Could they void the PL due to the Coronavirus? | No | Resuming June 17th

Just because a different country are thinking of restarting their league in May (Which won't happen by the way), People think the UK should copy and will have the league up and running by the 1st of May.

Come on people, It's not going to happen.

Just start the league again when we can and declare this year null and void.
 
AlwaysRed66 said:
What are you talking about. There is no evidence that it is getting less harmful over time, though it might be seasonal & slowly go away, but coming back again later in year. Either way, all countries are going to be very wary, as it will still be there in the background. Are you also saying that the Spanish flu has mutated to the common flu. What rubbish. The Spanish flu went away but never had a vaccine for it, being as deadly as when it finished.

The amount of nonsense spouted by people everywhere is amazing.
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No, that´s not what I said. What we consider the common flu, is actually caused by 4 different types of viruses, and like those, the virus causing the Spanish flu occurs seasonal, in a form less harmful than the form causing massive deaths 100 years ago.
 
James Ward said:
Just because a different country are thinking of restarting their league in May (Which won't happen by the way), People think the UK should copy and will have the league up and running by the 1st of May.

Come on people, It's not going to happen.

Just start the league again when we can and declare this year null and void.
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Agreed, it's of no more relevance than saying Belarus are actually playing now, and asking why we can't!
 
Pagh Wraith said:
The league's CEO confirmed they are in talks with the government. I cannot imagine they would have gone ahead with this without the green light from the government.
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Presumably the purpose of talks with the Government are to get the green light from the Government.
 
Ronaldo's Mum Eh? said:
Germany has more cases per million than the UK does. That's a fact.
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It might be, as is their low death per cases ratio.

what's also a fact is in the early days, Germany tested lots of people who MAY HAVE been in contact with others who had tested positive and lots of people with very mild symptoms. Whereas the UK has only been testing people with clear, serious signs of the virus (until recently) so much more likely to die.

what's also a fact is Germany has tested a lot of younger people who are (on average) much less likely to die from the virus.

in Germany, the median age of those affected is 46, in the UK it's 64... again, going to obviously affect the mortality rate?

A Senior Research Fellow in global viruses said Germanys rate may rise in the coming weeks as it moves through more vulnerable areas of Germany and as tests become more and more focused on serious cases (not just mild symptoms).

Mark Twain. "There are lies, damned lies and statistics"
 
I've also bet a mate that the ball will be rolling again in Germany by 17 May. Wager is a crate of beer. Something to look forward to.
 
I think one of the complexities is that the FA/ UEFA really need to settle on some rules that cover future years. The big reason I'd be surprised if they just make the season null and void is that there is nothing preventing the same problem disrupting next season. They could decide that they have to void this season as the rules aren't currently in place, but they HAVE to have something that caters for the fact that the next couple of seasons could be affected and a previously unprecedented scenario now has precedent and it's reasonable that this can be written into the rules. We can't be in a scenario where football seasons start up and then are cancelled for the next n years (with all the caveats about how football doesn't matter during a terrible pandemic).

Other sports do have concepts that deal with events not concluding and sometimes this overvalues luck / can have issues with fairness. E.g. F1 can end under a caution flag, or a race can end early due to a red flag. If you're unlucky in that you JUST took a pit stop and dropped some places, that's just hard luck. Whether football will try something like this or not I don't know. I think the reason that so much emphasis is on trying to finish the season is that it prevents the more awkward discussion on whether / how you can conclude a season that has not had the complete number of games.

I also think there's a question around when things are likely to come back and therefore what effects does this have on the following season. e.g. if we could return tomorrow, they'd finish the season. If they can't return until November, they might not be able to complete the current season AND the new one and would probably prioritise the new one, but if we can't return until next March maybe they are MORE likely to complete the season as they couldn't run a new one anyway.
 
381 people have died in England from this virus in the last 24 hours, and people still think the season can be finished in May. :confused:
 
Devil may care said:
381 people have died in England from this virus in the last 24 hours, and people still think the season can be finished in May. :confused:
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I don't think anyone thinks it can be finished in May.
But some seem to think it could start by the end of May.
 
Fridge chutney said:
Definitely not, I had my team working from home in early March. The UK government response, in my opinion, has been slow and borderline shambolic.
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Yep so like everyone else no? beginning of March is when most people started taking this seriously. You weren’t ahead of the curve. The ones that weren’t were only a week or two behind.


Devil may care said:
381 people have died in England from this virus in the last 24 hours, and people still think the season can be finished in May. :confused:
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Who are these people? Certainly nobody in this thread. In fact it’s the opposite, most can’t see a restart in sight and think it should be voided.
 
The solution is actually crystal clear. If there is a Premier League season where we have to compromise, it ought to be the season that has yet to start, i.e. the 2020/2021 season..

This season will be finished. The question is when.
 
Devil may care said:
381 people have died in England from this virus in the last 24 hours, and people still think the season can be finished in May. :confused:
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Norway and Denmark are two examples that sosial distancing actually works. In both countries the number of new cases and the number of people hospitalised are stabilising. The stats from Norway shows there are actually less people hospitalised today than yesterday. Uk waited a bit longer to take action, so we´ll see how looks in a couple of weeks. There will still be people dying, but if the situation stabilises, we should not rule the possibility of having football matches behind closed doors some time this spring. But It won´t be finished in May, of course.
 
Andersonson said:
The solution is actually crystal clear. If there is a Premier League season where we have to compromise, it ought to be the season that has yet to start, i.e. the 2020/2021 season..

This season will be finished. The question is when.
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Why do you think we would void a whole season to cater for 25% of this one.

there would be about 49% of clubs leftif this happens in the efl and probably 74% in the pl
 
Leroy The Red said:
Yep so like everyone else no? beginning of March is when most people started taking this seriously. You weren’t ahead of the curve. The ones that weren’t were only a week or two behind
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No, you're wrong. That's simply false. Schools were still going in the UK until March 20th. Boris Johnson's previously comical but now damaging public addresses were made week of the 15th. I will link you to a post by @Sweet Square in the other thread that highlights the UK's atrocious handling of the pandemic.
 
With the likelihood of all pre-season tours being cancelled it has created a small window in June and July to complete the season. However as players will have lost match fitness by then it will be irresponsible and unfair to the players' health to try to complete the season in 3-4 weeks, especially considering how congested the 2020/21 season is going to be. The time required will have to be 6 weeks.

Compiling the dates of when events are now going to take place, it provides a provisional schedule of:

MonthEvent
May-20​
Lockdown
Jun-20​
PL 19-20 resumes
Jul-20​
PL 19-20 resumes
Aug-20​
Start of Premier League 20-21
May-21​
End of Premier League 20 - 21
Jun-21​
Euro - 2021
Jul-21​
Euro - 2021 / Olympics
Aug-21​
Olympics / Start of PL 21 - 22

The difficulties are very clear:
  1. The 2020/21 must start on schedule to allow Euro 2021 to start on time, avoid a clash with the Olympics players and mitigate the players arriving at the tournament fatigued.
  2. It is now common knowledge that this current lockdown will likely last for months, however the restrictions will slowly be lifted and it will be targeted for the sectors that provide the most economic benefit with the lowest risk of inducing a second wave.
  3. Social distancing will be applied on an ongoing basis throughout the year, the 2020/21 season is just as likely to be disrupted and it may be preferable to start that season earlier to reduce the risk of it also not finishing.
  4. Allowing football to re-start would psychologically imply a return to normality and encourage people to be less vigilant in reducing social contact.
  5. The optics of allowing football to continue whilst keeping financially struggling families indoors are spectacularly bad.
  6. At the current trajectory of infections and estimates on the proportion of the population already recovered, it still means football clubs are susceptible to localised epidemics. Losing a whole team for one game week but add an extra week to the schedule and put 2020/21 at risk.
 
Dve said:
Norway and Denmark are two examples that sosial distancing actually works. In both countries the number of new cases and the number of people hospitalised are stabilising. The stats from Norway shows there are actually less people hospitalised today than yesterday. Uk waited a bit longer to take action, so we´ll see how looks in a couple of weeks. There will still be people dying, but if the situation stabilises, we should not rule the possibility of having football matches behind closed doors some time this spring. But It won´t be finished in May, of course.
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Things like schools and some businesses would start up first but the idea of going back to mass gathering so quickly is crazy, because you know loads of fans will congregate around the grounds no matter what they are told, on top of that a bunch of players and staff being put at risk along with lots of money spent to make this closed doors crap happen, all so they can collect the TV money.
 
They surely need bigger pitches if playing behind closed doors.
zorb-football.jpg
 
Dve said:
No, that´s not what I said. What we consider the common flu, is actually caused by 4 different types of viruses, and like those, the virus causing the Spanish flu occurs seasonal, in a form less harmful than the form causing massive deaths 100 years ago.
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Viruses do tend to get a bit weaker as they mutate because if a mutation kills people very quickly, for example, it's going to die out pretty quickly.

However, I was reading today that they've done tests and the Spanish flu was no more harmful than today's flus.

It was apparently a combination of factors, such as malnutrition, poor hygiene and overcrowding which led to a huge amount of secondary bacterial infections. There was no way to treat the secondary infections as there were no antibiotics at the time.
 
SirAnderson said:
Thank goodness the decision will not be based on your respect.

You going on as testing is the be all and end all. This virus still affects people. It becomes "unfair" when clubs have players that are not considered for a game because they've tested possible for example.
What's safest is to wait for the vaccine, not testing.
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Let's get something straight, according to pretty much every expert out there, a vaccine is not in the cards for the near future. It seems to takes a long time to develop a vaccine for a new virus that can be approved for people, from what I've been reading. Can we afford the world to stop for possibly a year? It's simply not sustainable. A testing is not the be all and end all, but it's a MAJOR step in getting the world to spin again. Again, I'm not an expert, but I would imagine if you can test people without a lab and get results within minutes, then what the hell is stopping you from getting games going again in closed stadiums and televising them? If the proper measures are taken, it can be done. I haven't yet heard a valid reason why not.

SirAnderson said:
The fact that the focus of restarting the league is solely about Liverpool and it being unfair for them makes everything suggestion you make crap.

This is not about Liverpool, it's about football, and football will resume when it is safe for EVERYONE, not just a bunch of cnuts who will do anything to get their trophy and too hell with everyone else.

Besides, the holes in your suggestion is just. :wenger:
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And the fact that you chose to dismiss everything else I've said because I mentioned Liverpool, nevermind being such a top red that you'd think that was the sole reason for my argument, is ironic at best when you want to talk about crap posts.

And instead of using an emoticon to make your argument (or lack thereof), why don't you explain why there are holes in my suggestion that quick and efficient testing can't be the key to get football going again, because I'd be interested in hearing them but given your post, I'm not sure you'd be the one to enlighten me.

stevoc said:
But as i and others have explained theres no real way of continuing it beyond June that would be fair on all teams surely you see that?

As an example after June United can recall Henderson from Sheffield one of their best players this season. Despite both teams competing directly for the same CL spot, that wouldn't be fair. And again as stated just going off current positions isn't fair either as some teams have played more games than others. Then theres cup competitions that also need to be played out if the league is resuming. United have potentially another 18 games to play, which would take 2-3 months to complete. Where are all those games going to be fitted in and allow a break/pre-season then next season to start and finish before Euro 2021?

Or is it just the League that needs to be finished at all costs in your opinion?

No the only solution thats equally fair to all teams is to void the season if it can't be completed by June. Letting it drag on until the end of the year is only going to cause more upheavel, headaches and chaos for potentially the next 3-5 seasons. I don't want it to be voided, i would love for this crisis to be over in the next 2-3 weeks and watch the season be played out. I'd happily see Liverpool win the fecking league if it meant people weren't dying from this virus anymore. But sadly thats not very likely and theres a decision that has to and will be made in the next few months that will be necessary. Not everyone will be happy about it but i think people need to be mature about it and respect it.
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Good post, I see your point. There's obviously no great scenario in any of this, and I believe you're right that this next month is crucial to see if there is a way to finish the league. I believe if testing can be done quickly and efficiently, it gives a platform where we can envisage restarting the games and finishing this season, even if it's at a rapid pace or you cut out the number of games but have it so every team will have played the same amount. It's possible, and I hope it happens because I think we could all use some football to watch in quarantine.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
to state that it doesn’t matter what other leagues do is utterly ridiculous.

do you really think you can have Italy and Spain on lockdown and them voiding the league and somehow the PL starts the league season again in July for 2 months.

you have to have a Europe wide transfer window, agreement on contracts that are expiring and a common approach to European competition.

again, this is an utterly insane argument to try and show horn in the end of the season, no matter what the circumstances and just ignoring everything else that going on.
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No one is saying shoe-horn the end of the season no matter the circumstances, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from, I've laid out my belief of what the circumstances should be to be able to finish it, quick and efficient testing without a lab which is in the works and should (hopefully) be available soon. Those are the circumstances, because a vaccine is not coming around the corner as far as I know, and we can't afford the world to be stopped for months on end.

Again, the circumstances in Italy & Spain compared to England are just not the same. So you believe that if Italy or Spain void their season, England should automatically do the same even though there's 25K cases right now in England and Italy & Spain have over 200K? (95K for Spain and 105K for Italy)? Of course this can still develop in a horrible way for the UK in which case a void is the only sensible solution, I'm just arguing that it's not automatically the case right now.

To argue that because Spain and Italy are considering voiding their season, England should do the same despite having wildly different circumstances doesn't make sense, and all the teams and investors who have a stake around the premier league starting up again as soon as safely possible won't go for that either.

Why can't transfer windows and expiring contracts still be honored if the Premier league started again while the other two you mentioned didn't?
 
So we have 9 games left in the premier league and 9 in the championship etc.

With no promotion
What I would do is schedule the remaining fixtures of this season for the first 9 games of next season. The points gathered would count for the new season and also finish off last season and give the final standings.

With promotion
After the 9 games the two teams bottom of the premier league from this seasons table would go down to the championship and top two teams of the championship would get promoted going on this seasons championship table
The teams that get promoted would get the same number of points as the teams in the premier league that get relegated after the 9 games and vice versa.



No point in playing 47 games when it can be done like the above. Your still playing the same teams.

It would an absolutely amazing first 9 games in the premier league.

Transfer Window
Would remain open for a month after the 9 games are finished.
 
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James Ward said:
The teams that get promoted would get the same number of points as the teams in the premier league that get relegated after the 9 games and vice versa.

No point in playing 47 games when it can be done like the above. Your still playing the same teams.

It would an absolutely amazing first 9 games in the premier league.
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After 9 rounds are played you suddenly swap out 3 teams, that means some opponents will have played the old members of the PL so will only play the new ones home or away, whilst some teams will face the new ones twice and will only have played the original ones once. Same would be true of every other league affected with relegation/promotion beneath. Sorry, but it’s a clusterfeck of an idea.
 
Fridge chutney said:
No, you're wrong. That's simply false. Schools were still going in the UK until March 20th. Boris Johnson's previously comical but now damaging public addresses were made week of the 15th. I will link you to a post by @Sweet Square in the other thread that highlights the UK's atrocious handling of the pandemic.
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Not sure why you’re talking about the government. Its clear I’ve been referencing the general population. You made out as if you were ahead of things and were criticising people for ‘not taking seriously’ and telling me to listen to Charlie Austin when literally you yourself only took a ‘serious’ stance at the start of the month, which is completely fine btw. I just don’t really understand why you’ve taken this whole Gandalf the wise stance.
 
Sayros said:
No one is saying shoe-horn the end of the season no matter the circumstances, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from, I've laid out my belief of what the circumstances should be to be able to finish it, quick and efficient testing without a lab which is in the works and should (hopefully) be available soon. Those are the circumstances, because a vaccine is not coming around the corner as far as I know, and we can't afford the world to be stopped for months on end.

Again, the circumstances in Italy & Spain compared to England are just not the same. So you believe that if Italy or Spain void their season, England should automatically do the same even though there's 25K cases right now in England and Italy & Spain have over 200K? (95K for Spain and 105K for Italy)? Of course this can still develop in a horrible way for the UK in which case a void is the only sensible solution, I'm just arguing that it's not automatically the case right now.

To argue that because Spain and Italy are considering voiding their season, England should do the same despite having wildly different circumstances doesn't make sense, and all the teams and investors who have a stake around the premier league starting up again as soon as safely possible won't go for that either.

Why can't transfer windows and expiring contracts still be honored if the Premier league started again while the other two you mentioned didn't?
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you can have a transfer window that’s not aligned with the rest of Europe - we did last year, and it was voted to realign it as it didn’t work.

in terms of contracts, it the league restarts after June 30, then United could lose Ighalo and also recall Henderson from Sheffield Utd whom they are in direct competition for the last CL place. Now aggregate that across 91 clubs and you have a massive problem - especially in the lower leagues where contracts are a lot shorter, and a lot more of a reliance on the loan market.
 
Ronaldo's Mum Eh? said:
So bundesliga is starting in May... and some on here some think it's out of the real of possibility for our league starting in July (2 months after)

You guys are incredible.
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When was it announced that the BL is starting in May? We have had a leveling off of sorts in recent weeks with the exponential growth in cases slowing but certainly not a reduction in cases that the league can be restarted in a month.

Think it's really optimistic to start so early
 
hasanejaz88 said:
When was it announced that the BL is starting in May? We have had a leveling off of sorts in recent weeks with the exponential growth in cases slowing but certainly not a reduction in cases that the league can be restarted in a month.

Think it's really optimistic to start so early
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It hasn't the clubs have said they want to. No agreement from the government as yet.
 
EwanI Ted said:
The only reason for any optimism with Europe is that you can feasibly start the competitions a lot later than you can with the league. If they were prepared to compromise and play single round knockouts, you could start each competition in October, at which point it seems like behind closed doors games will be possible. If a country was still suffering with a breakout they could play their 'home' games on a neutral ground in a country that was doing better. Not great, but for clubs starved of attendance income it would still be welcome. And there's a very good chance that by the time the final comes round in May 2021 it'll be played in front of fans again.
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If they did this, there would have to be some major reconfiguration of who actually enters the competition. Champions League and Europa League qualifiers start in June, so league champions and qualifiers from lower ranked associations need to be decided. If Europe has some leagues cancelling, some suspended indefinitely and some leagues committed to continuing, it makes it messy to decide who is actually going to be in it.

IMO football that requires international travel should probably be put on ice completely until Europe as a whole is completely through the worst of it, and that might not be the case in October.

If domestic football resumes later this year, and we're through the worst of it by the end of the calendar year, perhaps a smaller, more refined UEFA club knockout could start up in the new year, at the time the Ro16 would start anyway. Base it off UEFA rankings or something. Though suggestions like this just seem like fantasy at the moment.
 
Redcy said:
It hasn't the clubs have said they want to. No agreement from the government as yet.
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Ah okay. Would be very surprised if I'm the end that does happen.

Very difficult to predict where we will be in June but I think start of May would be too optimistic.

Im worried about next season as well. We have to realize that there is no vaccine yet and we are not developing immunity through contracting and then fighting the virus, therefore as long as there are cases it will difficult to allow mass activities and risk another spread. All it takes is one asymptomatic case and we can have another hotspot develop.
 
James Ward said:
So we have 9 games left in the premier league and 9 in the championship etc.

With no promotion
What I would do is schedule the remaining fixtures of this season for the first 9 games of next season. The points gathered would count for the new season and also finish off last season and give the final standings.

With promotion
After the 9 games the two teams bottom of the premier league from this seasons table would go down to the championship and top two teams of the championship would get promoted going on this seasons championship table
The teams that get promoted would get the same number of points as the teams in the premier league that get relegated after the 9 games and vice versa.



No point in playing 47 games when it can be done like the above. Your still playing the same teams.

It would an absolutely amazing first 9 games in the premier league.

Transfer Window
Would remain open for a month after the 9 games are finished.
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No offence mate but this is the maddest solution i've heard yet.

Yes even madder than finishing the season on FIFA 20. I've no idea what the FA/PL will eventually decide to resolve this situation but i'm certain it won't be anything remotely similar to this.
 
James Ward said:
So we have 9 games left in the premier league and 9 in the championship etc.

With no promotion
What I would do is schedule the remaining fixtures of this season for the first 9 games of next season. The points gathered would count for the new season and also finish off last season and give the final standings.

With promotion
After the 9 games the two teams bottom of the premier league from this seasons table would go down to the championship and top two teams of the championship would get promoted going on this seasons championship table
The teams that get promoted would get the same number of points as the teams in the premier league that get relegated after the 9 games and vice versa.



No point in playing 47 games when it can be done like the above. Your still playing the same teams.

It would an absolutely amazing first 9 games in the premier league.

Transfer Window
Would remain open for a month after the 9 games are finished.
Click to expand...
Yea, thats a horrendous idea
 
There's been some ludicrous ideas to sorting it haven't there!
 
If the Champions League is truncated next season it should go back to the old format for one season. Champions and European Champions only, beginning at the last 16 for the top 9 nations and the previous winners, with lower leagues playing for the final 6 spots.
 
Nothing wrong with the football authorities trying to plan ahead with possible dates and all, and they do that in different countries. But that's all they can do - try to plan. Ultimately, the return of sports is not up to them and their plans are based on hope more than the concrete idea that early May, for instance, would be OK.
 
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