Championship: Should Palace have another chance?

While Coventry City take on Watford at the Ricoh Arena this weekend, the two remaining talking points in this season’s Championship are whether Blackpool or Swansea City fill the final play-off spot and who will come out triumphant from Sunday’s relegation showdown between Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace.

The Owls need a win to overtake the Eagles, who would be currently lying 13th in the table if they had not been docked 10 points for going into administration.

While Palace fans are left to wonder not just whether their team will stay up but whether they will be in existence next season, Wednesday chairman Lee Strafford feels their fate should already be decided.

‘If you mis-manage a football club to the extent where you end up in massive debt, administration should not be an escape route,’ he told Sky Sports News ahead of the game.

The Owls have been hampered by large debts for a number of seasons now and takeover and investment rumours regularly surface in the local Sheffield press.

‘We have suffered longer and harder than most clubs because we did not go down the administration route at a time when it may have been easier to do so,’ added Strafford.