‘behind Closed Doors’ Competition

If the season is abandoned should promotion/relegation take place based on current positions or should next season simply start as this season did?

 

Financially i don't think they can afford to abandon it. They will need to find a way to complete the season somehow, sometime. The matches will need to be played due to potential cost to the PL of not honouring their TV agreement I've heard.

 

Pick a fan from each club to engage in a bare-knuckle no holds barred fight with fans of other clubs.

I'd vote for HB1. I might have said Cleyhorn, but the virus has taken him from us.

 

They don't call @Daft Row the tinker for nothing.

 

While I throughly expect Sky/BT to pursue their own interests, you’d have thought that a measure could/should be put in place where the football can be cancelled in the wake of a public health crisis and that the TV companies can be given extra games next season to make up for the shortfall this season.

 

Given that it doesn't seem likely this will all blow over inside a couple of months, yes, I think it is problematic.

The world is probably still going to be grappling with this in 2021. December 31st last year marked the confirmation of the coronavirus; it has run for 2.5 months so far, and is only getting started. I feel the notion that we're going to have everything put to bed inside 2 months when there is no treatment or vaccine available is extremely optimistic.

I wouldn't even be confident of the next football season starting at this point. There's every chance it won't.

 

I doubt anyone responsible for Premier League contractual obligations ever really thought this would happen. As a result, I'll bet there's no clause to address this kind of scenario.

I feel that Sky and BT will probably end up compromising, though, should it come to that. It would be enormously bad PR to be seen as applying financial pressure in a fashion that could seriously undermine public safety. The last thing any brand wants to do in an enormous health crisis is become the face of corporate greed at the expense of people's lives.

 

It is anticipated that warmer weather should cause it to subside.

Also, it isn't "only getting started" - new cases in China for example have already dropped significantly. Maybe it hasn't yet reached its peak yet in Europe, but the peak won't be indefinite.

 

SSN have just reported that Chelsea cancelled their training session as a precautionary measure. Obviously there's no smoke without fire.

Now 2 Champions League matches for next week have been postponed

I think we are rapidly reaching the point of cancellation rather than behind closed doors.

We await what Boris has to say, but Nichola Sturgeon has already banned gatherings of more than 500 from Monday.

 

You say that - but it’s a huge huge contract. It will have gone through weeks of litigation and perusal. Any contract worth it’s salt that is based on future events should have a ‘force majeure’ appendix within it. I’d be hugely surprised if the TV deal didn’t.

 

It's not a question of optimism, it's a strategy which allows for flexibility, which abandonment of the season now does not. You postpone in the first instance in the hope that the season can be completed later, and then change strategy subsequently if things haven't improved.

As LR says, new cases are now falling in China, and see https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...er-expects-global-pandemic-to-be-over-by-june

In short, we cannot be certain how things will pan out. So why take definite, final action now?

 

I heard a clever virologist on radio saying that this virus doesn't seem to be affected by warm summer weather like usual flu and is spreading comfortably in places that are much warmer than a british summer....

 

There is no scientific evidence supporting that yet. It's nothing more than speculation.

The WHO said only a week ago that there's no reason to believe temperature will play any role in how this pandemic continues to unfold.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-so...ference-final-05mar2020.pdf?sfvrsn=3855ddcd_0

And why have those new cases in China dropped?

They have entire areas of the country on complete lockdown, and have done for weeks. Being an authoritarian country that's quite willing to use draconian measures, they have trampled over civilians to do what they thought was necessary to stem the virus. They've literally welded people into homes. They have threatened to use the death penalty for violation of quarantine. Which EU countries do you think will follow suit on those kind of policies?

There is also no data on what is going to happen when schools reopen, when public transport starts up again, when employees return to work. And even if none of those events cause another flare up, the rest of the world will still be dealing the virus and it might find its way back into China.

 

Nothing whatsoever wrong with hedging. I don't think it'll change the outcome, though.

 

It just seems unlikely that a money-spinning enterprise like football would, or should, take definitive, final action now when no one else is. The Six Nations hasn't been abandoned, for example.

 

Unlikely in isolation? 100% agree. My underlying assumption is that the government will eventually do the right thing.

Perhaps I'm being too generous or ridiculously naive.

 

Yes, well if the government requires it, that would be a different story. But even the Italians are only locking down sport until 3 April at this stage.

Just can't see abandonment of the season being on the table... yet.

 

The Six Nations is different as it (a) doesn't have promotion/relegation, (b) only affects a few matches and (c) the next is scheduled for 11 months time.

There is also a precedent, during the Foot & Mouth outbreak in 2001, Ireland played their final game in the November.

 

So does that make it more or less likely to be abandoned than the PL? I'd suggest it cuts both ways.

 

So this wont affect Bournemouth's home games then.

 

Anyone who goes to a stadium when they are banned is an idiot.

 

Apologies for bumping my own post from yesterday, but I had forgotten that the PL would also have budgeted c. £150m for parachute payments - so this could be added to the EFL compensation.

Forget any idea of the TV companies taking the PL to court. Firstly, their PR advisers would never let them do it, and secondly "force majeure" clauses would surely make it impossible.

 

There was also a specialist on newsnight earlier in the week when asked about this flu corrected the presenter and stated this was not a flu but it is a viral infection.
It's more like pneumonia and causes inflammation of the lungs

 

Mikel Arteta has tested positive. Despite the PL statement, I really think they will go above and beyond the Govts advice and suspend the league tomorrow. They have to. There’s no way at all Arsenal can play their fixture!

 

We're next door to them so surely a matter of time.

 

Have you seen our fans, or any other fans for that matter?

 

Callum Hudson Odio has it too. Premier League will have to shut down. When, if ever, it will be finished is anyone’s guess.

 

Here’s a plan..
No relegations, but the top two from each division go up. The PL becomes 22 clubs, then 4 down 3 up for 2 seasons to get back to 20.
There’s one spare slot in EFL currently due to Bury’s demise.

 

There's a case for this, in 1994 the PL changed from 22 teams to 20 by having 4 going down and 2 going up. They can do it in one season rather than two.

 

Nothing will be fair whatever is picked. Why should it be assumed that the 3rd placed team in the champ should miss out. What about the play off spot ? How would the extra games be fitted in? Why shouldn't L**** be relegated ? Surely the season either has to finish late or be declared null and void?