Covid19: The Football Thread

thornburyiron

What makes you think they can’t catch it after the 2 weeks isolation. They could come back on 4 April and still have someone go down with it.

ASLEFshrugged

They've got to cram nine League games (or in the case of four teams 10 games) along with the FA Cup quarters and semis into 43 days plus four teams are still playing in Europe.

They'd probably have to be extended until the end of May/beginning of June

thornburyiron

From reports I’ve seen regarding this morning’s meeting that although the suspension is until 3 April, privately the PL and FA believe there’s little chance of football resuming then.

Pengeman

I don't know what happens next but people's safety and lives must come first. If the medical opinion is to be believed, the worst of coronavirus is yet to hit the UK and epidemic may last for the next three months. If so, the current season can't continue.

Aren't there any precedents for dealing with the current situation? Wasn't the season suspended during the Second World War? There must be some rules - e.g. Clubs can vote and the majority may decide to abandon the season and also decide how the champions, champions league, UEFA and relegation spots are to be filled.

thornburyiron

I can’t see how clubs can vote as to how winners and losers of tournaments are decided or relegation spots filled. To my mind it’s an either or, complete all the fixtures as and when or void the season and start again next season as if this one didn’t happen.

SuzanneClaret

I guess it would greatly depend on how long the suspension lasts.

If we are looking at 4 games/weeks or more, how much longer can the season realistically go on for. Or, will 2 games need to be played a week in order to catch up.

I'm hoping its declared null and void just see what the reaction on Merseyside would be :biggrin:

OutcastLondoner

I don't see how it can only be until early April. That's the minimum two weeks isolation and not much more. They won't be able to train in this period. Unless the country locks down and it's coordinated internationally, a short suspension does not stop this coming back around again. We're going to end up with something not far off the summer break, when they won't be able to keep fit much or train for long periods.

Newspapers are trying to work out how to work from home and that's a real sign that things are going to come to a halt imo

MrsGrey

Cancel the FACup. Cancel Championship play offs and just promote top 3. If uefa agree, stop all remaining CL and EL matches being 2 H+A . Postpone Euro 2020 for a year, and cancel the international matches/ international breaks that precede it.

OutcastLondoner

It seems unfair to being making promotions or relegations with still quite a few games left in the season.

Hamstew

MrsGrey said:

Cancel the FACup. Cancel Championship play offs and just promote top 3. If uefa agree, stop all remaining CL and EL matches being 2 H+A . Postpone Euro 2020 for a year, and cancel the international matches/ international breaks that precede it.

And relegate Crystal Palace.

Barney

Cancel all league matches this year. no promotions and no relegations, just start next year as though this year never happened. i think Liverpool should get the league title because it seems as though it is very unlikely that they would not win it.

MrsGrey

OutcastLondoner said:

It seems unfair to being making promotions or relegations with still quite a few games left in the season.

Yes. Sorry, I didn't mean freeze the league now, I just was thinking of ways to streamline the remaining number of matches Tobe played once they resume ( whenever that might be)

ASLEFshrugged

Pengeman said:

Aren't there any precedents for dealing with the current situation? Wasn't the season suspended during the Second World War? There must be some rules - e.g. Clubs can vote and the majority may decide to abandon the season and also decide how the champions, champions league, UEFA and relegation spots are to be filled.

The 1939-40 season was cancelled after 3 games without winners or relegation. Oddly Leeds were bottom when they stopped and finished bottom the first season after the war (1946-47).

In WW1 they played a full season after war was declared, Everton won the League, Sheffield United beat Chelsea 3-0 in the 1915 FA Cup final and Spurs were relegated to the second division when football resumed in 1919.

Apparently there is nothing in the Premier League rulebook to cover this situation nor does UEFA have any rules.

The local elections planned for Thursday 7th May have been cancelled so resuming in April is probably wishful thinking.

Can't wait to see the looks on the faces of the Liverpool fans down the pub.

Too cruel? Oh yes indeedy.

MrsGrey

The season was suspended but then they set up some kind of new league/ divisions to play matches through the war. Of course, vast numbers of professional players were away fighting so it was probably only the halt and the lame who battled it out.

It was probably more of a morale thing than an actual proper competition.

MrsGrey

ASLEFshrugged said:

The local elections planned for Thursday 7th May have been cancelled so resuming in April is probably wishful thinking.
.

I don't think cancelling this is a sign that they know how long the disruption is going to last, more that there won't be time to do proper campaigning prior to that date. So a decision had to be made now.

claretandbluesky

I would guess there will be two possible scenarios.

The first being that matches re-start with enough weeks to resume even if behind closed doors and teams play two matches a week. The Euro's will be cancelled allowing a few extra weeks if needed.

The second is that the season will be declared null and void. There is no possibility in my view that anyone would be relegated or promoted for the reason if there is no rule already in place the FA and Premier League would be sued by the adversely effected teams and rightly so. These clubs are businesses and they would not allow their business to be effected by a newly made rule they hadn't signed up to. The league would not even attempt it in my view. Should they make it null and void due to extraordinary and unforeseen circumstances many clubs would feel annoyed but they couldn't really litigate.

I expect the first scenario to play out where we possibly resume some time in April/May but for us it would be better were it made null and void.

ScotHammer

What about currently injured players? Some players, currently unavailable for a few weeks, may have recovered in time for any revised dates. Therefore unfair on teams who would previously have played weakened teams

.......and if the season is voided, would we need to take Pellegrini back!!!!

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

But what if you’re Leeds and West Brom? They’re clear of the play-off places with only a handful of games to go.

If clubs who are relegated because the season finished now could sue, you’d think clubs who are denied the PL riches because it’s all declared null and void would equally have a case.

I think Mrs G had some good suggestions. And they could also reduce the calendar next season, for example by not having a league cup, not having home and away legs in European fixtures etc.

That might allow this season to run through into July/August if things have settled down.

thornburyiron

According to a Mirror journalist a meeting of the 20 PL teams agreed the season can be completed before end of May if the FA Cup, Champions and Europa Leagues are scrapped.
I bet that will go down well with EUFA.

alderz

I saw something earlier saying an option could be playoffs for relegation, promotion, European places, etc. That would be interesting...

Everyone in the relegation places vs the top 2 of championship and regular playoff winner?

chicagohammer

Whenever I hear Covid 19, I expect to hear West Ham Nil,

Well it made me laugh, shamelessly stolen :-)

Hamstew

We are stayin up, say we are stayin up!

ASLEFshrugged

thornburyiron said:

According to a Mirror journalist a meeting of the 20 PL teams agreed the season can be completed before end of May if the FA Cup, Champions and Europa Leagues are scrapped.
I bet that will go down well with EUFA.

I doubt if UEFA and the FA would want to scrap their (lucrative) games to help the Premier League. If English clubs withdrew from the UEFA competitions they might impose a ban next season

MrsGrey

It's not just the
PL in this position though. Spain, France, Germany etc all have a backlog of games to get through.

SuzanneClaret

During both world wars football wasn’t in so heavy with TV companies. The PL stands to loose 3 billion if the season ends now.

SuzanneClaret

https://talksport.com/football/682448/fa-chief-clarke-premier-league-finish-major-doubts-coronavirus-crisis/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=talksportfacebook&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1584135641

Pengeman

Even playing games behind closed doors would be a problem, if players/staff are infected. There is also a possibility that people can be reinfected.

One report said https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-13/china-japan-korea-coronavirus-reinfection-test-positive : "more than 100 reported cases of Chinese patients who have been released from hospitals as survivors of the new coronavirus — only to test positive for it a second time in the bewildering math of this mysterious illness".

Maybe the report is anomalous or the scientific tests may have been suspect, but the possibility of reinfection has not been completely ruled out. Under these circumstances, finishing the football season would be risky.

Giant_Hammer

Could they not promote the usual number of clubs that normally get promoted in each division ie those clubs that are currently in those positions in their respective leagues and not relegate anyone. This would mean that for one season. The premier league for example would consist of 41 clubs. Next season six clubs would be relegated and three promoted so the usual situation is re-established and follow this formula for all the other divisions as per their promotion relegation norms.

I’m assuming that in reality, only the clubs in danger of relegation this season would jump up and down if the season were declared void now and they were relegated with several matches still to play. It’s not ideal for clubs in with a chance of achieving European football next season but final places with the possible exception of Liverpool are conjecture at this stage.

Nothing is ideal but these are extraordinary times and with all the money involved some plan to limit the numbers of possible litigation suits must be considered.

I’ll get me coat. :biggrin:

Hamstew

There is talk of a 22 team PL next season.

Lukerz

There is no way they are going to fulfil the fixtures this season. It will be voided.

Even if they somehow managed to find a way to get all the games played in every league, there is no way the integrity of the leagues will remain intact. We’re going to have players out of contract in June, players unfit, lacking sharpness, a different selection of fixtures in a different order...

There is no way you would be able to confidently say that the final 9 games panned out fairly & that the final league table was not just a false representation.