General Premier League Thread 2019-20

It opens the questions;

Who get's the champions league spots when it's still all to play for mathematically? Same with EL
Who get's relegated when it's still all to play for mathematically?

The rest of the league teams won't allow it.

CSF

I dunno what they’d do. They could finish off this season once things come back and then have a 19 game season where teams only play once after it.

Whatever they do, there will be an awkwardness to it. That is such a minor thing given everything else.

jester77

Deleted User wrote: »

It opens the questions;

Who get's the champions league spots when it's still all to play for mathematically? Same with EL
Who get's relegated when it's still all to play for mathematically?

The rest of the league teams won't allow it.

The German way is not too bad with how they have voided the league. No relegation, teams currently in promotion spots go up, 5 will go down next season. So it would mean a longer season with the extra teams.

Could just cancel the CL for next year and resume this years CL from the QL stage later in the year allowing the extra PL games to get played before that time.

CSF

CSF wrote: »

I dunno what they’d do. They could finish off this season once things come back and then have a 19 game season where teams only play once after it.

Whatever they do, there will be an awkwardness to it. That is such a minor thing given everything else.

This is the crucial point being made by many on here, regardless of the point scoring from some

Umaro

https://twitter.com/Simon_Hughes__/status/1238378199215636480?s=19

Confirmation soon for EFL, PL later I guess.

TitianGerm

DeanAustin wrote: »

So you give Liverpool the title. You're then saying that the season has some credibility. What do you do with CL spots and promotion/relegation spots? The only logical and consistent decision you can make if you give Liverpool the title is that the league table is as it stands. Spurs, Wolves, Sheffield United, Arsenal, Norwich, Aston Villa, Bournemouth all have you up in court because they'll argue the season wasn't complete and the result can't stand. They'll argue that the only similar precedent (in 1939) saw the league voided. They'll argue that other league's have voided their seasons (which I hear is what will happen in some countries). It's a legal nightmare and, from a footballing perspective, very sad for Liverpool because as much as I hate them they are owed a league title here.

I agree that morally Liverpool are champions. No one can really deny that. But giving them the league title is not a decision that can be made in that sort of vacuum. Handing them the title opens up so many other questions and problems.

If you just cancel the season then you have the guys just outside CL taking you to court and then all the teams who are denied promotion from the lower leagues doing the same. For example what says Norwich deserve to be in the PL more than Leeds or West Brom?

There's to much money at stake for a full cancellation of the league. I expect the seasons to finish in England at some stage over the coming months.

That's not the most important thing at the minute though. Making sure the death toll is kept as low as possible is the priority and the UK government need to make a clear decision to tackle the virus.

ozzy jr

Potential Underachiever wrote: »

If the league is cancelled then surely the league will be awarded to Liverpool?

It would be the fair thing to do, everybody knows it's over, mathematically only City can actually catch them, so I guess the PL could pose the question to City and ask if they concede the title, don't think they could claim with a straight face that they might actually still have a chance to win it, so the sporting thing to do would be hand the title over to Liverpool.

I don't think it can be that simple really. What about the relegation places and European spots. They couldn't be given as the table stands now. There'd be court cases all over the place.

TitianGerm

ozzy jr wrote: »

I don't think it can be that simple really. What about the relegation places and European spots. They couldn't be given as the table stands now. There'd be court cases all over the place.

The only way there won't be court cases is to finish the league later in the year.

Look at United as an example, they have a well published clause in their Adidas contract. If they miss out on CL for two years running (or something like that) they lose huge money in sponsorship. If the league was cancelled they don't get CL and they are hit two fold with the drop in Adidas deal and no CL money.

Potential Underachiever

The CL spots and relegation is a headache for the PL to deal with no doubt, I'm just saying IF they decide to cancel the league then Liverpool should still go down as champions, the relegation and CL spots are still up in the air regards who will get them but it's nearly a total certainty the league is over, as I said if City agreed with it then no other team should really have a say about it as they can't win the league.

inforfun

If this shows 1 thing, it is that the football calendar is too full.
A forced break of 1 month and you are ****ed up to the WC in Qatar.

ozzy jr

Potential Underachiever wrote: »

The CL spots and relegation is a headache for the PL to deal with no doubt, I'm just saying IF they decide to cancel the league then Liverpool should still go down as champions, the relegation and CL spots are still up in the air regards who will get them but it's nearly a total certainty the league is over, as I said if City agreed with it then no other team should really have a say about it as they can't win the league.

I think we might have to dip into the * box again....

2020 Liverpool*
2019 Manchester City*
2018 Manchester City*
2017 Chelsea
2016 Leicester City
2015 Chelsea
2014 Manchester City*
2013 Manchester United
2012 Manchester City*
2011 Manchester United

rob316

It'll be postponed for 30 days and revisited then. There will be no fine details decided today. You just can't rule it null and void when the worst of this could be over in a month or so. Life will continue after.

DeanAustin

TitianGerm wrote: »

If you just cancel the season then you have the guys just outside CL taking you to court and then all the teams who are denied promotion from the lower leagues doing the same. For example what says Norwich deserve to be in the PL more than Leeds or West Brom?

There's to much money at stake for a full cancellation of the league. I expect the seasons to finish in England at some stage over the coming months.

That's not the most important thing at the minute though. Making sure the death toll is kept as low as possible is the priority and the UK government need to make a clear decision to tackle the virus.

You're right. There is no right answer to this and certainly no easy answer. The authorities are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Someone's going to take them to court. The only right decision to take right now though is to stop all games. Anything else is a dereliction of duty and shows an alarming disregard for the health of players, officials and fans. And there would be no dressing that up as anything else.

Seeing "panic buy" everywhere...and it makes me think of Ade Akinbiyi every time.

DeanAustin

rob316 wrote: »

It'll be postponed for 30 days and revisited then. There will be no fine details decided today. You just can't rule it null and void when the worst of this could be over in a month or so. Life will continue after.

I think this is the only sensible thing to do. Could be over in 30 days, could be 12 months. No one knows and there is no need to decide that today. The only thing that has to be decided today is that football stops for the moment with further decisions made in due course when things become clearer.

Problem is that we are impatient as people so you'll have people jumping up and down looking for something definitive now.

Cookiemunster

jester77 wrote: »

The German way is not too bad with how they have voided the league. No relegation, teams currently in promotion spots go up, 5 will go down next season. So it would mean a longer season with the extra teams.

Could just cancel the CL for next year and resume this years CL from the QL stage later in the year allowing the extra PL games to get played before that time.

They haven't voided anything. That's still just a rumour with a full fixture list due to go ahead behind closed doors this weekend. The DFL aren't due to meet until Monday.

EDIT. The BL will play this weekends fixtures and then suspend the BL and 2. BL until Apr 2nd.

Loafing Oaf

rob316 wrote: »

It'll be postponed for 30 days and revisited then. There will be no fine details decided today. You just can't rule it null and void when the worst of this could be over in a month or so.

Not too many people would be expecting that:(

rob316

rob316 wrote: »

It'll be postponed for 30 days and revisited then. There will be no fine details decided today. You just can't rule it null and void when the worst of this could be over in a month or so. Life will continue after.

The UK don't expect it to peak with them for another 10-14 weeks. In fact, this is the current strategy they are going with as part of their 'Delay' phase.

According to Mr Johnson, delaying the peak of the virus will mean the NHS is in a stronger state to face the challenge it poses.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-uk-cases-deaths-numbers-covid-19-latest-live/

Hope to fúck I'm wrong, but the worst of this is unlikely to be over in a month.

"Over in a month"

Wow

rob316

Deleted User wrote: »

"Over in a month"

Wow

I said "could", no one really knows and you and I certainly don't. All I'm saying is just stops the games now and wait and see. There isn't a need to make hard decisions today.

jesus_thats_gre

Deleted User wrote: »

The UK don't expect it to peak with them for another 10-14 weeks. In fact, this is the current strategy they are going with as part of their 'Delay' phase.

Hope to fúck I'm wrong, but the worst of this is unlikely to be over in a month.

Talking 10 - 12 weeks of this at least. I was guessing 6 - 10 yesterday

I am currently on a travel ban with my company - started 2 weeks ago and originally went up to the end of March. Now they are proposing extending it to the end of May.

rob316

rob316 wrote: »

I said "could", no one really knows and you and I certainly don't. All I'm saying is just stops the games now and wait and see. There isn't a need to make hard decisions today.

The UK's current strategy is to delay the peak of the virus for another 10-14 weeks. There are ample news sources reporting this and quotes from various official UK government bodies.

I think it would be premature to make hard decisions on the league today, agree, but we need to get used to the fact that there probably won't be regular football again for months. Not weeks. Just typing those words gives me a bit of a 'WTF?' feeling, but unfortunately it seems to be the way it's going based on what the UK government are planning with their overall virus strategy.

smelly sock

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The UK's current strategy is to delay the peak of the virus for another 10-14 weeks. There are ample news sources reporting this and quotes from various official UK government bodies.

I think it would be premature to make hard decisions on the league today, agree, but we need to get used to the fact that there probably won't be regular football again for months. Not weeks. Just typing those words gives me a bit of a 'WTF?' feeling, but unfortunately it seems to be the way it's going based on what the UK government are planning with their overall virus strategy.

Yeh look live and health are more important at this stage. I really hope the clubs dont make their ordinary workers suffer like cleaners and caretakers etc and continue to pay millions the players. I think like all other sporting bodies its time to call a halt for a bit and see what happens.

Everton also isolating now.

jesus_thats_gre

At the risk of appearing that I believe football counts above all else.. it's sort of getting a bit out of hand given we are talking about extremely fit athletes who are, by far, the least at risk in terms of of age. Where the risk actually exists is in the ~50k people that are in the stands.

The reality is that;
1. It is not uncommon for matches to be played behind closed doors. Granted, it is often as a punishment.
2. Individual players regularly miss individual matches due to sickness or injury.

Major decisions don't have to be made now. Manage it week by week. Allow the scheduled games for this weekend to go ahead. But don't allow any fans into the ground. If an individual player, or players, are deemed to be a risk, treat it as an injury and play games with the remaining squad available. If club take measures to isolate players from each other day to day, and take appropriate hygiene measures on the day of a game, it can be managed.

Then review week by week as infections either increase or decrease.

My original point about at risk groups and them being particularly fit athletes has to stand. Average people are still going to work, still using public transport, still pushing shopping trolleys when they are panic buying, still living together etc.

DeanAustin

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

At the risk of appearing that I believe football counts above all else.. it's sort of getting a bit out of hand given we are talking about extremely fit athletes who are, by far, the least at risk in terms of of age. Where the risk actually exists is in the ~50k people that are in the stands.

The reality is that;
1. It is not uncommon for matches to be played behind closed doors. Granted, it is often as a punishment.
2. Individual players regularly miss individual matches due to sickness or injury.

Major decisions don't have to be made now. Manage it week by week. Allow the scheduled games for this weekend to go ahead. But don't allow any fans into the ground. If an individual player, or players, are deemed to be a risk, treat it as an injury and play games with the remaining squad available. If club take measures to isolate players from each other day to day, and take appropriate hygiene measures on the day of a game, it can be managed.

Then review week by week as infections either increase or decrease.

My original point about at risk groups and them being particularly fit athletes has to stand. Average people are still going to work, still using public transport, still pushing shopping trolleys when they are panic buying, still living together etc.

1. Matches get shown on telly, people congregate in pubs.
2. Liverpool about to win the league, their fans congregate outside the ground. Players could spread the virus.
3. You'd still need a few hundred in or around the ground to play a game and televise it.

All of the above, and I'm sure more I haven't thought of, increase the chances of the virus spreading. Then you add in the players and managers who can't play for 2 weeks when they get it. Anyone who contracts it, their team can't play for 2 weeks.

It's become untenable to continue. And, although this isn't that important, the optics look terrible if they continue when everyone else is stopping. PR wise, they'll be putting money ahead of player and public safety.

The game is up. Suspension is the only sensible decision. The rugby guys are being reckless.

mightyreds

Looks like it'll be suspended to April 4th and planned to resume then

Loafing Oaf

DeanAustin wrote: »

Suspension is the only sensible decision.

And suspension until April at the earliest is what we're getting

Guy:Incognito

DeanAustin wrote: »

.
3. You'd still need a few hundred in or around the ground to play a game and televise it.

.

If that's the worry, then the whole country needs shutting down, outside of keeping the power on, the hospital's open and law and order functioning.

There are millions of people going to work that, strictly speaking, don't need to be.

Drumpot

mightyreds wrote: »

Looks like it'll be suspended to April 4th and planned to resume then

Id be quite confident that this date will be extended. Even the the deluded UK government accept this is not even going to peak until 12 weeks. Good luck trying to get football back on right in the worst of it. .

Id be surprised if we see any live competitive football in Europe before September.

Loafing Oaf

mightyreds wrote: »

Looks like it'll be suspended to April 4th and planned to resume then

I'd be astonished if this happens

DVDM93

Spurs & West Ham the two clubs.

DeanAustin

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

If that's the worry, then the whole country needs shutting down, outside of keeping the power on, the hospital's open and law and order functioning.

There are millions of people going to work that, strictly speaking, don't need to be.

We've asked there to be no more than 100 people at indoor gatherings in Ireland. That'd probably happen in the stadium before and after the game. Not the biggest risk I grant you and, in itself, not a reason to stop football. But it increases the risk and on top of everything else is another argument why there is no other course of action that can be taken.

Fitz*

Suspension is the correct decision to make.

The 2 clubs who want it cancelled and null & void, want it cancelled for the wrong reasons.

Loafing Oaf

FitzShane wrote: »

The 2 clubs who want it cancelled and null & void, want it cancelled for the wrong reasons.

Good point:pac:

rob316

Shock two clubs that have everything to lose want it voided. I hope West Ham go right down when it does resume.

DeanAustin

FitzShane wrote: »

Suspension is the correct decision to make.

The 2 clubs who want it cancelled and null & void, want it cancelled for the wrong reasons.

Yeah I'm a Spurs fan but it stinks of opportunism.

Whatever way this goes, if Spurs are excluded from a future CL, I'd expect Levy to drag the PL to court by the balls.

Cork Boy 53

Deleted User wrote: »

The UK don't expect it to peak with them for another 10-14 weeks. In fact, this is the current strategy they are going with as part of their 'Delay' phase.

Hope to fúck I'm wrong, but the worst of this is unlikely to be over in a month.

No chance whatsoever that it will be.

Drumpot

Day 1 of Lockdown. It hasn’t quite hit Monty yet that this is his new life for the next few months...

He is inconsolable....

MD1990

No more PL football probably until July at the earliest if they resume season.

May even go on as long as Oct-Nov. No chance it will resume in April. UK will be even worse than Italy then.

Cork Boy 53

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

If that's the worry, then the whole country needs shutting down, outside of keeping the power on, the hospital's open and law and order functioning.

There are millions of people going to work that, strictly speaking, don't need to be.

It may come to that if the worst happens.

Nijmegen

Can't see it back in April. There's a lot of financial incentive for a lot of teams for the season to be voided. On merit payments alone West Ham would be £11m to the good if it was voided. The difference between relegation and staying up is goal difference at the moment, let alone 1 or 2 points. You can't award the title and void it. Who or whatever Liverpool got hexed by 30 years ago is alive and well.

Nerdlingr

if the players and staff are fit to resume in April/may then it will go ahead behind closed doors.

UK could be in lock down by then but they dont need fans there for it to proceed.

RasTa

This season will be voided. They aren't doing enough over here atm and it's going to get worse.

jacool

DeanAustin wrote: »

Yeah I'm a Spurs fan but it stinks of opportunism.

Whatever way this goes, if Spurs are excluded from a future CL, I'd expect Levy to drag the PL to court by the balls.

Tottenham have good lawyers too.
Back in the day, they managed to get a 12 point deduction reduced to 0.

Loafing Oaf

Nerdlingr wrote: »

if the players and staff are fit to resume in April/may then it will go ahead behind closed doors.

UK could be in lock down by then but they dont need fans there for it to proceed.

Yeah but even playing games in an 'empty' stadium still brings a fairly sizeable number of people together, some of them unavoidably in close proximity, for what is ultimately a pretty frivolous reason. With the rest of the country in lockdown it would look pretty strange for the games to resume...

jester77

Nerdlingr wrote: »

if the players and staff are fit to resume in April/may then it will go ahead behind closed doors.

UK could be in lock down by then but they dont need fans there for it to proceed.

I can only see things being much worse in April. The UK are being way too relaxed about this. I don't see any football being played for a couple of months at least.

Wonder what will happen to the transfer window now? I would imagine contracts are tied to these dates, could be messy.

y0ssar1an22

FitzShane wrote: »

Suspension is the correct decision to make.

The 2 clubs who want it cancelled and null & void, want it cancelled for the wrong reasons.

who are the 2 that want it voided?

Loafing Oaf

y0ssar1an22 wrote: »

who are the 2 that want it voided?

Spurs and West Ham according to a previous poster

Fitz*

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

Yeah but even playing games in an 'empty' stadium still brings a fairly sizeable number of people together, some of them unavoidably in close proximity, for what is ultimately a pretty frivolous reason. With the rest of the country in lockdown it would look pretty strange for the games to resume...

If the (lets take an arbituray number of 36 players, 4 referees, 20 backroom staff, 5 medical staff, 5 security staff & 5 admin staff) 75 people who are needed to play a Premier League game all have a 3 week check in record of being negative consistently every day for 3 week after being in quarantine, should those 75 people be allowed to congregate together to play a match? Just asking your opinion. I do not know what I think yet, completely. But I am leaning towards the side that the could be allowed to. Life has to continue somewhat.

It would also be well within the 100 people limit that is being imposed for indoor events throughout Europe, it's 500 for outdoor.

Premier League clubs look like they are detecting the virus early and working to isolate, and the reason is worrying why. They have easy access to doctors to test them. The rest of the public do not, it appears to me anyways.

DeanAustin

FitzShane wrote: »

If the (lets take an arbituray number of 36 players, 4 referees, 20 backroom staff, 5 medical staff, 5 security staff & 5 admin staff) 75 people who are needed to play a Premier League game all have a 3 week check in record of being negative consistently every day for 3 week after being in quarantine, should those 75 people be allowed to congregate together to play a match? Just asking your opinion. I do not know what I think yet, completely. But I am leaning towards the side that the could be allowed to. Life has to continue somewhat.

It would also be well within the 100 people limit that is being imposed for indoor events throughout Europe, it's 500 for outdoor.

Premier League clubs look like they are detecting the virus early and working to isolate, and the reason is worrying why. They have easy access to doctors to test them. The rest of the public do not, it appears to me anyways.

You forgot the tv companies.