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Which is fairer? Coronavirus implications

Led's Zeppelin

Can't Re Member
May 28, 2013
7,333
20,178
@Bighec , if you’re going to dish out disagrees, it would be interesting to know what it is you actually disagree with, and preferably why.

Let’s chat.
 

wirE

I'm a well-known member
Sep 27, 2005
4,676
5,582
We're seeing that the Euros and Olympics are now being postponed and moved to next year because they fear the spread of the covid-19. You gotta ask; how realistic is it that the Premier League will continue this season? We're heading into April in a week and the UK have now realized that they got a pandemic on their hands.
 

Led's Zeppelin

Can't Re Member
May 28, 2013
7,333
20,178
We're seeing that the Euros and Olympics are now being postponed and moved to next year because they fear the spread of the covid-19. You gotta ask; how realistic is it that the Premier League will continue this season? We're heading into April in a week and the UK have now realized that they got a pandemic on their hands.

Professional football so often seems reluctant to acceptsocial,responsibility, and when it does it’s usually slowly, late and not very effectively.

Scrap the season.

This constant pressure to find ways to compress more games into a shorter period will do no one any good, no matter when the games eventually get played.
 

SirHarryHotspur

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2017
5,004
7,420
Professional football so often seems reluctant to acceptsocial,responsibility, and when it does it’s usually slowly, late and not very effectively.

Scrap the season.

This constant pressure to find ways to compress more games into a shorter period will do no one any good, no matter when the games eventually get played.

Agreed just void the season, all we hear about is how unfair it is on Liverpool, Leeds & WBA and others but in the UK we have something like 4.8 million self employed with as yet no financial help announced .
They have to worry about paying their mortgages or rents many of them such as cab drivers will have virtually no income, there is nowhere to go .
If Liverpool do not get the title or Leeds & WBA do not get promotion then those clubs will survive they may have to sell some assets but they will survive, the clubs that really need the sympathy are the likes of Crewe, Accrington , all those in the lower leagues and their players..


PS. To put all this into context if just 2 million of the self employed have lost a weeks wages at say £400 per week that is a loss of 800 million pounds and that is in just one week , these figures dwarf anything Leeds , WBA or any other team get from TV money or participation in the PL.
 
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SUIYHA

Well-Known Member
Jan 15, 2017
1,723
8,579
How about this for a deal?

Void the season, award Liverpool the title, on the condition that they agree to donate 100% of the prize money to struggling lower league clubs to help them stay afloat. 3 Champions League and 3 relegation places decided by qualifiers/playoffs, with the usual seeding requirements based on current league position, these being:

Leicester Vs Tottenham
Chelsea Vs Sheffield Utd
Man Utd Vs Wolves

Brighton Vs Norwich
West Ham Vs Aston Villa
Watford Vs Bournemouth

If the games can be played with a crowd, all gate receipts are donated as above. If not, play behind closed doors, single game, winner takes all. 25% of the European revenue that those clubs receive, or 25% (the amount of the season that we miss this time) of the PL revenue from staying up, is donated to the clubs who missed out.
 

dontcallme

SC Supporter
Mar 18, 2005
33,986
81,917
How about this for a deal?

Void the season, award Liverpool the title, on the condition that they agree to donate 100% of the prize money to struggling lower league clubs to help them stay afloat. 3 Champions League and 3 relegation places decided by qualifiers/playoffs, with the usual seeding requirements based on current league position, these being:

Leicester Vs Tottenham
Chelsea Vs Sheffield Utd
Man Utd Vs Wolves

Brighton Vs Norwich
West Ham Vs Aston Villa
Watford Vs Bournemouth

If the games can be played with a crowd, all gate receipts are donated as above. If not, play behind closed doors, single game, winner takes all. 25% of the European revenue that those clubs receive, or 25% (the amount of the season that we miss this time) of the PL revenue from staying up, is donated to the clubs who missed out.
I just don't think an official body can award a title if the season is void. In reality we all know Liverpool would win the league if the season was completed but titles can't be won based on probability.

There is a lot of social call outside of football right now for higher taxation for the wealthy, discussion on distribution of wealth etc. This is becoming a bigger issue with the current circumstances. I would hope the Premiership could look into ways to provide funds for lower league clubs who are clearly going to be hit very hard during these times.
 

wirE

I'm a well-known member
Sep 27, 2005
4,676
5,582
Here’s a thought: should next season International cups not be played as the leagues are not finishing their season and therefore not decided on who gets the Europa League and Champions League? Just a season with domestic cups
 
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chrissivad

Staff
May 20, 2005
51,646
58,072
I can't see them not playing CL games if everything is back up and running, too much money in it for some...
 

yankspurs

Enic Out
Aug 22, 2013
41,883
71,188
Well the FA just set the precedent. Cant really do one thing down the pyramid and something different on the upper levels as it would have a severe knock on effect. Season has to be expunged now. Spammers and Norwich saved. Liverpool fucked. Spurs top 4.
 

WalkerboyUK

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2009
21,658
23,476
Gutted for my son... His team made it to the Beds County Cup Final but now won't get to play it.
Not bothered about the league, although they have technically finished above their big rivals, so that's a bonus, even if all results are scrapped.
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,680
104,956
Liverpool fans I know are convinced it will go ahead again. I'm really not convinced.
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,680
104,956
The tide is turning then....


Growing appetite for Premier League season to be abandoned on moral grounds
David Ornstein
A number of Premier League clubs want to end the current season with immediate effect and replay it in full once it is deemed safe to do so — even if that means Liverpool being denied a first title in 30 years.
One senior figure told The Athletic it is morally wrong for football to even be discussing playing behind closed doors while the coronavirus crisis is at its peak.
“You look at the people sitting around the Premier League table by Skype; their egos cannot sustain a mirror being held up to them,” they said. “The fact is they are not as important as a Tesco delivery driver at this time. We run a game. No more, no less. There is no place for sport at the moment.”
At a meeting of all 20 top-flight teams last week, there was a “100 per cent” commitment to completing the 2019-20 campaign whatever that may take, including the prospect of staging matches behind closed doors, and the idea of declaring it “null and void” was off the table. That was largely motivated by the possibility of having to pay back £762 million in broadcast revenue which has already been distributed, in addition to issues around competitive integrity.
But privately, some clubs have developed strong reservations about resuming football during the coronavirus crisis and are leaning towards the season being re-run regardless of the consequences.
This was a view initially raised by West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady on March 14 and in the subsequent Premier League video call, she and Brighton & Hove Albion chief executive Paul Barber sounded a note of caution on the realities of finishing the matches, though there were no dissenting voices.
Yet behind the scenes, it appears there are more who do not share the collective message, with the chairman of another club telling The Athletic he finds the existing position “insulting”. Any decision on what comes next needs 14 of the 20 clubs to agree in a vote.
Despite European football’s governing body UEFA stating its aim of concluding all domestic and European club competitions by June 30, as things stand, the men’s and women’s seasons in England have been “extended indefinitely” with fixtures recommencing “no earlier than April 30”.
One chairman is furious that the sport is even considering a return in the midst of such societal turmoil, describing it as “embarrassing” and adding: “What we are doing is wrong.”
Several teams are said to be of the opinion that April 30 should not be viewed as a chance to play, rather to buy time for the authorities to negotiate with broadcasters over the size of any rebate.
The next Premier League shareholders meeting is scheduled for April 3 and one high-ranking club official said: “I’m hoping the situation changes by then but unfortunately, the world is changing and it’s changing for the worse every day.
“It’s absolutely clear what is going to happen. It’s a worldwide pandemic. You just start (the Premier League season) again and there are very few losers. Liverpool, I know. But in the grand scheme of things, honestly, it really doesn’t matter. You’ve just got to start again.
“This (COVID-19) is going to get worse here (in Britain), so it’s not about players returning to training. If we all stay at home and self-isolate for the next two, three months, we’re going to get through this quite simply. But even then, there’s going to be a period of slow reintegration into normality, otherwise the virus will spike again. So, if we’re lucky, the new season will start in September.
“If they want to say, ‘This season is over and it will be recommencing with the final nine games being played out in September’, fantastic. But if that’s not feasible. Just end this league with whatever consequences that has. End it and say the new league will start in September.
“We look like petulant, ridiculous children now. I passionately believe what we’re doing is wrong. And I would like to think my colleagues now believe that as well, that the world has changed. It’s a scary place at the moment and we’ve got to treat it seriously.”
Professional Footballers’ Association deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes told The Athletic earlier this week that an initial reluctance among players he is speaking to over staging matches in empty stadiums has started to shift because they realise there may be no other option.
This concept is opposed by one chairman, who said: “How can you play a contact sport that could result in injury and a highly-paid, highly-privileged individual having to go to hospital to be fixed, placing an even greater burden on the hospital system at a time when the virus is escalating? I just find it so insulting that we’re even talking this way; it’s just not important.
“If we start playing behind closed doors, can you guarantee you’re not going to have thousands of people turning up outside (the stadiums)? It’s absurd. Forget the practicalities of it. I just find the whole proposition insulting. That people are on ventilators dying and yet we’re playing a game. I’m baffled by it. Even in good times, what we do is full of self-importance. It’s just a game of football.”
With Liverpool 25 points above second-placed Manchester City and two wins from securing the Premier League trophy, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United perceived to be overachieving in sixth and seventh respectively, and Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion in the Championship’s automatic promotion places, such views will not be universal.
But one club director feels football has its priorities wrong: “The position we’re taking is ridiculous. There are such bigger issues to deal with yet every question is, ‘Will Liverpool be champions?’.
“It really just doesn’t matter. In world history, this will be recorded as a very challenging time. There is a place for football and entertainment but that’s in a time when there are no troubles and there are no major issues that need to be dealt with.
“At a recent meeting, one club said, ‘Listen, I’m going to let my players go on holiday but if they get stuck because the situation changes, do you think the government will send private planes over to get them so they can play football?’. This is how disconnected and ludicrous they are.”
 

wirE

I'm a well-known member
Sep 27, 2005
4,676
5,582
I can't see them not playing CL games if everything is back up and running, too much money in it for some...

Yeah, but who will decide on which teams gets their spot if the leagues are cancelled? Will they just call it quit and pick from the current table?
 

Yid-ol

Just-outside Edinburgh
Jan 16, 2006
31,097
19,276
Yeah, but who will decide on which teams gets their spot if the leagues are cancelled? Will they just call it quit and pick from the current table?

If this season is void, then really there is a case that the teams in it this year need to stay in it again (as unfair to teams doing well this season) as this season never then existed.

It would be like restarting this year, but a year (or when ever it starts) later.

It would mean no religation or promotion also, which is a bit shit, as was hoping West ham would go down.
 

SirHarryHotspur

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2017
5,004
7,420
South Shields threatening legal action https://www.skysports.com/football/...-clubs-below-national-leagues-north-and-south

It'd be more of a flap if they did it to PL clubs, so they'll just delay it imo. No idea how that will affect expiring contracts, transfer windows etc though

As far as I know there is no legal precedent for this situation , the only thing remotely near it is when Sheffield Utd challenged the PL over not docking West Ham points which Sheff. Utd said caused their relegation but lost their case in the courts. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/aug/16/newsstory.westhamunited but Sheff Utd did eventually sue West ham ( not the PL ) and did get a financial settlement but it took two years to settle.

We are all guessing but with such extraordinary circumstances my guess is that if clubs launch a legal battle the courts will back any
decisions taken by the ruling bodies i.e FA or PL and not rule in favour of what might have happened for a particular club if the season had finished to a proper conclusion.

Any lawyers out there with any proper legal knowledge ?
 
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