Football in England: Government 'opens door for safe return in June'

[Making Plans 957]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52665805

[JF 694]

Are the government and the scientists on the same page here? This announcement from the culture secretary and then this at the same time.

England's deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said: "There will be small, carefully measured, step-wise approaches to see what can be achieved safely. The first of those is to return safely to training, still observing social distancing.

"We will have to see how that goes before we can even think about moving on to the return of competitive football matches."

[TIL 1010 5,246]

An utter shambles has just took another twist.

[ricardo 8,034]

33 minutes ago, Making Plans said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52665805

Completely at variance with what I heard at the daily conference.

[Capt. Pants 5,008]

Mixed messages and lack of cohesion from govt has been a common theme throughout. Bit of a shambles really.

 

[sonyc 6,144]

21 minutes ago, ricardo said:

Completely at variance with what I heard at the daily conference.

We shouldn't be surprised by now. Messages seem to be so confused, certainly not clear. One minister says one thing and then you read a slant on it the next at variance. 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,789]

When money is the driver logic and sense go out of the window. There is no logic to any restart and any resulting unnecessary risk. However , money has always talked and lobbying the government is part of the process. I suspect some of the govt are “on message” (It’s good for morale) and others are just telling it like it is (a silly idea) 
 

Unless the government stop this , By being forced to , Football will restart , behind closed doors and televised beyond the current schedule . Football is effectively a law unto itself . 
 

Don’t forget . Before the lockdown you couldn’t shake hands, but you could gob on the floor. That’s the kind of logic you are dealing with here. 

Edited May 14, 2020 by Graham Paddons Beard

[JF 694]

Meeting tomorrow on leagues 1 and 2 and Peterborough’s owner has just tweeted this statement out. So this is on behalf of the four clubs in the play off places and two others 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by JF

[sonyc 6,144]

3 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

When money is the driver logic and sense go out of the window. There is no logic to any restart and any resulting unnecessary risk. However , money has always talked and lobbying the government is part of the process. I suspect some of the govt are “on message” (It’s good for morale) and others are just telling it like it is (a silly idea) 
 

Unless the government stop this , By being forced to , Football will restart , behind closed doors and televised beyond the current schedule . Football is effectively a law unto itself . 
 

Don’t forget . Before the lockdown you couldn’t shake hands, but you could gob on the floor. That’s the kind of logic you are dealing with here. 

I agree with this....And actually think the messaging around football is being treated much the same as other things....e.g. work guidance, family. It isn't uniform (some guidance is clear, some is opaque). 

It would be great to have some very direct guidance but I can't see it coming ..... certainly not now. We have a laissez-faire government. Sometimes that is a good thing. We ought not to be too surprised then that a stronger direction will emerge. Nothing else has been communicated very strongly. The public indeed have acted themselves in advance on occasions. 

I think you're right that football is a law in itself and I would be amazed if it doesn't start ... equally surprised if the government tells them not to. Raab has already stated a restart would lift spirits. Dowden isn't the brightest of sparks if you read reports about him. I am sure he will have been lobbied so hard hence his more 'go ahead' utterances.

Yet, I also forsee lots of practical problems, many discussed in this and other threads.

And the longer this situation carries on, they'll run out of road and indecision will get to the point of risking the whole of next season.

[sonyc 6,144]

1 minute ago, JF said:

Meeting tomorrow on leagues 1 and 2 and Peterborough’s owner has just tweeted this statement out

 

Wow. That's a lot of matches that will be taking place in June and July then! Surely, the logistics of all this happening is mad!

Yet, the great thing about this is that clubs are not accepting the PPG issue as a given.... interesting times

[JF 694]

1 minute ago, sonyc said:

Wow. That's a lot of matches that will be taking place in June and July then! Surely, the logistics of all this happening is mad!

Yet, the great thing about this is that clubs are not accepting the PPG issue as a given.... interesting times

Think it’s highly likely the vote will go be to end the season and these clubs are highlighting their positions before that vote. Peterborough’s owner has already said there will be legal challenges if it’s ended 

[sonyc 6,144]

Yes, you would expect that. The logistics are impossible.

[Barry Brockes 157]

Dowden is an ambitious young politician and will see getting project restart off the ground as a big feather in his cap leading to a more important role in government. You can bet your bottom dollar he'll be doing all he possibly can, including a bit of leaning, to make it happen. 

[daly 551]

Will the Prima Donna footballers be bringing their own tents with them as I was under the impression that hotels are closed to all but essential services for the foreseeable future 

[JF 694]

11 minutes ago, sonyc said:

Yes, you would expect that. The logistics are impossible.

Floodgates are open now though. I think the government only thought about the PL without taking the repercussions of allowing that into consideration. How can these league 1 clubs be told they can’t play if PL and Championship are? It’s going to be messy

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

Seems like burglars are targeting wealthy footballers at the moment.

They should have a field day when they are all isolating in hotels for 6 weeks

[Making Plans 957]

It's got about as much chance of happening as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals call for the Cromer and Sheringham Crab and Lobster Festival to become vegan.

Just how do you have a vegan Crab & Lobster Festival?

https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/could-cromer-and-sheringham-crab-lobster-festival-go-vegan-1-6652724

Edited May 14, 2020 by Making Plans

[Well b back 3,603]

1 hour ago, ricardo said:

Completely at variance with what I heard at the daily conference.

I thought that, I was going to put on here there’s a nail in the coffin,saw that article and thought I had misunderstood.

[Well b back 3,603]

Maybe somebody has already mentioned this somewhere else, so apologies if that’s so, but apparently the PL will insist on players signing waivers. That’s like Turkeys voting for Christmas. 

[Making Plans 957]

This is a good one from The Mail (who else) but of course 99% of readers will only read the first part -

"Government confirm Premier League CAN return in June as long as the safety of players, coaches and staff is guaranteed"

And how do they guarantee that players, coaches and staff will be safe.

Have they got a vaccine that the rest of the World don't know about?

[T 191]

Truly that people are getting agitated about footballers going back to work under intense safety measures when the rest of the world has been and is expacted to go to work without any special safety measures. 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,789]

4 minutes ago, T said:

Truly that people are getting agitated about footballers going back to work under intense safety measures when the rest of the world has been and is expacted to go to work without any special safety measures. 

Who is going back to work “without any special safety measures” ? 

[Van wink 2,994]

2 minutes ago, T said:

Truly that people are getting agitated about footballers going back to work under intense safety measures when the rest of the world has been and is expacted to go to work without any special safety measures. 

Odd that you are forever telling us in delighted terms that we dont have sufficient testing capacity in the UK for even our front line staff, which is true, you then seek to patronise people who are agitated by footballers going back to work with the associated massive demand for tests.

[T 191]

Everyone. 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,789]

2 minutes ago, T said:

Everyone. 

Cobblers. 

[Van wink 2,994]

Im afraid he doesnt answer direct questions about his posts GPD, just likes put out inflammatory emotive half truths then run away. Amazing that he has the time and holds down a job🤣

[Indy 3,471]

A few things need to be considered here......first if the players choose to play of their own free will......the virus rates down to manageable levels......behind closed doors......played to same standards as before the lockdown.....

It must be added that the infection rate is only at 0.25%, 1 in 400, that’s rather lower than expected (only one measure admittedly).

Add that the medical staff are having pretty good success with a combination of drugs treating those in hospitals, cutting initial times in hospitals and severity in some patients, early days but promising.

I don’t have an issue with them restarting the season if it’s what the clubs, players and medical board agree on doing. Just my view, bring it back and see how it goes, it can be shut down if things don’t go right.

[T 191]

Sorry I’m not sure if you have seen the news or not but the expectation is that people are expected to go to work with no special measures whatsoever other than standard hygiene and distancing measures and a lot of people have never stopped. In rest of Europe football is restarting shops gyms factories borders restaurants schools and hotels are all opening up with a lot less restrictions than football.  It is truly bizarre that I have to explain what is freely publicly available in the news. There is no testing and quarantine for them so footballers have a lot less risk. It is as if  half the rest of the UK lives on their own little island oblivious of the news facts evidence and reality. No wonder the UK is such a mess and so far behind other countries and believes in the Brexit nonsense. 

[Uncle Fred 526]

The administration of the season was never this bad under Chris Hughton 

[C Goodenough 5]

5 minutes ago, T said:

Sorry I’m not sure if you have seen the news or not but the expectation is that people are expected to go to work with no special measures whatsoever other than standard hygiene and distancing measures and a lot of people have never stopped. In rest of Europe football is restarting shops gyms factories borders restaurants schools and hotels are all opening up with a lot less restrictions than football.  It is truly bizarre that I have to explain what is freely publicly available in the news. There is no testing and quarantine for them so footballers have a lot less risk. It is as if  half the rest of the UK lives on their own little island oblivious of the news facts evidence and reality. No wonder the UK is such a mess and so far behind other countries and believes in the Brexit nonsense. 

This is brilliant. Keep it up