Women's Super League: Points-per-game is 'fairest way' to settle WSL - Matt Beard
- Published
Matt Beard led West Ham to last season's Women's FA Cup final, which they lost to Manchester City at Wembley
West Ham boss Matt Beard believes a points-per-game ratio is the fairest way to decide final Women's Super League places - but thinks any solution will "upset" at least one party.
The WSL and Women's Championship seasons were ended immediately after a joint leagues board meeting on Monday.
But no decisions have been taken on how to determine standings, nor whether to maintain promotion and relegation.
"Whatever happens, someone's going to be upset about it," said Beard.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Me personally, I think points-per-game is the fairest way to finish the league.
"Someone's going to be upset with the decisions that are going to be made. But this is no one's fault, it's just one of those things."
He added: "Between the clubs and the Football Association, they've tried every avenue to try to resolve it, but the clubs and the FA have decided this [ending the season] is the best course of action."
The FA said the decision to end the campaign came after "overwhelming feedback from clubs".
Liverpool 'await equitable solution'
The announcement means Beard's former club, Liverpool, now face an anxious wait to find out if they will drop out of the WSL, with the decision to be taken by the FA board.
The Reds are bottom of the table, occupying the only relegation spot, and would remain so regardless of any potential points-per-game calculations, having played more games than their nearest rivals.
However, the campaign could still yet be declared null and void - as was the case in tiers three to seven of the English women's pyramid in April - or the FA board could decide to remove relegation for this season only, giving Liverpool a reprieve.
A spokesperson for Liverpool, who were WSL champions in 2013 and 2014, said: "During the lockdown, the focus of the staff and players of Liverpool FC Women has been to maintain focus and fitness in preparation for a return to WSL action once it was safe and appropriate to do so.
"Preparation for this has been ongoing for many weeks and as a club we believe we would have been able to meet the operational and financial obligations associated with a return to play, once detailed drafts and accurate protocols had been shared with clubs.
"Now that it has been deemed that a return to WSL play is not possible, we await an equitable solution to those issues still to be decided in a campaign where a third of our league games were still to be played."
Liverpool still had eight of their 22 matches left to play in the Women's Super League when the season was suspended
Manchester City, who are top of the WSL but have an inferior points-per-game ratio to second-placed Chelsea, said: "Manchester City Football Club now await the outcome of discussions regarding the final standings of the league table.
"Whilst disappointed that we are unable to complete the season, we understand the complexities of the situation and support the FA's decision.
"Our priority remains the safety and wellbeing of our players and staff, and we will now move forward with preparations for next season."
The joint WSL and Women's Championship board has sent various recommendations to the FA board to "determine the most appropriate sporting outcome for the season".
Several sources had told BBC Sport that clubs, who were consulted on the matter formally last week, had been assuming their season would not resume, leaving 45 remaining fixtures in the WSL and 36 in the Championship outstanding.