Matches suspended

[Gaspode]

1 hour ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Up in Yorkshire there is a body of thought that the Coronavirus is nothing but an EFL conspiracy against Leeds. 

I used to work in Leeds - majority of Leeds fans are as thick as mince.....

[Pearl Ram]

...and ugly too. 

[Nishfan]

If no matches are played again this season, perhaps roll over current points etc to the start of next season - so the status quo is maintained as such. Then play next season as normal & the season starts with everyone in the same position as when this season was halted.

sorry if this has already been suggested but missing the football already & feeling sorry for myself as unwell in bed (definitely not the unmentionable though)

[Van der MoodHoover]

2 hours ago, RamNut said:

I don't see an extinction threat when only 1 in 25-30 cases prove fatal.

However the disease does seem to be remarkably transmittable. It sounds nasty too with 1 in 5 getting severe symptons. Anyone without a good set of lungs on them might be justifiably worried.

However postponing the football and delaying the spread ultimately won't protect anyone. It just makes the crisis slower and more manageable. 

Hence the qualifying statement "could yet..."

Viruses can mutate. And we are already admitting we cannot prevent this variant.

6% fatality rate in italy...we are not used to dealing with death on a massive scale. 

No doubt Cobra are looking at "extreme" scenarios. And no doubt doing the sensible thing by not publishing details as I suspect there will be some uncomfortable messages in them.

Boris has, I think, performed very well so far in this. He could yet perhaps turn into the statesman we need.

[R@M]

Suggestion for fan kit for next seasons match against the Dirties?

[RandomAccessMemory]

So now we know the season is suspended as opposed to continuing behind closed doors. I think as soon as players and managers started getting it then this was always the likely outcome as once you have to start isolating entire teams the season is thrown into chaos anyway, and with the long incubation period then this affects many teams.

The chances of playing again from early April are incredibly slim so the authorities have some really difficult decisions to make.

Considerations I'm sure they'll be taking into account:

• Many teams budget for a season which coincides with their annual accounts, July-June.
• Player contracts also (with very rare exceptions) coincide with this period July-June. Any change to the schedule that goes past the end of June causes major issues with out of contract players, and newly contracted players (pre contracts that have already been signed due to start in July, could they play games from this season if they go past this date as you're now paying for them?). This would also cause a major problem with other contracted players if multiple seasons were adjusted to make space for the end of this season unless each adjusted season still ran in between July-June.
• Loanees, clubs will have budgeted for their wages for a certain length of time, even if they're given the chance to extend until the season finishes they might not be able to afford to, this is a big problem if they are first choice players.
• It's been mentioned about cancelling cup competitions to allow the rest of this season to be played, if this means for both the end of this season (ie. not finishing the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League) and abandoning the cups for next season (and includes all of the EFL Trophy, EFL Cup and FA Cup) then this causes major problems for lower league clubs. I've often seen lower league clubs saying that they need the money from these to survive and they for example are against cutting the number of cup games down for that reason. If this happened these clubs would need to find that extra income from elsewhere.
• The issue of TV contracts, without knowing what they specify I wonder if leaving the season unfinished is easier for the authorities? ie. you can't show however many games you're contracted for this season as it was abandoned due to a public health emergency. If you immediately start messing with future seasons to accommodate the end of this one could that cause more problems for the authorities legally as it could be argued that it was potentially unnecessary?

[RandomAccessMemory]

49 minutes ago, Nishfan said:

If no matches are played again this season, perhaps roll over current points etc to the start of next season - so the status quo is maintained as such. Then play next season as normal & the season starts with everyone in the same position as when this season was halted.

sorry if this has already been suggested but missing the football already & feeling sorry for myself as unwell in bed (definitely not the unmentionable though)

I'm not sure that you could do that as not every team has played every team twice this season, in some leagues clubs haven't even played the same amount of games as each other.

This also opens a can of worms because teams could argue that they've had a more difficult set of games played than their rivals and that affects their current points total.

You may be able to squeeze the extra games from this season within the next season and use BOTH seasons as next seasons total, so teams do get an advantage from their current position, but still have to play the extra games at some point, so you've effectively got two seasons in one.

However this has it's pitfalls too as some teams will have played another when they had one set of players yet others will have to play them with their new set of players, so it still leaves one of them feeling frustrated that they've had a more difficult game than the other depending on who signs/sells who in the meantime. This also means more games added to an already long season without the additional break, and at this point we have no idea whether the next season is even able to start on time.

Also hope you feel better soon @Nishfan

[Dean (hick) Saunders]

Can’t we use a big computer to predict the remaining matches and then where there are marginal calls effecting key positions have a playoff amongst those effected.

The big computer could not be expected to get it perfect, but probably could be reliable enough to pick the critical/marginal areas and then only those impacted have to play.

The remaining teams have friendly matches as and when.

[Igorwasking]

Double headers - two games in one day - that will catch us up - and be just like being in a Sunday side again ?

[Gaspode]

8 minutes ago, Dean (hick) Saunders said:

Can’t we use a big computer to predict the remaining matches and then where there are marginal calls effecting key positions have a playoff amongst those effected.

The big computer could not be expected to get it perfect, but probably could be reliable enough to pick the critical/marginal areas and then only those impacted have to play.

The remaining teams have friendly matches as and when.

We could ask David Prutton what the scores will be - he always gets them correct ?

[Sith Happens]

14 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

We could ask David Prutton what the scores will be - he always gets them correct ?

I was thinking we just use an octopus ? 

[Chester40]

If they do go with this break,cancel the Euros and then complete the season....whoever goes up is going to have a monumental task trying to strengthen and recruit in time for the new season. 

[MackworthRamIsGod]

29 minutes ago, Dean (hick) Saunders said:

Can’t we use a big computer to predict the remaining matches and then where there are marginal calls effecting key positions have a playoff amongst those effected.

The big computer could not be expected to get it perfect, but probably could be reliable enough to pick the critical/marginal areas and then only those impacted have to play.

The remaining teams have friendly matches as and when.

You could get Derby telegraph to play all the remaining games on Football Manager and see where we end up.

Or, a crazy, but quite plausible idea could be to draw the remaining games out of a hat live on TV. Have 3 balls in a hat with the two competing teams and a draw. Keep goal difference as it is.

[ilkleyram]

It might be stating the bleeding obvious but for the next unknown weeks and (probably) months we (club, players, staff and therefore fans) are relying on the depth of Uncle Mel's pockets - no income but plenty of costs

And every other club from the PL upwards will also be relying on individuals and banks continuing to be able to support them to a greater or lesser degree. Some will do well to survive.

[Nishfan]

1 minute ago, ilkleyram said:

It might be stating the bleeding obvious but for the next unknown weeks and (probably) months we (club, players, staff and therefore fans) are relying on the depth of Uncle Mel's pockets - no income but plenty of costs

And every other club from the PL upwards will also be relying on individuals and banks continuing to be able to support them to a greater or lesser degree. Some will do well to survive.

Absolutely; plus all the businesses that rely on match day trade.

nightmare scenario.

i’ll be renewing my season ticket as soon as I get paid again; these things will help 

[RandomAccessMemory]

4 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

It might be stating the bleeding obvious but for the next unknown weeks and (probably) months we (club, players, staff and therefore fans) are relying on the depth of Uncle Mel's pockets - no income but plenty of costs

And every other club from the PL upwards will also be relying on individuals and banks continuing to be able to support them to a greater or lesser degree. Some will do well to survive.

Yep, it's a horrible situation for many clubs.

Obviously this is a very serious disease and it's just awful to think that it is going to cause so many deaths, however the vast majority will survive and like any other business if clubs go under then that's a lot of jobs lost and a lot of people that will be struggling financially.

When you think of the vast amounts of money at the top level, it's very difficult to see lower clubs struggling just to survive.

Thinking about our situation, if the EFL charge had any bearing on our investment deal being delayed then Mel's been doubly affected as he's now going to have to continue to fund it all himself for the foreseeable, as I'd have thought it's unlikely to go through for some time now.

[Wolfie20]

1 hour ago, Dean (hick) Saunders said:

Can’t we use a big computer to predict the remaining matches and then where there are marginal calls effecting key positions have a playoff amongst those effected.

The big computer could not be expected to get it perfect, but probably could be reliable enough to pick the critical/marginal areas and then only those impacted have to play.

The remaining teams have friendly matches as and when.

You mean like Mr Babbage - Family Fortunes aren't using it at the moment?

[Wolfie20]

25 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

It might be stating the bleeding obvious but for the next unknown weeks and (probably) months we (club, players, staff and therefore fans) are relying on the depth of Uncle Mel's pockets - no income but plenty of costs

And every other club from the PL upwards will also be relying on individuals and banks continuing to be able to support them to a greater or lesser degree. Some will do well to survive.

Wouldn't surprise me, if this situation continues until well into the Summer, to see the equivalent of one division going under. The likes of Macclesfield, Newport, Stevenage, Rochdale etc etc will struggle to survive yet the PL sit there with oodles of cash in the bank.

[Marriot Ram99]

My approach which I think would annoy some but is the most fair is to end the season with current points totals and relegate and promote teams as things stand, so for the championship the top 3 go up. It would cause controversy but if games are carried over to next season it would duck up next season completely so although some teams could argue against it such as Bournemouth its tough crap for them as they were bad enough to be in that position and there is no guarantee they would get out of it regardless. Voiding the season is an awful idea and completely unfair on teams like Liverpool who have worked hard over the season to get where they want to be, playing them in the summer is again an appalling idea as the players need a break + pre -season and Europa league qualifiers start in July so I don't see a situation where 2 separate seasons are played at the same time.  I think taking the season as it stands makes the most sense and will be what happens if games can't be played in April or May as things get worse or don't improve.

[Uptherams]

4 hours ago, atherstoneram said:

They would probably have those rules in place already (cases of exceptional circumstances) but are holding off implementing them with a knee jerk reaction until they see how things stand on the 3rd April

Hopefully. My preferred option would be for the season to pick-up again mid July for 4-5 weeks, 2 week break and then straight into 20-21 season, with that being pushed back 2-3 weeks, potentially beginning start of September as it was already going to be a late start due to the Euro's and Olympics.