Covid19: The Football Thread

steve

:biggrin:

IronHerb

If you are really missing live football then the Belarussian premier League is still going ahead and can be streamed: -

https://www.squawka.com/en/football-this-weekend-live-stream-belarus-premier-league/

ASLEFshrugged

I've just imagined a situation where everyone apart from Mark Noble is recovering from Covid-19 and he's the fastest player on the pitch...

IronHerb

Running a fever ASLEF?

buffybegood

ASLEFshrugged said:

I've just imagined a situation where everyone apart from Mark Noble is recovering from Covid-19 and he's the fastest player on the pitch...

Come on, even then he wouldn't be

Pengeman

Not only the completion of the current season but the start of the next season must also be in doubt.

The government sources are talking about six months to get some semblance of normality. A vaccine is some way off and 'herd immunity' is a risky strategy. It requires that 70-80% of population to become infected and if that leads to 1% deaths, the numbers are colossal. There is also the risk of reinfection and the virus mutating. No government is now openly pursuing the 'herd immunity' strategy.

Can matches be played behind closed doors? In principle yes, but it still requires involvement of players, coaches, medical, ground and support staff. If any of them becomes infected then almost everyone else will have to go into isolation. They could also pick up the virus from friends, families and even visits to shops. If the staff of even one EPL team are infected and leads to cancellation of that team's fixtures, then the season can't be completed. How is the EPL going to overrule medical advice and insist that players play. No insurance company will cover the risks and public opinion will be unforgiving if there are tragic consequences for any infected player.

If the pandemic is not under control by August/September then the start of 2020-21 season will also need to be delayed.

Lukerz

I find it ridiculous, given the situation, that there is even talk about getting the season back underway. There are bigger things than Premier League football.

All these articles and pundits suggesting when we could get back underway. I am surprised they have not already come out & ended the season, declaring all results void.

The only team it suits to keep playing is Liverpool. So they can wrap up their first PL title. Nobody else. Promotions & relegations, in the grand scheme of things now, are not that important.

The thought of this mini tournament in July, when people are struggling to hold jobs & stay in good mental & physical health currently, embarrassing.

We all know this is still gonna be running in June. Let’s actually see the football authorities take the moral high ground & call if all off in the interests of public health.

Expat_Hammer

Lukerz, :thumbsup:

Unfortunately the premier league cannot see past the pound signs to actually see common sense.

OldCastleSwift

There was one article I read at the weekend that gave one of the reasons justifying resuming the season as players would be getting bored of not being able to play.

I stopped reading it at that point.

100% agree with Lukerz. How this can even be being contemplated at a time when literally thousands of people will be dying is beyond me. I know some say it will lift the mood of the nation, but this is an age of almost unlimited access to on-demand entertainment; do people really need to watch football to get through this lockdown? Of course not. This is all to do with money, and frankly it's disgusting. If grass routes football has been canned for the season, then all football should, IMO.

steve

:hmm: Don't think it will lift my mood if West ham plays ,Think we all know how that will turn out :biggrin:

thornburyiron

Saw this morning that one suggestion is that in July all teams are quarantined in hotels and the just travel to play matches behind closed doors. How on earth, given the distances travelled for matches is that going to work and how many coaches would be required for all the staff to keep a social distance.
I would doubt that government would allow emergency vehicles and personnel to be available at these matches so games would virtually require a non contact rule as a serious injury would cause severe logistical problems. Having said that it would cut down on the players feigning injury every time someone goes near them.
I saw that the PFA want it to resume ASAP as they’re concerned that clubs will struggle without tv money to pay wages. I can accept that players at lower levels may suffer but with the kind of salaries paid at the top levels especially PL players could probably go months without being paid and not even miss it.

OldCastleSwift

thornburyiron said:

I saw that the PFA want it to resume ASAP as they’re concerned that clubs will struggle without tv money to pay wages. I can accept that players at lower levels may suffer but with the kind of salaries paid at the top levels especially PL players could probably go months without being paid and not even miss it.

I would like to think that there's enough money in the top two leagues to allow a bit of altruism so the smaller teams can survive this horrible period.

alderz

I’d like to think that too, but next to an article saying Barcelona players are going to take a 70% pay cut, I see an article saying Newcastle have put non playing staff on notice.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52098392

thornburyiron

Interesting that Spurs have offered the use of their ground to the NHS so what happens if the offer is taken up but the PL decide the league will resume.
Do they kick the NHS out or just play around them. Man City and Cardiff’s stadiums are also being used.

OutcastLondoner

I think the idea is that they'll be playing all/most games somewhere in the midlands. Basically all games will be neutral so most teams probably won't be using their stadiums.

ASLEFshrugged

I doubt if football will resume until there are so few cases the NHS won't need the extra space

I don't see how playing at neutral venues in the midlands makes sense, apart from Villa, Wolves and Leicester all the other teams would have to travel rather than just half the teams travelling every weekend.

Why would they play Southampton v Bournemouth in Birmingham, with both teams having to travel about 150 miles instead of one of them travelling 30 miles?

Why would Newcastle want to travel an extra 100 mile to play Burnley, Man U or Everton?

ASLEFshrugged

The Guardian says that UEFA and the 55 European FAs will hold a video conference tomorrow to discuss what to do about the 2019-20 season..

One problem with extending the season beyond 30 June is that player contracts expire on that date, FIFA has suggested extending contracts until the end of the season (whenever that may be) but Fifpro - the world players' union - isn't keen.

MrsGrey

thornburyiron said:

Interesting that Spurs have offered the use of their ground to the NHS so what happens if the offer is taken up but the PL decide the league will resume.
Do they kick the NHS out or just play around them. Man City and Cardiff’s stadiums are also being used.

From the articles I've seen, they aren't actually using the pitch. It's more the built facilities such as conference rooms, restaurants and car parking. And it's mainly things like training sessions, storage and childcare. I don't think there's an insurmountable conflict.

Kuchinghammer

The Olympics and Euro Football have both been shoved on a year. It may be more sensible to resume this season next year, and scrap the 2020/21 season.
Aside from the health issue (no date for this virus to end, how long for players to get match fit again) there is the problem of getting world economies up and running again (transport, helping poor Dickie Branson out etc)
From around Christmas they can have pre-season, play Cups & Internationals, then finish the fixtures from February on. Plenty of rest before England win the Euros.
Yes, the TV money will be lost, but I can see clubs enforcing a reduction in wages to offset that, and it may even bring some fiscal reality to the game.
(Lights touch fuse, stands back...)

Lukerz

The problem is, apart from if being ridiculous that football is still on the table in these times, is that the integrity of the league can not possibly be upheld in these circumstances. You are basically gonna be starting a new season, 28/29 games into one. Players normally take at least 5 games to settle after time off, some of them have been unwell, many will need a pre-season schedule, injury risks are going to increase. Results are not going to reflect what may have happened before the postponement.

What would happen if Wolves came back for their top four push, & Jiminez & Traore then develop symptoms and need to isolate for two weeks, possibly missing 4 games.

Or a side down the bottom, like Watford, lose two or three of their key players & go on to get relegated. It is just ridiculous. You can’t play at a neutral venue as that means certain clubs getting an advantage, clubs who have already had their home fixtures playing the reverse where there’s no home advantage for their opponent.

And then there’s health & safety. Players getting concussed or breaking a leg, needing ambulance supervision at a time where those staff are needed elsewhere.

It only leaves one option; scrapping this season completely & starting afresh when it is safe to do so.

thornburyiron

Mrs G surely if the NHS are using any part of the complex it doesn’t make sense to play football there.

thornburyiron

Another possible issue is clubs normally relay their pitches in the summer but are unlikely to be able to do that this year so maybe pitches will deteriorate as next season goes on.

OutcastLondoner

ASLEFshrugged said:

I doubt if football will resume until there are so few cases the NHS won't need the extra space

I don't see how playing at neutral venues in the midlands makes sense, apart from Villa, Wolves and Leicester all the other teams would have to travel rather than just half the teams travelling every weekend.

Why would they play Southampton v Bournemouth in Birmingham, with both teams having to travel about 150 miles instead of one of them travelling 30 miles?

Why would Newcastle want to travel an extra 100 mile to play Burnley, Man U or Everton?

They wouldn't be travelling. They'd all be staying somewhere nearby in training camps to quarantine them from everything outside football.

All ideas mess with the integrity of the season. This idea seems to assume they can keep their training camps completely cut off from the world. A single infection and it falls apart.

But it does seem like they're fixed on doing something and I get the feeling there's political will as well.

ASLEFshrugged

The idea seems to assume that there are enough suitable training camps in or around the Midlands. The only training facilities I can think of would be those belonging to Football League clubs (plus perhaps a few universities like Keele) with the assumption that they'd sacrifice their season for the Premier League

We'd probably end up training at Mansfield or Shrewsbury

"Political will"has limits. Last week government ministers said we should run more Tube trains - ignoring the inconvenient fact that we don't have enough drivers

thornburyiron

Don’t forget it’s not only the PL they want to have up and running but at least the EFL too. I can’t see there being enough facilities in the midlands to have 91 clubs located and playing there

IronHerb

Well, this may throw a spanner in the works -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52112242

thornburyiron

I’m sure the PL will have a solution. They’ll give all players a first aid course so if they get injured when playing restarts they can treat themselves. However if injury involves a stretcher then they’ll need stretchers at least 2m long and 2m wide so the other players carrying them off can still social distance.

OutcastLondoner

That sounds like a PR stunt anyway. How much expertise are football club staff going to bring and even in terms of numbers, how big are the medical teams?

thornburyiron

Ours must be huge.

claretandbluesky

Well if a virus patient falls off their trolley and turns their ankle all those months on end treating Andy Carroll will be priceless.