Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has backed Leeds United and West Brom to be handed promotion from the Championship if the current season is curtailed due to ongoing health concerns.

It was announced on Friday that both the EFL and Premier League have been suspended until April 3rd at the earliest, with this plunging the current Championship campaign into significant doubt with just nine games remaining in the regular season.

Leeds and West Brom have been leading the way in the second tier for the vast majority of the season, with the Whites currently sat top of the table while West Brom are now in second spot with a six-point gap ahead of third-placed Fulham at present.

The decision to suspend all fixtures means each team is facing a minimum of three match cancellations over the coming weeks, but there is uncertainty over when football will eventually be allowed to resume given the extent of the heath concerns.

Speaking on BBC One's Football Focus, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported Barber's suggestion that Leeds and West Brom should be promoted to help make up a 22-team league for next term, with no current Premier League sides to be relegated.

"I think it's a possible option to leave the 20 teams in the Premier League as it is but to bring the top two teams in the Championship up," Barber said.

"It gives us a larger league next season, perhaps with four relegation places next season and then two teams coming up again to get the league back to 20 the following season."

Can you score maximum points in this Leeds quiz? Have a go now!

The Verdict

There have been plenty of theories regarding how the football season should be concluded if it is suspended for the foreseeable future, but I'm not sure Barber's suggestion would be the correct option given there were still nine games left to play.

Leeds and West Brom may be occupying the automatic-promotion spots at the moment, but there is no reason why another promotion contender could not have usurped one of these sides during the remainder of the campaign.

It is admittedly a very difficult predicament for the footballing authorities to resolve given the unprecedented nature of the situation, but it seems a little unfair to make assumptions on how the season might have concluded based on current positions.