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Pugin

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Posts posted by Pugin

  1. Posted · Edited by Pugin

    Very good piece by Matt Slater of The Athletic, this morning:

    https://theathletic.com/1669393/2020/03/12/coronavirus-and-football-games-closes-doors-euros-champions-league/?source=shared-article 

    Slater confirms that clubs cannot independently have their employees tested for Coronavirus. The medical facilities to allow this probably does not yet exist.

    In fact, The Athletic understands several clubs have tried and failed to have their players tested as the public authorities are prioritising those who have come into direct contact with a carrier or visited a high-risk country, and you cannot have the tests done privately. There is no jumping the queue in a national crisis.

    He also speculatively suggests that Macclesfield, Oldham and Southend are most at risk of having to cease trading. 

    Finally, he confirms that the Word Players' Union would support players who wish competitions to be suspended:

    “We ask that employers and competition organizers respect the wishes of players to take short-term precautionary measures including suspending training or competitions,” said FIFPro.“We support the players and their associations who have requested a suspension or postponement of football activities in their countries or regions.”

     

     

  3. Posted

    Just now, Darth Canary1 said:

    Love that man pugin

    Burnham is an old fashioned conscience politician, a man of the people, an honest and caring human being. The speech at Anfield was made before the tide had turned in favour of the Justice for the 96 people. He is, of course, a football man, an Everton fan who was fondly received at Anfield and who is now loved and revered as Mayor of Manchester. ( I know what you are thinking, he's their Kenny Maclean!)

    Needless to say, Burnham wants nothing to do with the den of iniquity and ineptitude which is Westminster. He steered a million miles wide of Corbyn and Macdonald. Putting him up against Boris Johnson would expose the impostor. But it ain't gonna happen, is it, as there is no centralist political movement in the country. Sad times.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    18 minutes ago, Darth Canary1 said:

    Got to love a socialist

    Not really a Socialist. Somewhere between that and a one nation Tory. Taking some of the best principles from both extremes. 'A little from Column A, and a little from Column B' - Homer Simpson.

    So, politically, no one to vote for. Probably have most respect for Andy Burnham who is a died-in-the-wool Blairite, so no one would call him a Socialist. (Find his address to the grieving crowds at Anfield, and you too will be converted).

     

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    I think we need to remember that the country has given control to a cabale of 'born to rule' Old Etonians who have battled their way to power in order to protect the interests of the banks and financial institutions in the belief that the country exists largely to enable wealth and power to remain in their hands.

    It's not exactly within their mindset to take measures in the interests of the health or wellbeing of the proletariat, unless they can see a tangible benefit in doing so. Over the next three months we will see the NHS put under intolerable and unbearable pressure. And yet the government is happy to take a laissez-faire approach.

  9. Posted

    The coach and his staff must laugh themselves silly when they see a game translated into this sort of wordy, over-thought analysis, It's too clever by half. 

    The half time change at Bramall Lane came about because one of our youngsters had ran his legs off for 120 minutes at Tottenham, and had reached the point where he had nothing left in his legs. No doubt he will get a rest for a game or two and come back recovered, stronger for the final run-in. The tactical re-think in the original article exists only in the mind of a graduate in front of a PC, with instructions ti write 500 words of tactical analysis. The real game is about far simpler principles. 

  11. Posted · Edited by Pugin

    45 minutes ago, Dean Coneys boots said:

    Given that the average age of those most affected in Italy is over 80- and given that the stopping of public gatherings is more about staggering the illness to take pressure off the NHS than anything else- I am almost certain the season would be finished behind closed doors and with cameras present. Most footballers being well under the age of 80 and having no underlying health issues will be off for a few days with a cough even if they do contract it. 

    We are currently moving from the 'contain' phase to 'delay'.

    I am not sure that during 'delay' non-essential activity such as gathering in groups for training, or travelling the length and breadth of the country in the confined space of an aircraft or bus for games is going to be acceptable to the government. Maybe the government will opt out and leave it to the games' regulatory bodies to decide, but would that be politically acceptable?

    Politically,  Boris and Priti Patel cannot approve one agreement for football, and a separate one for rugby cricket etc. The risk-averse decision for the government would be the recommendation of a suspension of football, initially temporarily. Some sort of decision will have to be made in the next 3 weeks or so, as the 'delay'  phase develops.   

    Edit - I also have to point out that Roy Hodgson is 72 years old and statistically falls within a high-risk group. Players have elderly relatives. Let no one think that easy decisions lie ahead. 

  12. Posted

    The EFL handbook is horribly ambivalent on the subject of an early termination of the season. See page 102 of the attached EPL handbook. It simply says:

    'C.14. Subject to Rule C.15, the bottom three Clubs in the table at the end of the Season shall be relegated to The Football League.'

    file:///home/chronos/u-f165b0b83e6303ef773af0694155fbac146c43a8/MyFiles/Downloads/2019-20-PL-Handbook-020819.pdf

    If this question went to arbitration, which is where it could well end up, I am confident that the 'end of the season' was not reached and therefore Norwich, Villa and Bournemouth (as it stands) could not be relegated. As the Handbook is silent on the question  of an early termination of the season, the arbitrator would make a decision based on what was 'within the contemplation of the parties', when the rules were agreed. It would be sensible to decide that a premature ending of the season was not within the contemplation of the parties, therefore the season has not 'ended'. It could be carried over until after the pandemic has largely passed, but that will ear into season 2020/21.

    It would also be unfair to deem the season 'ended' until every team had played every other team twice, as has been the practice for 150 years. There is probably a precedent to refer to. When World War Two broke out, (Sept 1939?) I have a feeling that the league calendar was abandoned and the records were expunged. 

    Pleasingly, Leeds United and others can howl at the moon and stamp their little feet, but they equally cannot claim a promotion for an incomplete season.

    So, for those of us that believe City have been dreadfully unlucky all season, karma might be just around the next corner. 

     

     

  13. Posted

    8 minutes ago, Keith Scott said:

    Complete waste of a shirt. Worst signing in NCFC history. Must have something on Farke. Who wants to go next? 

    Thanks in advance,  Keith Scott. 

    This poster is having a laugh at our expense by polluting the atmosphere.

    Surely that's not what this board is for and something should be done about it. I'm a total optimist and I always enjoy my football, and there should be no place for this.

  14. Posted

    I believe Kenny will start tomorrow. Nothing would please Chris Wilder more than for Sheff Utd to hang a couple of free kicks / corners up beyond the far post and for one of his six footers to beat us at the far post to claim an easy 2-0 win. We need Kenny to take that zone with very explicit instructions that it his his job to get in a good challenge.

    It's how they made monkeys of us in the home game. It's how Vertonghen got his goal. It's too obvious to ignore.

    Otherwise. I think Todd gets a rest tomorrow after two games where he has run himself into the ground.

    To me it looked like Emi had cramp in both legs - agonising when it happens but quickly recovered. If he's not fit, I fancy another chance for Steipermann as there have been brief signs that he may be recovering some sort of form. OTBC, more than ever!

     

  15. Posted

    2 minutes ago, jaberry2 said:

    I thought he was probably our best player.

    I cannot bring myself to choose between our back four and Tim, plus Todd and Emi as our best player on the night. 

    Jamal has taken one small step backwards then two massive strides forwards. He now looks at peace with being out there. Whereas Max came into the side and has been consistently outstanding from Day One, Jamal has taken longer to get to grips with it, but conversely he has more potential to develop than with any of our young stars other than Todd.

    Players are not machines. Jamal has taken a while to de-stress his game and he's now pushing on again towards a golden future. You cannot coach the pace and physical attributes which Jamal has.

  20. Posted

    15 minutes ago, sonyc said:

    Reading about aged rockstars yesterday, I think we may start to see fewer reunion tours because insurance companies are increasingly reticent to back them! 

    It is a basic principle of all insurance cover that the Insured shall behave like a 'prudent uninsured'. You've got me wondering how Keith Richards answers that particular question when the Stones go on the road!!!

    • Haha 1

  21. Posted

    1 hour ago, Grando said:

    This thread did get me wondering what would happen if a Premier League player tested positive. Presumably then the whole squad would have to be quarantined for 14 days (and any team the affected player played against in that period)? Which would obviously have ramifications for fixture completion.

    Why just Premier League? Why not any team sport at any level? Obviously if it happened at a PL club such as Norwich, group training would be suspended, games would be canceled and a view would have to be taken regarding other teams that we had come into contact with.

    The fact is, we know next to nothing about coronavirus, so the next few months will be nothing if not interesting.

    Perhaps a prolonged spell of hot weather will come to our rescue in early summer but that's a long way off. The warmer it gets, the more difficult the conditions are for many viruses. The coronavirus is surrounded by a layer of fat. This layer is not very heat-resistant, which means that the virus quickly breaks down when temperatures rise to about 27 degrees. Other viruses, such as the norovirus, are more stable because they consist mainly of proteins and genetic material.

    So why not introduce heat tunnels or similar for the mass population? (Or, selfishly, at places such as Colney Lane?) Such measures must be under consideration at this very moment, It really is the stuff of science fiction.

  22. Posted

    The point is Teemu, that over the next couple of months EFL clubs could all take a hit of (plucking a random figure out of the air) £2million. 

    We know how close to the financial edge a number of clubs operate, and if they have exhausted all of their lines of credit, or if they are not prepared to take a big hit, then what are their options?

    It doesn't take loads of deaths. In fact it doesn't take any deaths at all. It just takes the Department of Health to recommend that public assembly be restricted in order to slow the spread of the virus.

     

     

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  23. Posted

    If public assembly is restricted, EFL clubs could lose up to 25% of their projected gate receipt sales for 2019/20, assuming ST holders will be entitled to refunds. What happens beyond this season is anyone's guess.

    Employment contacts will still have to be honoured, for their duration unless force majeure exemptions can be applied. Most other overheads will continue to accrue, including debt payments.

    It only dawned on me this morning that many club owners will have no choice but to liquidate their clubs immediately as they will become unviable overnight. It could be carnage.

     

     

     

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    On 21/02/2020 at 22:03, Upo said:

    Well, let's see if we can make Pugin's scenario happen:

    We need to score theoretically at the very minimum 6 goals, in 6 games where we also keep a clean sheet. Norwich has scored on average 0,92 goals per game. There's 12 games left. 11 goals. Do you think that amongst those 11 goals we can't find 6 games where we let in 1 less than the opponent? Suddenly doesn't sound so impossible...

    There's another thing. It has nearly zero predictive value towards any single game, but over the long run...Norwich as a whole has underperformed its xGs. There is bound to be a correction eventually. It's probably worth a few goals above our current trend, meaning we could expect to score 13 or even 14. Half of the goals are going to come from the Pukki, Cantwell, Duda trio. The other half the rest of the team needs to pick up.

    The signs are in the air that I can imagine such chain of events materializing. But the chances are low. A convincing win on Sunday and it's a whole another outlook.

    Well, I don't know about Upo's machinations, but that will do for a start 🙂

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