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National League null and void

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4 hours ago, Barry Brockes said:

What clout do UEFA actually have? I thought Belgium announced yesterday that their season has finished and Bruges have been declared Champions. Promotions and relegations to be decided by a Committee. 

Yes indeed, seems to me like each nations football authorities have the right to determine what action to take as regards how things stand at present, UEFA can only wave their big stick and threaten possible non participation in next seasons European tournaments if  nations  decide to take certain actions like ending this current season. So be it i say,  seem like many still have not grasped how long this pandemic will last, the possibility of football action in July is fanciful at best.

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On 29/03/2020 at 18:09, Daz Sparks said:
On 29/03/2020 at 17:51, JF said:

LDC in contrary position shocker...

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.

 

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15 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

And since the PL announcement today, with them pumping £125m into football leagues,  being shown to be fairly accurate with his assessment.

 

What assessment would that be? 
The money is an advance of solidarity payments, parachute payments and academy grants. It’s money they were due to get down the line, they haven’t just given it to them 

Edited by JF

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So the announcement is that the PL and EFL are postponed indefinitely and will only resume when it’s Completely  safe to do so and within the guidelines of the government and medical advisers. My conclusion from that is that once the calendar gets to a certain point and we still can’t restart, the PL and EFL will use the government’s guidelines as an escape route from this problem and say they can’t get the season completed 

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The EFL statement 

 

 

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the EFL, Premier League, FA and Barclays FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship has today collectively agreed to postpone its football competitions until it is safe to resume.

Football is committed in supporting the Government’s efforts in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak and the staging of football matches in this country. It is clearly something that simply cannot happen at this time. The thoughts of everyone associated with the EFL and its member Clubs are with anyone currently affected by the coronavirus.

The situation will be kept under constant review with matches only returning at an appropriate point and based on the latest guidance provided by the relevant Government departments and health authorities.

The EFL also notes and appreciates the decision taken today by the Premier League in respect of the short-term financial relief it is to provide EFL Clubs through the advancement of solidarity payments, parachute payments and Academy Grants. These actions will have a positive impact on individual Clubs across our three divisions at a difficult and uncertain time

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Donating £20m to the NHS and £125m to the non-EPL clubs is a good start EPL. 

Now just cancel the remaining games and void the season and have done with it. 

 

Over to you Sky... are you going to ask for the TV rights money back now?

 

Edited by Surfer

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What are Premier League and English football's options amid coronavirus?

By Simon Stone

BBC Sport

  • 43 minutes ago
  • From the sectionFootball
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Ball on seats

The can has been kicked down the road.

Given the growing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, England's football bodies met on Friday and decided they had little option other than to extend the current suspension - initially set for 3 April and then 30 April - until "it is safe and appropriate to do so".

The decision prolongs the uncertainty at clubs across the professional spectrum, where incomes have dried up almost completely.

It means the FA Cup will be stuck at the quarter-final stage for a bit longer, promotion and relegation issues are unresolved and Liverpool nervously await the chance to complete their first league title triumph since 1990.

But while nothing seems to be happening, plenty of conversations are occurring and scenarios for concluding the historic 2019-20 are being discussed.

Fundamentally though, these are the five options on the table and why each one presents its own problems.

Null and void the season

This was - and continues to be - the last resort. Across all four leagues, the domestic campaign has only nine matches left, which could, in theory, be completed in the space of four weeks.

Given that backdrop, why would anyone - ulterior motives excepted - want to get rid of the work put in over the previous seven months and pretend it never happened?

It is a question clubs across the non-league have been asking since the Football Association rendered their campaign null and void from level three to level six on 26 March.

The theory is this. The shutdown has hit a point where the gap between past fixtures and forthcoming ones is so great it brings up numerous concerns, such as:

  • contracts for players and sponsors
  • the threat of further shutdown
  • apathy from broadcasters and the paying public 

In short, it is easier and more cost-effective to look ahead to a new season rather than dwell on what has gone before.

In public, no-one has seriously talked about this scenario since West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady was accused of self-interest by using her newspaper column to say it was "the only fair thing to do" last month.

But the spectre is there. As executives talk about the season finishing "if at all possible", the implication it won't be possible is left hanging.

At least one club official who, a fortnight ago, was insisting the campaign would be concluded, is now admitting it might not be.

The working groups trying to find a resolution on behalf of Europe's governing body UEFA, the European Clubs' Association and the European Leagues have heard the chatter too. In addition, they are desperate to prevent the cancellation of the Belgian triggering a domino effect.

Their letter to associations, leagues and clubs has pleaded for time - mid-May - to come up with a solution. It also contained a stark warning. Leagues that end prior to completion - as Belgium has done - risk not being allowed into next season's Champions and Europa Leagues.

End the season now

image.gif.26cec55e06426e29d619d723a2213c65.gif

The difference with this compared to null and void is that points achieved to this point do count. To even up the balance wherever clubs have played a different number of games, average number of points per game will be used to decide positions.

This would result in a minor shift in positions. Arsenal would nudge ahead of Tottenham for instance, as would Sheffield United, into sixth, above Wolves. The biggest difference would be in League One, where Wycombe would leap from eighth into third - and potentially a promotion slot if play-offs were scrapped.

However, Aston Villa, 19th in the Premier League, two points from safety with a game in hand, could argue that denying them the chance to play that extra match was effectively relegating them.

They could also point out that, with six of their remaining 10 games to be played at Villa Park, they fancied their chances of getting out of trouble.

The same is also true of promotion. None of the significant positions in the Championship would change, but would Fulham just accept finishing third - six points adrift of West Brom - if only two teams went up as has been suggested? Would Brentford and Nottingham Forest - four points behind Fulham - accept finishing fourth?

As BBC Sport was told by a legal expert, there will be winners and losers - and almost certainly the losers will look to get the situation overturned.

The best way of mitigating that risk is to have an open vote which returns a clear majority.

Set a deadline for completion

On the face of it, this seems wholly reasonable and 30 June was an obvious date for it, a cut-off point at which time the season ends, no matter what the position.

The reason for 30 June is contractual. Player contracts run to that point. Sponsorship deals, like the kit deal Liverpool have with Nike, around which major marketing campaigns are planned, take effect from that point.

If the 2019-20 season goes beyond that point, it becomes tricky.

With players, it is likely, through world governing body Fifa and global players' union Fifpro, rolling extensions to contracts will be implemented.

But there is no legal requirement to sign them. What would happen if a player refused? After all, denying someone the right to change employers in an agreement the competition rules state can specifically happen, is a clear restraint of trade.

What would happen if a player suffered an injury in a match or training session after 30 June which prevented them taking up a contract that had already been agreed and not signed? 

With the kits, do Liverpool carry on wearing their current one or move to their new design? If the answer is the former, how do Nike feel about the club achieving their first league success in three decades, with all the publicity that would come with it, after a point that their own deal has taken effect but without any of their branding attached.

Play behind closed doors

The two major reasons put forward for why outstanding matches have to be played are upholding the integrity of the competitions and fulfilling broadcasting obligations - reports suggest the latter is more pressing for those concerned.

Playing groups of games at quarantined training grounds, or behind closed doors at a neutral venue or even taking them to other countries are ideas that seem desperate. And it pays little thought to the practicalities of medical and broadcast personnel, particularly as, at the same time, the collective word from clubs and leagues is that health comes first.

Given the likelihood is that current restrictions on movement will eventually be removed gradually and with extreme caution, it is almost certain that the first domestic matches on resumption will be played behind closed doors.

Then, the Premier League would at least be able to negotiate with domestic - not overseas as they already get additional games - broadcasters Sky and BT by offering more live games than is stipulated within their contracts.

In their joint letter, Uefa, the ECA and the Leagues have indicated domestic competitions will be played before pan-European ones, which means games could take place every day and at any time.

The season that goes on and on

Many - possibly the majority - feel the game should take its place among the things that do not matter in the midst of a global health crisis. Let the medical experts and the NHS get on with their jobs, wait for the green light and, whenever that comes, pick up where it left off and finish off all the competitions accordingly.

Yet this feeds uncertainty. Thousands of jobs - far beyond the players - are directly or indirectly involved in the game. The Premier League alone generates well in excess of £3bn in tax revenue - a reason why it is in the government's interests for the game to restart.

If, for instance, the 2019-20 season finished in December, what happens to the 2020-21 campaign? How does that fit into the rest of Europe?

In truth, while the Premier League does have autonomy in the decisions it makes, there has to be some collaboration with Uefa as the European and domestic calendars are so interlinked - and will continue to be so long after 2021.

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12 minutes ago, JF said:

The season that goes on and on

Many - possibly the majority - feel the game should take its place among the things that do not matter in the midst of a global health crisis. Let the medical experts and the NHS get on with their jobs, wait for the green light and, whenever that comes, pick up where it left off and finish off all the competitions accordingly.

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.

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27 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

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.

That’s how many feel. But it remains to be seen what outcomes are likely. I am leaning towards us getting ****ed over and the positions standing with legal battles then commencing. If it went to a vote as the article suggest we’d lose as every one outside the bottom 3 would likely vote in favour. Also next season can’t start “very late” as the Euros have been moved to next summer

Edited by JF

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By acknowledging that football can not restart at the beginning of May the idea of finishing by June 30 is now effectively off the table.

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There will come a point when finishing this season actually costs the game more money than cancelling it, as it will impact on next season.

Its impossible to finish one season and go straight into the next as drawing up new contracts for many things, organising dates for all next season matches ( which must be a huge job in itself as there are others outside football to consider in that) all have to be done.

How long are they prepared to consider going past 30 June in finishing the season? I would suggest that is the common sense cut off point in every respect.

 

 

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The body bags are racking up. There is not a cats chance in hell of all leagues completing by 30/6.

FFS we haven't even hit the peak yet and probably 2-4 weeks away. You have to overlay events of COVID-19 and the EPL seems to be living in a bubble and stringing clubs along. There is not a sporting event this side of July that hasn't been cancelled.

It's bordering on the disrespectful really.

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If the season is cancelled what is going to happen to all of that free female sanitary wears that robin Sainty so energetically campaigned for just a few short months ago?

do they have a use by date on them?

its a big worry for the canary trust that is for sure 

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My reading of the BBC article is Null & Void is the only realistic out come.  Let's crack on with the transfer window now - something that can be done virtually, the bookies have a market to generate profits and it gives a reason for people to restart their Sky subscription.  Everyone's a winner.

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2 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

By acknowledging that football can not restart at the beginning of May the idea of finishing by June 30 is now effectively off the table.

Another in-effect certainty: if the Uefa timetable of finishing the season in July and August came to pass then it would be imposible, not least because of World Cup qualifying weekends and the rescheduled Euros, to have a full 2020-21 season of league and domestic and European cup competitions. Either the number of league games would have to be reduced or the cups scrapped and/or severely cut back, or even possibly both.

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4 hours ago, lake district canary said:

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.

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.

 

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11 hours ago, Creative Midfielder said:
17 hours ago, lake district canary said:

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.

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.

Not a lot to argue with there CM. 

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Just to add to this, i live in the Midlands and i know a number of the Wolves players (most Portuguese) are back in Portugal and have been since before the lockdown. At what point will they be able to travel again?  I beleive that Farke is or was back in Germany too. They all have family to consider.

Its a certainty that any travel across borders once lockdwon is relaxed, will require some sort of health certificate, possibly for a year or two.

I cannot see football being allowed to bypass any new travel restrictions in place.

 

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12 hours ago, Creative Midfielder said:
17 hours ago, lake district canary said:

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.

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. 

Edited by lake district canary

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16 hours ago, Uncle Fred said:

If the season is cancelled what is going to happen to all of that free female sanitary wears that robin Sainty so energetically campaigned for just a few short months ago?

do they have a use by date on them?

its a big worry for the canary trust that is for sure 

Just in case you were actually serious, most sanitary products have a use by date of 3 years from the date of manufacture. No worries there. 🥱

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17 hours ago, Creative Midfielder said:

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by PurpleCanary

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17 hours ago, Creative Midfielder said:

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.

 

 

 

I agree with all of CM’s post, apart perhaps from the last line. With Uefa and the EPL having just had meetings now might be the time to take stock. All parties say they want a completing-the-season solution that respects the integrity of football. But have differing rationales. 

For English football below the EPL it means completing the various divisions and the FA Cup provided that can be done without permanent damage to the system by way of clubs going bust.

For the EPL it means a combination of avoiding having to pay hundreds of millions of pounds to the TV companies for breach of contract, avoiding losing multi-million pound players for nothing, cementing a TV deal for next season, and keeping in with Uefa so clubs are allowed into the Champions League and the Europa League.

If that can be achieved in conjunction with the lower leagues, so there is promotion and relegation through the pyramid, fine. But if the Championship cannot be played to a finish the EPL will live with that. What matters are those European positions.

For Uefa it is irrelevant whether the lower leagues in England or anywhere else are completed. The only imperative is that the top flights, and especially the major five, sort out their European qualifying slots.

And these differing rationales produce differing chronologies for these sectors. Below the EPL the necessity is for clarity and stability and a plan for next season as soon as possible, plus if need be some rescue-package money from the EPL or elsewhere. It is justified to laugh at Derby County, who are the creators of their own troubles, but clubs that have tried to stick to the rules and be financially prudent will also be at risk.

For the EPL there is the deadline of July 16 to complete their season, or risk that having to pay those TV contract rebates of up to £762m, although there has been a hint from the TV companies, never ones to let a global crisis hinder their deal-making, that they might waive the right to the money provided they are allowed to show more live matches next season.
 

That apart, given that finishing the season by June 30 is now in effect a dead duck, the aim must be to  get it done as soon as possible, so they can plan (‘plan’ being the operative word, given how the virus might not have gone away, or might have gone and come back) a full 38-game season for 2020-21, with lots of matches to televise.

That could probably be achieved by losing only one month, so completing this season by the end of July or very early August, having a month for rest and a transfer window, and starting again in early September.

What seems close to impossible, given World Cup qualifiers and the fixed point of the rescheduled Euros, would be to fit in a full EPL, EFL, FA Cup and Euro cups season into the Uefa plan of completing in July and August and restarting in October.

So the EPL, especially at the top end, is likely to be conflicted between completing in time to try to have a full next season and accepting the Uefa delay to ensure places in the Champions League.   

Complicating the argument is the fear that the obvious alternative, of scrapping the season now, or very soon, in order to have a full season next time could be made stupid because the virus plays havoc later this year and into next, so you end up with two ruined seasons. If there is a certainty (the LDC argument) it is that this season can be finished sooner or later, even if later is much later, and with damage to the league structure.

For Uefa its plan would necessitate shortening the over-lengthy preambles to the Champions League and Europa League, but an October start could ensure that they were then both played out pretty normally, with a group and a knockout stage, so taking up many of the midweek slots in the calendar. Uefa have already made plain their priority is the Champions League by issuing the threat – if a bluff it would need to be called - that leagues which don’t complete will be barred.

If there was a unanimous timetable then making a decision on whether to complete and if so when would be comparatively easy, but there is not. Added to which, no-one can say for how much longer the virus will make football physically impossible by way of clubs having to isolate, or possible for players but not spectators, so behind closed doors, or what the government’s assessment would be if the football authorities thought it was feasible to resume.

One report in the Mail said restarting was not regarded as potentially a drain on essential medical and emergency services, but whether the government realises just how many matches would be involved in completing the whole pyramid is a question. It may have imagined only the EPL. And one can imagine public opinion being torn between moral disgust at football being prioritised over death and private pleasure at its return.

I have been among those who predicted the season would be scrapped. On the medical/moral basis that football could not/should not carry on, with the specific argument that going beyond June 30 would cause major logistical and financial problems. Not so sure now.

If there was one chronology driving events I would be more confident of scrapping. But that there isn’t enables decisions to be kept on being postponed. And the truth is that the sector that needs the quickest decision, and probably a decision to scrap, that below the EPL, is the weakest in terms of football politics.

I can see a scenario in which the uncertainty over the virus and these varying chronologies (especially Uefa’s) means a decision is put off so long (and I don’t think it would have to be for that much longer – say only another month) that it becomes impossible to have a full next season, making the argument to complete this one hard to resist.

-

 

 

Edited by PurpleCanary

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Haven't read all this thread so apologies if it's already been mentioned..........

One interesting logical outcome of null and voiding this season is that Bury would have to be reinstated in the EFL. 

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5 hours ago, lake district canary said:

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. 

Likewise - you are right in many ways but, and it's quite a big but, the 'nonsense world of power and politics' does have an impact, a very big impact, on what the normality of everyday life looks like for most of us - whether we are poor, vulnerable or reasonably comfortable we are all affected by politics and political decisions, only a tiny minority are wealthy enough or powerful enough to be immune.

But like you I very much look forward to getting back to some kind of normality without the current restrictions and threat of a deadly disease but I am also hoping that it won't just be business as usual and that there will be some real changes as a result of this crisis which will improve things for us all.

Seems to me there are whole range of things that might be possible based on our experience of this crisis: the most obvious is perhaps that we might place a much higher value on our public and emergency services and reverse the relentless degradation of them that has gone on for many years now.

Perhaps the only positive facet of the current crisis is that even after a very short lockdown we are already getting a glimpse of how much better our future would be if we actually got serious about de-carbonising our economy and slashing other forms of pollution. Governments all over the world are going to spend huge amounts of money to restart their economies and how they choose to do it could have a huge impact for the better on our longer term future but only if they choose to do it wisely rather than simply rush to return to business as usual which I fear will be the default setting.

In the case of the UK we also need to avoid a return to BAU because we desperately need to rebalance our economy. Governments have recognised this for years but failed to do anything about it - now is the perfect opportunity to get serious about it.

I'm sure there are many other things we could learn from this crisis and change for the better, those are just the first three that occur to me.

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£762m reasons to complete season.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52168692

How much would it cost PL if 20/21 delayed/shortened by the months it will take to complete 19/20.

£762m could be the cheapest option so far, I am sure the £762m can be mitigated by making offerings to broadcasters for future seasons but will put a dent in PL finances.  This could be last year on the gravy train. 

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£762m could be the cheapest option so far, I am sure the £762m can be mitigated by making offerings to broadcasters for future seasons but will put a dent in PL finances.  This could be last year on the gravy train. 

The broadcasters cannot push it too much. There are other mediums and companies out there just waiting.

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As long as the scent of money remains the EPL will continue to pursue the idea of playing to conclusion. With the prospect of what is to come I think the optics of this approach will look  increasingly bad to the overwhelming majority of the population. A festival of football while thousands are dying is unlikely to garner popular approval.

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Whatever is the result the PL product will be a cheaper option.  There maybe other providers willing to take PL.  Traditionally SKY and BT in UK with 1,000's watching in pubs and clubs not sure Amazon, Netflix or any internet based platform  will be as popular as watching football down the pub sitting at home watching on your smart phone or pc.  And speaking of pubs and clubs if PL resumes and government insists pubs stay closed expect rebates on subscriptions to be claimed from PL in addition to those broadcasters.

If behind closed doors for end of July when will the players be able to return for preseason this seems an unlikely prospect get ready for season 19/20 to be cancelled.

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On 04/04/2020 at 12:04, Mr Angry said:

Just in case you were actually serious, most sanitary products have a use by date of 3 years from the date of manufacture. No worries there. 🥱

Is that with no strings attached?......

  • Haha 1

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It´s being reported locally that the 3rd august might be the last possible date for the champions league and UEFA league finals. I think this is one mans opinion rather than set in stone, though

https://www.ruv.is/frett/2020/04/05/meistaradeildin-klarist-fyrir-3-agust

 

Edit - the man is the president of UEFA

Edited by How I Wrote Elastic Man

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