Covid19: The Football Thread

alderz

If the season gets cancelled do all the appearance and goal stats get taken away? Did Ngakia make his debut if the season gets expunged, for example.

MrsGrey

If something happened, it happened. So appearance and goal stats will not be affected imo.

IronHerb

But you could start a new stat on how many players stats are no longer stats. :biggrin:

mike

You want stats :hmm:

buffybegood

Playing fixtures at neutral venues? No way should this be acceptable for league positions/relegation to be decided this way imo, makes a mockery of the league.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52478598

By the way, I'm not suggesting I think games should be played if they put a strain on the emergency services, just that it's not fair to have to lose home advantage in crucial games in the run in. Strikes me that some just want the games played regardless of the fairness of the way in which they're played.

thornburyiron

That’s exactly it. The PL is driven by money above all else.

MrsGrey

thornburyiron said:

That’s exactly it. The PL is driven by money above all else.

I don't think the article supports the conclusion as you have framed it..

For 3 reasons.
1. It's not just Pl games being discussed but EFL games too.
2. The suggestion about playing at neutral grounds is coming from the police, not the PL.
3. The PL is, again according to that link, considering making matches free to air. Which would of course lose them money.

Additional facts that undermine your conclusion.
5. From here https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52443200 the pressure to restart the season is also coming from govt.
6. The PL stopped matches on a voluntary basis, originally.

Moojor

unless the rules on social distancing are massively relaxed the season is not going to start.

You can't social distance on a football pitch, though watching some of our games, you would think we had been practising staying 2 meters from everyone for a couple of years!

Lukerz

I think it’s all just a massive bluff.

I don’t think there is any intention to resume the season, but they have to all make the right noises so they can turn around when it is scrapped & say ‘we explored all options but it was not feasible’.

alderz

MrsGrey said:

If something happened, it happened. So appearance and goal stats will not be affected imo.

But if a season is expunged then officially the games havent happened?

buffybegood

The season itself isn't expunged, merely the results of any games don't really affect anything as the season just doesn't get finished so we start the next season with the same teams in the same leagues. So no (official) champions , and no promotion or relegation either. Simples.

Whitehorsehammer

It is clear that the government will eventually decide if the season can re-start. On the one hand they would like it to re-start as a morale booster but, as it is looking increasingly likely that the UK may well have the worst outcome in Europe from Covid 19 it would look very bad if, when other countries have cancelled their seasons the Premier League starts playing again. I think that if only one of Spain, Italy or Germany follow France and Belgium and cancel their seasons it will game over for a re-start.

IronHerb

I think Germany may decide later today. Merkel is meeting with the Bundesliga.

chicagohammer

The French season is cancelled until Sept, even if we get over the worst now, in all honesty I would not be surprised to see this virus resurge at year end rendering that idea mute.

Given that a vaccine is far off and may never actually appear and we need time to get effective therapeutics mobilized, I think it makes sense to essentially cancel next season and finish this season when it is safe to do so and if that means restarting this season in March 2021, then so be it.

I understand that it will be mess contract wise and there will always be those who cry foul as playing staff may have changed in the meantime, but I doubt there is a way out of this mess that is really fair to everyone.

thornburyiron

According to some reports clubs are buying masks in readiness for a restart. At the same time you have Aguerro stating that many players are scared of playing again whilst the pandemic is still around as they are fearful for their families.
I also read that one of the proposals being discussed today is that players need not play if they don’t feel comfortable. Imagine if a whole team or nearly a whole team took this course.

Ace of Clubs

French season cancelled, PSG champions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52484926

MrsGrey

Amiens + Lyon may challenge, respectively, their relegation and exclusion from European competition.

Whitehorsehammer

Whatever happens here there will be challenges from those that feel hard done by.

Hamstew

I thought I read somewhere that the French league has a rule where if a season is stopped for any reason the current top team are crowned champions.

ScotHammer

“Remaining games to be played at neutral venues” versus “The clubs reconfirmed their commitment to maintaining the integrity of the competition”

Wrong on so many levels!

thornburyiron

8-10 approved neutral venues to be used and all behind closed doors maintains integrity?
Might just as well throw dice.

Lukerz

I can not believe they are seriously considering that. How an earth can certain teams unfairly end up effectively playing two away games a season?

Ludicrous. Just bin it off now. Seems the only reason why they are not is because of Liverpool.

buffybegood

Absolutely farcical to consider using neutral grounds, makes a mockery of the league if they go ahead on this basis. Any team that gets relegated on this basis will have cause to feel extremely aggrieved.

MrsGrey

Luke, there's a difference between playing at an opponent's ground ( ie you away them at home) and both of you bring at a non-home ground. They aren't both ' away' games in the sense that the other team has the home advantage.

yoyo

I honestly don't know what the answer is but by the sound of it, neither does the premier league. Sounds rather difficult to achieve and organise. Surely either play behind closed doors at the remaining venues or call it a day. Harsh but these are unusual times. Give Liverpool the title ( pains me to say it but they do deserve it ) and start again next year. Shame for WBA and Leeds but.....ho-hum.... and stand by and watch the court cases that follow!

whupathman

just think of how many will turn up outside to support the teams, asking for civil unrest and a second wave of the virus, football really needs to pull it head out of its own armpit and think of something other than cash

alderz

MrsGrey said:

Luke, there's a difference between playing at an opponent's ground ( ie you away them at home) and both of you bring at a non-home ground. They aren't both ' away' games in the sense that the other team has the home advantage.

But a large part of home advantage is because you have a stadium full of your own supporters. Playing in an empty stadium doesn’t give that.

Presumably, the other benefits are that you are close to home and don’t have to be away from family or in a hotel - that won’t happen either. Another benefit would be that you have your own dressing room that you are familiar with, also not a benefit.

And even from there, if (I’m just plucking teams here) Bournemouth beat Brighton at home this season, and then Brighton’s “home” game is played at Villa Park, then how is that maintaining integrity?

Barney

They cannot finish the season with integrity. Void it now and put health and safety before money. put all the effort into seeing how a transfer window could work and how the season can be run safely next year.

Moojor

In my opinion they are doing all this because they have to be seen to be doing something. The restrictions on social gatherings will have to be reduced for everyone for football to be allowed.

There is talk, I believe, of relaxing them to about 10 members of your own family. To go from that to 25+ people of no relation can all have a get together isn't going to be happening any time soon.

The government will get ripped to shreds if they allow football to go ahead while telling us we cant meet up with friends, people will straight up start ignoring the rules, if it's okay for football to commence, then its find for me and 20 mates to get together for a BBQ

Lukerz

MrsG - it’s not an issue though, if other teams hadn’t played already at home or they decided to do a mini tournament at neutral venues.

But allowing games already played to stand, whilst the next 9 see teams play at random grounds?

It would make more sense it they expunged the previous 28/29 games & just said it’s a 9/10 game tournament, with the normal fixtures each team were due to play, in that exact order.