CAPE TOWN – Liverpool legend John Barnes insists his former club cannot be crowned Premier League champions if the season is not finished.
The Premier League campaign, which Liverpool have led from the beginning, and currently hold a 25-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, was one of the leagues suspended across the world as humanity grapples against the coronavirus outbreak which has claimed over 8 000 lives.
Talk has been rife in the days following the decision to suspend the season about what to do with the title should play not get underway when April starts.
While some have said that Jurgen Klopp’s men should be named the winners of the competitions, others, such as West Ham United executive Karen Brady have suggested the campaign be declared null and void.
Barnes, who was intergral to Liverpool’s last league success 30 years ago, said the season should be written off.
“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,” the 56-year-old Barnes, who spent 10 years playing for the Merseyside club, said on Sky Sports.
“It’s obvously biggert than that, you are talking abour promotion and relegation all the way down the divisions,” he said.
“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 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,” he said.
Asked if Liverpool should be crowned Premier League champions, Barnes said: “If you’re going to give Liverpool the title, who will then get relegated or promoted?
“You can’t just say, ‘Liverpool get the title because we’re so far ahead,’ because then what happens to Leeds, West Brom and Fulham? And what happens to the three teams at the bottom of the Premier League?