Press considers resumption unlikely

[Bill 1,788]

14 minutes ago, JF said:

The latest plan I’ve seen is Manchester City’s training ground for teams up north, St George’s park and Wembley but as I’ve said a few times now I’d like to know where we stand regarding relegation with all this? The integrity of the competition has gone, we will now play our remaining ‘home’ matches in a neutral behind closed doors venue and if the championship doesn’t conclude but the PL does how can the relegation/Promotion contract that’s in place not have been broken? 

and if it does ?

[JF 694]

Italian government has this evening allowed teams to return to training on May 18th and have said that a possible return to matches will be decided at a later date

[JF 694]

1 minute ago, Bill said:

and if it does ?

The Championship needs 56 days apparently to complete its season and I’ve not seen any plans in place like the PL’s 3 stadium plan. But if it does then we better hope we’re better behind closed doors at a neutral venue than we have been anywhere else!

[Indy 3,283]

1 minute ago, JF said:

Italian government has this evening allowed teams to return to training on May 18th and have said that a possible return to matches will be decided at a later date

It’s nice to see things moving forwards, of course with restrictions, but good on Italy to allow training to return. Games even behind closed doors could bring additional challenges with staff required to support any games being played.

Hopefully we’ll see some forms of normality here soon too.

[JF 694]

 

[The Real Buh 3,423]

Restart the season behind closed doors

1 player/coach/physio/kit man gets ill and it’s game over again.

Any shenanigans of any kind from teams or the league and you are going to get hammered 

Sorry Liverpool, it’s over.

[Barry Brockes 145]

The noises coming from Boris in the press yesterday and Rabb on Andrew Marr this morning both very much suggest that the government will not stand in the way of the season being completed if there's any chance that it can be. I'm beginning to think it's more likely than not that it will be if at all possible. 

[damn that Ralph Coates! 47]

I agree. Sadly behind closed doors, there will be matches played

[Bill 1,788]

1 minute ago, Barry Brockes said:

The noises coming from Boris in the press yesterday and Rabb on Andrew Marr this morning both very much suggest that the government will not stand in the way of the season being completed if there's any chance that it can be. I'm beginning to think it's more likely than not that it will be if at all possible. 

I suspect the arrangements have long been in place, but it has been deemed that now and before was not the time to announce how it will work

a measure of that will be how soon after the 'games behind closed doors' starts after the announcement

As I said a month ago, the relaxation will come as a gentle and progressive easing rather than some ' hear ye now' announcement that outlines everything in detail

[Surfer 1,547]

I can see Boris returning tomorrow like the prodigal son will want to have sports back on, as it'll show how well he's managed everything; however the virus doesn't care about that. They may start this scheme, but it won't finish. There is bound to be transmission between players.

He may be better off focusing on cricket. It has the double advantage of greater separation between the players and it doesn't have any foreigners playing it - British (one Irishman) and Commonwealth only. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Surfer

[First Wazzock 902]

I really fail to see how it can restart. Playing the game will result in Social Distancing not being maintained - fans in the ground or no fans in the ground -  one person goes down with it, it's game over for everyone.

 

[Rich T The Biscuit 562]

1 minute ago, First Wazzock said:

I really fail to see how it can restart. Playing the game will result in Social Distancing not being maintained - fans in the ground or no fans in the ground -  one person goes down with it, it's game over for everyone.

 

Exactly.

There is no way that the PL can put themselves at risk of players catching it because they decided it was ok to come back if everyone else is still being told to social distance.

Imagine a player catches it and dies. What if players don't want to play, what happens to the remaining fixtures if a team gets it and cant field a team as they are all quarantined (which they would have to be as they have potentially been exposed 🤷‍♂️

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,777]

14 minutes ago, Rich T The Biscuit said:

Exactly.

There is no way that the PL can put themselves at risk of players catching it because they decided it was ok to come back if everyone else is still being told to social distance.

Imagine a player catches it and dies. What if players don't want to play, what happens to the remaining fixtures if a team gets it and cant field a team as they are all quarantined (which they would have to be as they have potentially been exposed 🤷‍♂️

More likely that a player would pass it to a vulnerable person than dying themselves, which from a PR point of view is arguably worse.

[Bill 1,788]

35 minutes ago, Surfer said:

I can see Boris returning tomorrow like the prodigal son will want to have sports back on, as it'll show how well he's managed everything; however the virus doesn't care about that. They may start this scheme, but it won't finish. There is bound to be transmission between players.

He may be better off focusing on cricket. It has the double advantage of greater separation between the players and it doesn't have any foreigners playing it - British (one Irishman) and Commonwealth only. 

All involved would be tested before, and any transmission would not show up until after the games given the time it takes

they will also be monitored constantly - and as callous as it is, they will be regarded as are supermarket employees, tube staff etc

And there does not seem to be the same bleats about 'social distancing' for supermarket staff, factory workers or even poor old plod

Things will loom an awful lot different in 6 weeks

[essex canary 491]

If season cancellation led to us being in the Premier League next season albeit we would need to take this season's income hit, what would the Club prefer? As a supporter I would have thought that was obvious. For Webber it seems like a get out of jail free card. Then again given the hand to mouth approach on money I am not so sure.  

[Surfer 1,547]

1 hour ago, Bill said:

All involved would be tested before, and any transmission would not show up until after the games given the time it takes

they will also be monitored constantly - and as callous as it is, they will be regarded as are supermarket employees, tube staff etc

And there does not seem to be the same bleats about 'social distancing' for supermarket staff, factory workers or even poor old plod

Things will loom an awful lot different in 6 weeks

Bill, the players are not in the Army (yet anyway) so can't be ordered to do anything they don't want to do. 

Now we can joke about goalkeepers and we can pretend there can be social distancing during training, but we all know football is still a contact / close proximity sport with lots of perspiration, coughing and spitting. 

As you can be asymptomatic and still spread it, testing does not help unless you can show everyone already caught it and is immune. Even if you take the cynical position that 9 games can be played in 2 weeks so even if it does spread so what as there will be no symptoms showing up before the games are concluded, that does not mean the players are going to go along with that. Just one positive test in any squad or pre or post match across any of the 9 games means two entire match day squads have to lockdown for two weeks. 

Ergo, the end. 

 

[dylanisabaddog 4,867]

I'm still baffled by the logistics of this. Lots of people have pointed out the obvious problem that one player getting the virus sees it all grind to a halt. The other issue is that there is no point in playing Premier League games if there is no relegation. We know Liverpool has won the League so the only things to play for now are European qualification and avoiding relegation. If you take relegation out of the equation it means that most of the games left are meaningless. I don't see how they can sell games involving unfit players who have nothing to play for with no crowd. It would be worse than watching paint dry. Who is going to watch Burnley v Everton with nothing to play for and no crowd? Not me for sure, it would be like watching a pre season friendly between 2 teams you have no interest in at all. 

That means that you have to have relegation which in turn means that the Championship games have to be played to provide the 3 promoted teams. The same scenario applies to the Championship so we would end up with all 4 divisions having to complete their games. Those games would presumably have to include play offs. 

That results in around 400 games being played in 6 weeks which is 9 or 10 games a day. All those games have a Covid risk and all would tie up essential services. I agree with Ricardo, Keelan and several others on this forum that the authorities are living in cloud cuckoo land. 

The other really big issue is the loss of home advantage in playing behind closed doors or even worse at a neutral venue. I have thought that we're going down for some time but with 5 home games left against beatable teams we probably have the most favourable run in of all the teams at the bottom of the table. The EPL claims to want to maintain the integrity of the competition by playing to the end. Quite what integrity is gained by Norwich playing home games at a neutral venue with no crowd I've no idea. In current circumstances it perhaps seems a bit churlish of me but I would be encouraging Webber to stick two fingers up and head for the courts. 

 

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

Nobody mentions the F.A. Cup (I think.)

We are in the quarter finals for the first time in ages. We have been looking good in that competition and seem made for it in many ways with our ability to fetch a result from out the top drawer on occasions.

Has this competition been voided?

If we do survive in the PL due to the season being abandoned it will,indeed, be a "get out of jail" card for the club. 

We were unlucky to be denied Europe by the Liverpool ban.We were unlucky to be relegated when they reduced the size of the Premier League to twenty teams. We were also on the wrong end of various bribery 'claims.' I seem to remember our last F.A.Cup semi-final game against Everton being affected  by the Hillsborough disaster... something about Everton players being kept ignorant of the real extent of the events and claims that the game turned on this.

Perhaps we deserve this good fortune.

[Capt. Pants 4,195]

Govt now considering 2 week quarentine for all incoming travellers. I guess there will be many EPL players and coaching staff currently outside the country. They need to get back sharpish if there is to be any hope of a resumption.

 

[JF 694]

So the latest it appears is that because of the amount of games being crammed into a short space of time and the players not having a proper pre season, Fifa are looking at a temporary rule change to allow for 5 substitutes a match. I continue to be baffled as to how relegation can still stand as the conditions of 25% of the season are changing so much. Still, apparently this is for the “integrity of the game”...

Edited April 27, 2020 by JF

[Jim Smith 2,314]

41 minutes ago, BroadstairsR said:

Nobody mentions the F.A. Cup (I think.)

We are in the quarter finals for the first time in ages. We have been looking good in that competition and seem made for it in many ways with our ability to fetch a result from out the top drawer on occasions.

Has this competition been voided?

If we do survive in the PL due to the season being abandoned it will,indeed, be a "get out of jail" card for the club. 

We were unlucky to be denied Europe by the Liverpool ban.We were unlucky to be relegated when they reduced the size of the Premier League to twenty teams. We were also on the wrong end of various bribery 'claims.' I seem to remember our last F.A.Cup semi-final game against Everton being affected  by the Hillsborough disaster... something about Everton players being kept ignorant of the real extent of the events and claims that the game turned on this.

Perhaps we deserve this good fortune.

I can only see us getting scr*wed here Broadstairs. I can see the Cup getting abandoned and a contrived solution resulting in our relegation. Unfortunately such is the financial situation I fear the club might accept such a solution if it means payment of the tv monies even if it results in relegation. 

[Jim Smith 2,314]

Ps don’t forget 85 when we were relegated after the rest of the season had finished due to Cov being allowed to play 3 games against teams on the beach. 
 

perhaps we are due that undeserved reprieve. 

[Creative Midfielder 1,985]

17 hours ago, Jim Smith said:

I’ve not really seen it discussed anywhere but would a fairish solution not be to extend the season over two years so the prem becomes a 67 game season and everyone continues from their current position so that in effect you skip to next season but Liverpool have a big gear start as do Leeds and WBA in the champ? Whereas we obviously start 7 points adrift. 
 

sure there are imperfections with the above bit surprised it’s not been mooted. 

First time I've heard this mentioned as an option and my immediate reaction is that it is one of the least worst options and certainly far better than all the ridiculous and artificial ways that have already been proposed for 'completing this season'.

Still think that the 'correct' decision is null and void simply because that reflects the reality of the current situation but if there is sufficient pressure (which there may well be from Liverpool and to a lesser extent some of the other currently well placed clubs) to continue this season in some form then this looks like far and away the most sensible and fairest solution to me.

The only other real downside with it is that we'll be stuck with our truly atrocious implementation of VAR for another season.

[Just Dan 10]

From what I could tell from Boris's speech this morning,  it seems more unlikely that we are likely to see any major relaxation of current measures for a few weeks yet. 

[Jim Smith 2,314]

The more I think about this the more I form the view that actually if the championship can’t finish then you can’t fairly promote anyone into the premier league. So In terms of “integrity” there is no point finishing the premier league if through an unfairly contrived behind closed doors set up if the championship will also not finish and there has been no discussion/proposal I’ve seen on that. 
 

which really leads you back to the conclusion that if they can’t finish all of the leagues then null and void is the only fair option. 

[JF 694]

2 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

The more I think about this the more I form the view that actually if the championship can’t finish then you can’t fairly promote anyone into the premier league. So In terms of “integrity” there is no point finishing the premier league if through an unfairly contrived behind closed doors set up if the championship will also not finish and there has been no discussion/proposal I’ve seen on that. 
 

which really leads you back to the conclusion that if they can’t finish all of the leagues then null and void is the only fair option. 

Exactly what I’ve asked throughout this thread. For promotion to be legally binding I would presume if the PL finishes and the championship doesn’t then that contract has been broken, irrelevant if the championship then try and go ppg

[Ian 1,129]

1 minute ago, JF said:

Exactly what I’ve asked throughout this thread. For promotion to be legally binding I would presume if the PL finishes and the championship doesn’t then that contract has been broken, irrelevant if the championship then try and go ppg

I consider we might end up with some sort of "finish the season" but with no relegation bodge to satisfy the requirements for UEFA qualification and TV rights., particularly if the reports on the UK Gov't being keen to restore EPL football are true.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

4 minutes ago, Ian said:

I consider we might end up with some sort of "finish the season" but with no relegation bodge to satisfy the requirements for UEFA qualification and TV rights., particularly if the reports on the UK Gov't being keen to restore EPL football are true.

If they make us finish the season behind closed doors (unfair on us I would say even if I think we have to acknowledge the chances are we would have gone down anyway) and then they allow teams to come up from the championship without completing their season then I would hope we instruct the lawyers and take it to the courts. We must not be a soft touch on this. Arguably we should be resisting the behind closed doors proposal in my view. the last I saw, games were going to be played in Manchester, Birmingham and London thus making every game an "away" game for us effectively. 

[Ian 1,129]

1 minute ago, Jim Smith said:

If they make us finish the season behind closed doors (unfair on us I would say even if I think we have to acknowledge the chances are we would have gone down anyway) and then they allow teams to come up from the championship without completing their season then I would hope we instruct the lawyers and take it to the courts. We must not be a soft touch on this. Arguably we should be resisting the behind closed doors proposal in my view. the last I saw, games were going to be played in Manchester, Birmingham and London thus making every game an "away" game for us effectively. 

Never say never with the EPL but I cannot see even them being that ridiculous...

I feel that even if the season is artificially ended, with a "festival of football", behind closed doors, substitute rule changes or whatever they come up with - I cannot see that this is in any fair a fair and natural reflection of how the season would have ended anyway. The rules would have shifted at an arbitrary point in the season. Therefore, what's the point?

If it's just to give the fans a bit of football, Liverpool their token Championship, and meet any terms of qualification to set up for next season, okay understood. If it's to determine the matter of relegation they will be rightly sued by the club and whoever goes down with us.


 

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

3 hours ago, BroadstairsR said:

Nobody mentions the F.A. Cup (I think.)

We are in the quarter finals for the first time in ages. We have been looking good in that competition and seem made for it in many ways with our ability to fetch a result from out the top drawer on occasions.

Has this competition been voided?

If we do survive in the PL due to the season being abandoned it will,indeed, be a "get out of jail" card for the club. 

We were unlucky to be denied Europe by the Liverpool ban.We were unlucky to be relegated when they reduced the size of the Premier League to twenty teams. We were also on the wrong end of various bribery 'claims.' I seem to remember our last F.A.Cup semi-final game against Everton being affected  by the Hillsborough disaster... something about Everton players being kept ignorant of the real extent of the events and claims that the game turned on this.

Perhaps we deserve this good fortune.

This didn't get much publicity but at the last virtual meeting of thr Premier League the FA got a commitment that if the EPL was played to a finish then so would the Cup be. Whether the EPL would end up honouring that is a question.

---

As to the leagues I don't believe for a moment Leagues One and Two will be played to a finish, and the Championship might well not be either. This is all about the EPL's TV money and next season's euro places.

Edited April 27, 2020 by PurpleCanary