Let us get pragmatic and less emotional about this whole football thing now.
It is clear to all that this season will not finish on time, at least not within the time-frame of what constitutes “a season”. You cannot have the 2019-2020 season continue endlessly. There has to be a stopping point.
What we also know is that there is no way this season can complete (if we are hellbent on doing that) without disrupting the next. We will have to make do with a truncated 2020/21 season in that case. From a pure economic perspective, that decision is a disaster.
You cannot change the rules midway in the game. That is simply not done. There’s no way someone can be declared the winner and teams promoted or relegated based on current standings. That is like starting a football match and ending it prematurely after the first 45 mins and declaring a winner. “Oh, there are weather reports that a huge storm is heading towards the stadium, so we won’t play the second half of this football match on safety grounds but because you were trailing 0-2 at the end of the first half, we will declare the other team as winners.” It is absurd and legal hassles will make any such plans futile.
Here is my suggestion.
1. Terminate this season because of exceptional circumstances. All records stand. I don’t see why goals and everything else should be voided.
2. Stop using the term “null and void.”
3. Start the next season whenever the government agencies give the nod. I am sure it won’t happen until August or September at best. And that is if we are lucky ! Health is more important than football money. Don’t rush.
4. Open the transfer window in its usual time and keep it open till the new season gets underway, whenever that is. You don’t even have to worry about contracts ending in June (like Willian and Pedro for Chelsea).
5. Put it in writing before the next season starts that if for any foreseen circumstance, any season is disrupted for any reason, epidemic, natural disasters, wars and whatever else, the League Table as it stands will be considered final. If a particular team has played less match(es) than others, the average points per match that team has collected over the course of that season will be added to the final tally. If less than 50% of the total matches have been played, the season will be considered null and there will be no winner, promotions or relegation.
6. If the new season starts very late (say after Christmas), play only one round of matches instead of two.