THE FA has the power to BLOCK any Premier League plans to axe relegation from the top flight.
Some clubs which is said to include West Ham have warned that they will only back and vote for Project Restart proposals if the threat of dropping into the Championship is taken off the table completely.
EFL chairman Rick Parry has already threatened legal action if second-tier clubs are prevented from being promoted to the top-flight under the agreement between the two Leagues and the FA.
FA chairman Greg Clarke and the Wembley board have the right to demand promotion and relegation takes place even if all 20 Premier League clubs vote against it. The ability of the FA to interfere goes back to the original Premier League breakaway from the Football League.
The resulting Founder Members Agreement, signed on July 17, 1991, gave the “Special Shareholder” — the FA — specific powers.
Under the terms of the document, which remains in place today, rule variations can “be effective only with the consent in writing of the Special Shareholder and without such consent shall not be done or caused to be done”.
According to Paragraph 7.2.4 (b) of the document, one of those provisions is “any amendment to, removal of or waiver of . . . the number of members and promotion to and relegation from the League”.
The FA have never previously used the power and agreed with the reduction of League members from 22 to 20 in the 1995-96 season.
Why is no-one talking about a 22 team EPL with two teams coming up but none going down? 22 teams next year seems like a compromise to me.
It would seem more and more that the decision must be taken by the players. If they vote not to play because of health worries, then that is that. Perhaps this is what all parties have been working towards. They can then all say “we tried everything but the players refused. It absolves all other parties of responsibility and saves a certain amount of face, though not credibility.