lake district canary

Not able to go to the match, that match was still one of those "I can remember where I was when" moments. So a Monday evening at home, the living room at home was a no go area, everything covered with sheets while being decorated, so we were all crowded into the kitchen with a black and white TV, waiting for Anglia TV to flash up the scores, which they duly did. A lot of tension and anticipation waiting to find out the final score, until around 9.20 when the final score was revealed we all went ballistic. Great day for a Norwich supporter!

I'm afraid I disagree with all of that - normality has failed nearly all of us at so many levels over the last decade that I'm really hoping that we don't get back to normal at any stage, ever. The 2008 crisis was of a completely different nature but it was entirely possible we were heading into a repeat of it except Covid 19 got there first - either way its clear that we, and many other countries, have endured a miserable decade and learned absolutely nothing from 2008. Getting back to normal has been a complete failure for almost all of us, we are financially, socially, politically worse off and our public services are crumbling......, and then Covid hits us. So I don't want to go back to normal I want to go forward to a period where people actually engage their brains rather than lap up the nonsense served up by our current leadership of liars and chancers. To actually have some genuine leadership which tries to honestly address the myriad issues our society faces - a few politicians with a moral compass would be a good start. I know its tall order but personally I've had enough of the sh*tshow of the last few years and the idea of getting back to normal makes me want to chuck - as my Aussie relatives would say! As for the football, this season was over weeks ago and should be nulled immediately. Let's hope we can still have a proper next season starting in August but more likely September - wrecking next season as well in an attempt to complete this one makes no sense to me at all and IMO just isn't going to happen. While I agree with many of your sentiments, my post is about normality in everyday life, not the nonsense world of power and politics. Everyday life for all of us means being able to go out when we want, see friends when we want, be able to go to the shops and think there might be the food we want to buy there, to be able to visit places of beauty, to be able to go to the cinema and theatre, to have sport happen again, for kids to go to school and for people to be able to step outside without fear or guilt. That is what returning to normal means - and football is a big part of many people's lives, whether its premier league or your local town or village football club. So returning to normal with the completion of the season for at least the four main leagues is desireable in that sense. And as for next season, it is going to be impacted whatever happens.

This is how I feel. Life will go on as normal at some stage and nothing better than being able to resume and complete unfinished business. We are all living in such a difficult time that there is re-assurance that things will eventually be able to carry on as much as normal as possible. I still think we can escape relegation and the team imo deserves the chance to see it played out. Yes, it will be flawed and not as satisfactory as if it could have been finished now, but it does offer continuity and completion with a smooth transition to the following season. Next season - and we need to get used the idea - is going to start late, maybe very late and that will present it's own problems, but it can be done.

You can envision his heels digging in with every new post JF. And since the PL announcement today, with them pumping £125m into football leagues, being shown to be fairly accurate with his assessment.

No it's not fake news. And yes they did increase it for the last election. We all know the tories have been doing it for years, but it was inneffective in May's campaign (partly due to May herself) so they ramped it up big time for Boris's campaign. Labour just didn't have a leg to stand on - they shot their bolt with the huge social media campaign in May's election and it very nearly worked, but have had nothing to offer since then and they have been worse than a wet fish as a political force ever since.

Next season is already at risk. Football might not start again until late this year - October or November and possibly even not until next year, so on the timescale and uncertainty we are dealing with, it might be best to keep options open.

Under the circumstances, if people want to know where they stand, what better than knowing that games will carry on as normal on a timescale that will be dictated by events? In the meantime they - and we - all have to find a way of keeping things going until such time as things get more back to normal. It is going to get difficult for many clubs right through the leagues and there is no one solution. Pin costs right back is the main thing and yes to players taking pay cuts is one way of keeping costs down when there is no income, but really, for most lesser clubs, it will mean scrimping and saving, losing players who are out of contract in June, etc etc. It's going to be tough and it will take football years to get back to where it was, but I don't see that voiding this season makes any difference to that.

It's not though, is it. In many walks of life things have been put on hold. Some one off events have been cancelled, but others have been postponed. I'm involved in a theatre project that we had to choose to either cancel or postpone. We decided to postpone so all the hard work we have done so far could be put to good use when things return to normal. The contracts that were in place for that have been altered and left open ended date wise to accomodate the uncertainty of when that might be. The sense of purpose is there that the work will be completed - if we had cancelled, we still could not plan another event because of the uncertainty - and that is the same for football, cancel it and things are still uncertain......except that you have messed up the one thing that keeps things going - the ongoing season to season relegations and promotions. Smooth transition into carrying on is what needs to be in place and postponing the games then fulfilling them when the time is right is the best way to go. Money? Of course money is involved, but it is not everything and never will be.

Yeah, mirroring a Donald Trump quote (intentionally or not) really helps your argument. This whole thing is a stunning false equivalence. I don't know what Trump has said, I just assume everything he says is just noise and I don't listen. It's the holier than thou aspect of all this that gets me. I literally had to stop using facebook during the Theresa May election so full of false rubbish coming from labour supporters being trolled on there - it beggared belief how much there was. Then the tories fought back in the next election in their own inimitable way with their fake news adverts and blatant electioneering from day one of Boris becoming leader. Yes, they were wrong, maybe illegal even and it needs to be faced up to by the tories, but they will get away with it and they've got what they wanted out of it anyway. Crying about it just makes the opposition look even smaller. Best they turn their attention to how they are going to get a decent leader or re-organise so that we get a decent alternative put forward to us at the next election, or if they are not careful we will be stuck with the tories for many years to come.

Don't know why talking about the future of football is self indulgent. Money is involved, of course it is, but there is a lot more to it than that. We are in an international crisis for sure and I don't think anyone is belittling that, but things have to go on afterwards and the integrity of football in terms of relegation and promotion issues is important for when football eventually returns. Voiding this season just creates problems for the future, whereas putting it on hold until such time it can return would seem a more rational thing to do, leading more smoothly into the following season. The timescale for that will emerge as the crisis lessens, maybe in 6 months, maybe longer. Once voided there is no going back, putting it on hold leaves the option open to fulfil the fixtures and make it easier to move on afterwards.

I agree, I'm just asking that people look at both sides and see that there are faults on both sides.

I really don't see any certainty in either scenario. I see nothing wrong in principle in finishing the season at a later date and then going into next season late. Even if it was to be voided next season is liable to start late, so late in fact that it will be difficult to fit everything in like cups, internationals etc etc. There is a scenario where the ban on large gatherings may be in place for a lot longer, setting the date back for football maybe until next year. In that situation next season may have to be cancelled as well and if that happens, the best scenario would be to pick up where we left off, finish the games in the Spring next year, so that the season starting in August 2021 can start as normal with all relegation and promotion issues sorted where they should be - on the pitch. The truth is we just don't know, so making any hard and fast decisions now could be a mistake. Imo, simpest thing is to put everything on hold until the situation becomes clearer, which might be some time, then make what is the best decision at that time. It leaves an element of uncertainty there for sure, but at least it leaves all options open and then the right decisions can be made at the right time.

Well for me they are both as bad as each other and I have certainly not been 'had' . The way the tories have behaved is abominable and the alleged lies and deceit should be called out in a public enquiry. But it changes nothing - we are stuck with brexit and we are stuck with Boris - they got away with it. Labour continually tried to swamp the country with lies and deceit too, mainly through social media which for me was reprehensible and it almost worked in the Theresa May general election - but it didn't work in the last one because Boris and his crew had a way of countering the social media campaign with their own brand of lies and deceit. Its much like those that are for Labour can only see good on their side and bad on the other side, but it is astonishing that the public is so easily duped on both sides. We are stuck with the tories for the foreseeable future and it is hoped they can see us through this difficult time.....the best thing Labour could do is stop blaming the tories for everything and sort themselves out, recognise their own faults and then we might get a decent opposition that in conjunction with the other lesser parties might be able to offer a decent alternative in five years time.

There is evidence in the BBC report already cited https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50726500 Tories bad on paid for ads, labour supporters bad for shared misinformation. Thanks for that, so my rambling wasn't without substance, Bill take note.

Well done. Got it in one.