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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Chris Watson

'National embarrassment' - Leeds United chief fires warning to Nottingham Forest and rivals

Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear says it would be a "national embarrassment" if the Championship season was not completed in full.

With the season currently suspended, Leeds are top of the table and pushing for a long-awaited return to the Premier League.

West Bromwich Albion occupy the second automatic promotion spot, with fifth-placed Nottingham Forest in a play-off position along with Fulham, Brentford and Preston North End.

Each team has nine matches of the regular campaign remaining and it is hoped that the action can resume next month.

However, there is some opposition to this, from the likes of Hull City, who want to see the season ended now.

Leeds would still go up if this happens and the EFL's favoured points-per-game system is used to determine the final standings.

But this would not be a satisfactory outcome for Kinnear.

In a column for the Yorkshire Evening Post, he wrote: "If Leeds United wanted to be opportunist we could have seized on this ‘point per game’ commitment to push for an early curtailment in concert with some already very vocal self-interests.

"However, our intention has always been to do all we can to complete this season where we started it – on the pitch.

"Marcelo (Bielsa) and the team are confident that they can continue their rich vein of form into the last nine games and believe that they have earned the right to have the chance to celebrate reaching their goal at Elland Road even though our supporters will only be there in spirit."

Kinnear added: "England has some of the finest sports scientists and football administrators in the game and the time has come for us as a sport to stop repeatedly framing the challenges and start delivering on the solution.

"It would be a national embarrassment if the Bundesliga, La Liga or Serie A were to be able to complete safely and the first and fifth biggest leagues in the world were not able to follow suit if the context remained comparable.

"The next challenges will be the specifics of returning to competitive play."

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