Cancelling this season's Premier League

[chrismpw]

Tell ya who was boss, FIFA 07 Jan Koller. Saw Newcastle win the 6th season of my world by a single point, with the 6'7 monster getting a last-ditch header at the "Ricoh Arena" (cue limbs from the fat ass Geordies).

On that note, Coventry also enjoyed a good run in my top-flight universe, with Clinton Morrison being an utter beast for a while.

I also had World Cups and Euros on the go every other pre-season. USA, Germany and Brazil won theirs, Ghana were runners up to Germany. God, so many memories of being a layabout student, where the hell did those days go?

In my world (which is infinitely better) England won every world cup since 1986. Apart from the last one where they agonisingly lost 1-0 against Japan in the first qualifying round.

Faired less well in the Euros only winning one or two in that time. Funny old game.

All this cost me in a quiz a few years back. We had a pretty decent pub quiz team. There was a question about who was England's all time record goal scorer. One of my team said Charleton. I said no - I remember Lineker overtaking him just before he retired. I managed to convince the team and we put it down.
Of course it was Charlton ffs! (Pre rooney) whereupon I realised and confessed that my memory was from my Subbutteo days! lol

Took a while for them to forget that incident!

 

[Brennan]

Eddie Hearn has had to call off all boxing events largely because of the lack of medical staff.

The Premier League cannot overcome this either. Would be an utter PR disaster. People dying in hospital corridors but they’ve got medics and an ambulance outside an empty stadium in case a player gets a head injury ?

No chance.

 

[atrottel]

No chance it can start again anytime soon, they will probably push back the proposed restart date to early May I guess to give them a chance, but that is possibly the latest date to have time to squeeze the remaining fixtures in before the 30th June deadline.
This season is done football wise now. it’s just a matter of what they decide about league positions, relegation, promotion etc...

Plus all of this seems to be coming from the clubs and football organisations. If I was a player or club employee I would be telling the clubs there is no way on earth that I am playing while family members and fans are still in danger. Look at what happens when a player's granny dies and they are given time off and now think about what they are proposing.

Even if they do manage to arrange matches (as an example, we are now in local village quarantine until at least April 03 and the province has locked itself off from the rest of the country as far as movement goes) then how are the player's heads supposed to concentrate on the match when they might be worried about what is happening at home or with relatives?

 

[JLW]

Plus all of this seems to be coming from the clubs and football organisations. If I was a player or club employee I would be telling the clubs there is no way on earth that I am playing while family members and fans are still in danger. Look at what happens when a player's granny dies and they are given time off and now think about what they are proposing.

Even if they do manage to arrange matches (as an example, we are now in local village quarantine until at least April 03 and the province has locked itself off from the rest of the country as far as movement goes) then how are the player's heads supposed to concentrate on the match when they might be worried about what is happening at home or with relatives?

The decision will be based on agreements between Sky/clubs/sponsors/tv revenue they won’t think about anyone’s health in all of this just £££.

The very best they can hope for I believe is to finish the season behind closed doors and even that is looking extremely slim

 

[mccole]

Void the league and renegotiate the TV deal to include additional year to make up for loss of season despite only 9 games left.

Distribute the TV money and compensate the EFL for non promotion/relegation.

Voiding the league will help City in the Champions League and also Wolves and Man United in the Europa League which they intend to play in June/July.

This would be to the advantage of SKY and BT because they could close out Amazon for another season at least.

 

[Lelouch]

What's the point of a meeting tomorrow. What's the point of gathering everyone into a conference call to try and answer a lot of unanswererable questions?

Just suspend all football indefinitely and forget about all this until it's safe for sport to resume.

Because it has a huge knock on effect on next season on World competitions, Cup competitions and it needs to be resolved ASAP for some clarity, Of course we might not get football till June/July but clubs and fans still need to know what is going to happen to this season and what happens to the next one.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Because it has a huge knock on effect on next season on World competitions, Cup competitions and it needs to be resolved ASAP for some clarity, Of course we might not get football till June/July but clubs and fans still need to know what is going to happen to this season and what happens to the next one.

It cant be resolved asap.

No one on the planet how this will unfold. Football not that important.

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I think they'll finish the season behind closed doors, unless things get even worse than they are now

Too much money riding on it all

If they can do it safely then fair enough I guess, but I'm not convinced they can

 

[Nymzee]

I think they'll finish the season behind closed doors, unless things get even worse than they are now

Too much money riding on it all

If they can do it safely then fair enough I guess, but I'm not convinced they can

Unless the government takes it out of their hands.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Tbh the concerns of the cash rich premier league and their fat ass partners like BT and Sky are of little concern when football league clubs all over the country will be hitting the wall. Wealth should be flowing down immediately to these teams instead of the richest few playing a chess game to ensure they get the biggest slices remaining of any tv pie going round.

The premier league has been an absolute grotesque product for ages where 70 mill pound players strut around getting paid a million a month yet most clubs from league one down struggle to pay all their staff on a regular basis.

This crisis has just shown up the league for exactly what it is, a corporate monster with not a single thought for protecting the game, fans, or the local communities they represent. No it’s just all been about protecting their product, who gets what, ensuring they still get money, ensuring certain clubs still get an outcome they want, ensuring sponsors and bookmakers are happy.

The response of football in general, from playing on ridiculously, to almost daily stories about how the premier league must finish as the top priority in all of football, has been sickening.

 

[Yarrgh]

Void the league and renegotiate the TV deal to include additional year to make up for loss of season despite only 9 games left.

Distribute the TV money and compensate the EFL for non promotion/relegation.

Voiding the league will help City in the Champions League and also Wolves and Man United in the Europa League which they intend to play in June/July.

This would be to the advantage of SKY and BT because they could close out Amazon for another season at least.

This is certainly a train of thinking I can understand. It minimises losses for now and maintains the gravy train for the future. Also it protects against the health impacts of the coronavirus. I suspect this is broadly what one of the more likely options is.

 

[WA Toffee]

In Australian basketball (yes, I know) the final is a best of 5 match. Sydney have just pulled out at 2-1 down claiming that covid is too much of a risk for them. Perth have told the NBL that they should be crowned champions. Meeting in a couple of days to determine the outcome. Will be jnteresting to see how that goes and what precedent will be set.

Just as an update, Perth have been awarded the title even though the series wasn't completed. Official line is that Sydney abandoned it by refusing to play so not quite the same situation as the UK

 

[Black Belt Jones]

If its any consolationto the rs, their high intensity kick and rush has seen them hit a wall recently (no pun intended) which has resulted in them going from "invincibles" to losing 4 out of their last 6.
With an extra couple of months rest before the new season starts, they should now be able to go out and do it again next season rather than the players all going to knackers yard.

So they get to win without winning this season, and will also be hot favourites next season to win it fair and square and actually earn their first premier league title

Not sure about that mate - I've not watched them at all this season, (so how they manage to be so good with a not-spectacular midfield is actually a mystery to me) but there's plenty of analysis out there saying they have been on a hugely lucky run. And I mean statistically lucky based on game analysis, not any bollex about VAR or the ref's a koppite etc.
So it's very possible that this was in fact their season were everything went right for them, and wrong for other teams, so regression to the mean is in the post.

 

[WA Toffee]

Not sure about that mate - I've not watched them at all this season, (so how they manage to be so good with a not-spectacular midfield is actually a mystery to me) but there's plenty of analysis out there saying they have been on a hugely lucky run. And I mean statistically lucky based on game analysis, not any bollex about VAR or the ref's a koppite etc.
So it's very possible that this was in fact their season were everything went right for them, and wrong for other teams, so regression to the mean is in the post.

Could be, and I hope you're right. I was just trying to console the kopites on here by giving them some hope

 

[PM123]

Just adding in, and I know I'm writing a lot, but that EFL statement is really damning for Liverpool.

There is absolutely no mention whatsoever of finishing the season at all costs. Everything on finishing the season is countenanced with "within a time period" and "subject to safety".

Essentially they are saying they want to finish the season, by June 30th, as long as it's safe to do so (so a massive turnaround needed).

There's not even a part where they are saying they want to explore special options for extending the season or contracts.

Why is that really damning for Liverpool?