In this article, we take a look at how a Championship club could feature in a Community Shield revamp amid FA Cup confusion.
The Community Shield is usually the curtain-raiser which starts the season as the league winners take on the FA Cup winners, that might not be the case for the 2020 final.
The Football Association are said to be looking at the decision to invite the winners of the second tier to face the Premier League champions.
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The Times reports that the Championship champions, with Leeds United currently top, could instead take on Liverpool in the fixture.
The normal way that the Community Shield is played out is looking in doubt due to the coronavirus disruption which has threw up plenty of problems and changes to leagues and tournaments across the world.
Whilst the Premier League is due to finish this month on the 26th of July, that is will not be the case for European football which looks set to end late August.
The FA Cup final will take place on the 1st of August and when you have the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United still having European commitments, both sides could be playing until late August.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side though already have one foot in the quarter finals of the Europa League having already beaten LASK 5-0, while City take a 2-1 lead into the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie over Real Madrid.
Chelsea could be on their way out of the Champions League with Frank Lampard’s men 3-0 down against Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
Arsenal are also still in the FA Cup, however, and have already been eliminated from Europe.
The Europa League final date is set for the 21st of August and the Champions League is the 23rd of August.
The delays means that the 2020/21 Premier League season is still without a start date, with the Community Shield usually the Sunday before the league’s season opener.
The season could start on the 29th of August but clubs are said to be pushing for the 12th of September, according to Mirror Football.
It remains to be seen what happens but the situation is likely to become clearer on Thursday as Premier League bosses discuss further the plans to begin next season when they meet.
Another scenario could see the FA Cup runners-up be offered a place in the fixture.
The date of the Shield could also change if clubs decide to start the regular season in September.
The match could also be used as a test event to determine how to get fans back into stadiums safely under social distancing guidelines.
A Championship club could feature in the Community Shield revamp, meaning it could be Leeds United, who leapfrogged their rivals West Brom by winning their game in hand with a thumping 5-0 win against lowly Stoke City.
The format of the competition has been modified many times over the years. The game was initially contested between the champions of the Football League and the Southern Football League from its inception until 1912, after which both professional and amateurs players participated.
Following a six-year suspension as a result of the First World War, the competition resumed in 1920 with a game between the champions of the Football League First and Second Divisions.
The following year saw the match arrangement changed again to become a match between the Football League champion and the winner of the FA Cup, switching several more times between the amateur/professional and league champion/FA Cup winner matches during the 1920s.
From 1930 onwards it settled to a standard fixture between the FA Cup winner and the Football League champion, except on three occasions.
In 1950, the England World Cup squad played the England team who toured Canada that summer, while double-winning Tottenham Hotspur played an “F.A. Selected XI” in 1961 that was described by The Times as being an “England team masquerading”.
A decade later in 1971, Arsenal won the double and opted against contesting the Shield in favour of playing in more profitable friendlies in Europe; Leicester City – the champions of the Second Division – took their place.
PREVIOUS FA COMMUNITY SHIELD WINNERS:
2019 – Manchester City
2018 – Manchester City
2017 – Arsenal
2016 – Manchester United
2015 – Arsenal
2014 – Arsenal
2013 – Manchester United
2012 – Manchester City
2011 – Manchester United
2010 – Manchester United
2009 – Chelsea
2008 – Manchester United
2007 – Manchester United
2006 – Liverpool
2005 – Chelsea
2004 – Arsenal
2003 – Manchester United
2002 – Arsenal
2001 – Liverpool
2000 – Chelsea
1999 – Arsenal
1998 – Arsenal
1997 – Manchester United
1996 – Manchester United
1995 – Everton
1994 – Manchester United
1993 – Manchester United
1992 – Leeds United
1991 – Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur* shared
1990 – Liverpool and Manchester United* shared
1989 – Liverpool
1988 – Liverpool
1987 – Everton
1986 – Liverpool and Everton* shared
1985 – Everton
1984 – Everton
1983 – Manchester United
1982 – Liverpool
1981 – Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur * shared
1980 – Liverpool
1979 – Liverpool
1978 – Nottingham Forest
1977 – Liverpool and Manchester United * shared
1976 – Liverpool
1975 – Derby County
1974 – Liverpool
1973 – Burnley
1972 – Manchester City
1971 – Leicester City
1970 – Everton
1969 – Leeds United
1968 – Manchester City
1967 – Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur * shared
1966 – Liverpool
1965 – Liverpool and Manchester United* shared
1964 – Liverpool and West Ham United* shared
1963 – Everton
1962 – Tottenham Hotspur
1961 – Tottenham Hotspur
1960 – Burnley and Wolves* shared
1959 – Wolves
1958 – Bolton Wanderers
1957 – Manchester United
1956 – Manchester United
1955 – Chelsea
1954 – West Bromwich Albion and Wolves * shared
1953 – Arsenal
1952 – Manchester United
1951 – Tottenham Hotspur
1950 – England World Cup XI
1949 – Portsmouth and Wolves* shared
1948 – Arsenal
1938 – Arsenal
1937 – Manchester City
1936 – Sunderland
1935 – Sheffield Wednesday
1934 – Arsenal
1933 Arsenal
1932 – – Everton
1931 – Arsenal
1930 – Arsenal
1929 – English Professionals XI
1928 – Everton
1927 – Cardiff City
1926 – English Amateurs XI
1925 – English Amateurs XI
1924 – English Professionals XI
1923 – English Professionals XI
1922 – Huddersfield Town
1921 – Tottenham Hotspur
1920 – West Bromwich Albion
1913 – English Professionals XI
1912 – Blackburn Rovers
1911 – Manchester United
1910 – Brighton and Hove Albion
1909 – Newcastle United
1908 (replay) – Manchester United
1908 – Manchester United
Fans reacted after finding out that a Championship club could feature in the Community Shield revamp…
If the FA are struggling to find an opponent to play Liverpool in the community shield they might as well give it to Leicester not Leeds ?
— Pogballer (@amirulxpogba) July 10, 2020
We’ve time to bollocks it up yet ?
— Luke O’Malley (@lukeomalley_) July 8, 2020
Looking forward to a punch up between Salah and klich
— Jonathan Powell (@jpowell100) July 8, 2020
Leeds will bottle it. Albion will just scrape the title. Albion beat Liverpool again ?
— Lee Sims (@L330M) July 8, 2020
The James Milner Derby, scenes
— Howells (@CHowells11) July 8, 2020
Leeds 1 (Bamford 90+6) Liverpool 0
— Nathan Robson (@nathan___robson) July 8, 2020
Would be a total embarrassment? in Wembley as well ! Just don’t know how the Liverpool players would take getting rinsed like that
— josh toher (@JoshToher) July 8, 2020
Potentially Liverpool v Leeds at Wembley in the Community Shield . Be happy with that ?
— Billy Campbell (@BillyCampbell_1) July 9, 2020
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