Declaring the season null and void would be unfair, says Barnsley FC striker Conor Chaplin

Football has been suspended since mid-March due to Covid-19 and despite the desire of the EFL to finish the regular season, the prospect of circumstances ultimately dictating that the campaign may have to be scrapped prematurely before the 46-game mark remains a possibility.

For Barnsley, who prop up the Championship table as it stands - with the Oakwell outfit being effectively eight points adrift of safety with nine games remaining - that would provide a reprieve from dropping straight back down to League One following their promotion last term.

Chaplin, for his part, insists that would not be right from a 'sporting merit' perspective and wants the Reds to secure their safety in the most just way possible - on the pitch - by completing the season when it is safe to do so, whenever that is.

Neither does he feel that taking current league placings as final standings is right either.

He added: “You do want to do stuff on merit, 100 per cent. (Although) We fall into that little per cent (of clubs) that would benefit from the league standings (f season was declared null and void).

“I was listening to one of my ex-managers Paul Cook and he said that there were teams like Charlton who have been in the relegation zone for twenty minutes of the season and have literally have just gone into it and would it then be fair to say they would be relegated.”

"It obviously wouldn't be as they have not been near the relegation zone for the majority of the season."