Hope Powell calls for Women's Super League to be decided on points per game with no relegation

Brighton Women manager Hope Powell would like the Women’s Super League to be settled on “points per game with no relegation", as the top two tiers of women’s football edge increasingly closer to cancellation.

The Football Association has given clubs a deadline of Friday to respond to a letter, distributed earlier this week, asking for their views on whether they would like to complete the season and how they would like it to conclude. The FA’s WSL and Championship board are scheduled to meet on Monday.

The EFL announced on Thursday that clubs will still be promoted and relegated from all three of its divisions even if the seasons are ended amid the coronavirus crisis, but this does not automatically apply to the WSL. That decision will rest with the FA WSL and Championship board. 

Speaking at a press conference over Zoom, former England manager Powell worried that it would be “hugely unfair” to relegate a club when the season remains unfinished. Points per game, whether weighted or unweighted, would see Chelsea leapfrog Manchester City to be crowned champions.

“For my personally, [the preferred outcome is] points per game with no relegation,” Powell said. “I think it would be hugely unfair to relegate a team when the season hasn’t been able to be played out through nobody’s fault. The most important thing, for me personally, is not to relegate.

“For me, the logical step would be no relegation and perhaps promote one from the Championship. I think it’s really important that there is an outcome, certainly for Champions League places.”

The FA is understood to be consulting clubs on several options, one of which includes deciding the table on a weighted points-per-game system that would see Liverpool relegated and Aston Villa promoted.

Another option is said to use weighted points per game, with no relegation from the WSL but promotion from the Championship expanding the WSL to 13 teams for the 2020/21 season.

Meanwhile, England’s record goalscorer Kelly Smith says that the WSL’s title race is so tight that she has “no idea” how it will be solved.

Manchester City are the current leaders, Chelsea a point behind but with a game in hand; Arsenal, the only English team remaining in the Women’s Champions League, are third, four points behind City with a game in hand.

“It’s so unfortunate,” Smith told Telegraph Sport. “I think Chelsea were cruising: they were playing really well, looking like they were going to be unbeaten, playing some really good football. Then you’ve got Man City and ArsenaI. I don’t know how they’re going to decide what teams go into Europe - I just don’t know how they’re going to solve it, if I’m honest. I’m sure those talks are going on now between all the clubs, but it’s difficult. I don’t really know what the solution is.”

Smith - in isolation with her son, almost three, and her daughter, nine months - added that she was “not surprised” by the news that the WSL is on the brink of cancellation but expressed concerns about the pandemic’s impact on the game’s long-term future. 

She continued: “I can’t really see it coming back this season, for the pure fact that just watching the news on the Premier League, and how much money has gone into their testing and how regimented they’ve been, I don’t think the women’s game has the resources, the money and the backing to do that. I think all the players are probably wanting the league to be off because fearing they're not going to be fully tested, or have that kind of testing procedure, if the league was to come back.

“I think it could be a bit of a setback for the league and [have] a knock-on effect for the Euros. I’m not sure about England, because I think they’ve got a real fan following with the Lionesses - so hopefully, when the season’s back up and running, the fanbase will still come out and support the women’s game.

“I hope that they’ll come back in full force, eventually. It’s really a waiting game to see how clubs can deal with the financial loss and how they can come back from it. The way the women’s game was progressing, I think, will kind of be put on hold for a while.”