s point and if there is any way at all possible to finish the season, then it should happen.”

While Leeds do not share the same advantage over the chasing pack as Liverpool, who sit a whopping 25 points clear of Manchester City in the Premier League table, Bielsa’s Whites have shown the club to be the best side in the Championship more often than not.

We are the only side to have won more than 20 games this season, with Bielsa overseeing 21 victories while West Brom’s 19 ranks them second. United players have scored the fourth-most goals (56), too, while allowing a league-low 30 to be fired home against us.

Only the Baggies (five) have lost on fewer occasions than we (eight), as well, though the Hawthorns natives have also drawn more often with 13 stalemates to our eight.

Data collected from Championship fixtures this season by WhoScored show Bielsa’s players to have averaged the most shots per game (16.4), most possession (60.1%) and the second-best pass accuracy rating (80.3%), too.

We have also averaged the third-most tackles per game (17.9), fifth-most interceptions (10.7), catch the opponent offside the most (2.4), direct the most shots on target (5.3) and have created the most chances with a total 383 key balls over the 37 games played.

Missing out on promotion through no fault of our own would be more than a bitter pill to swallow, and that is why the FA, EFL and Premier League must do all they can to ensure the season resumes – otherwise someone will be left with the short end of the stick, like the in excess of 100 non-league clubs who have called for the FA to “urgently” reconsider the decision to expunge their seasons.

In other Leeds United news, fans have been up in arms after reports claimed the club could target a £25,000-per-week “liability” this summer.