Let me stress the most important aspect to consider at the moment is the welfare of the people. If the consequence of keeping society safe is disruption to football, then so be it.
With talk that this virus is only going to get worse in the summer, restarting games at the end of April remains unrealistic.
Most things will be motivated by money. The desire to finish the season is to appease sponsors and other deals, yet could equally impact on contracts in place for the following campaign.
If the government take any decision out of the FA and Premiere League’s hands then that would influence who gets insured and for how much.
Every day we are debating how or if the League should be resumed. Banter aside, few would argue if Liverpool were awarded the title given the gap between them and second.
But that would mean though ending the competition based on 28 matches, a prospect those in the bottom three and chasing Europe would not vote for and would have highly paid lawyers fight against.
The majority of stakeholders (the 20 clubs) would have to agree to any radical alteration to the timetable. For their own self-interest anyone with the possibility of relegation of course will be in favour of putting a line through 2019-2020 and pretending it never happened. That would mean restarting where you finished last May, which would be unjust on Liverpool as well as Leicester, Sheffield United and even us to a degree (yet we wouldn’t lose the money that those who dropped to the Championship would).
In theory, there’s a way to make everyone happy. Make Liverpool Champions, cancel relegation, and promote Leeds and West Brom (in the automatic places) making next year a one-off season with a 22-team League. Those who can still mathematically get in the top 4 could be compensated some way.
While the determination from all involved is for full completion, there are factors where pushing back dates can’t happen forever.
UEFA have a deadline for wanting to know who will represent England in Europe, while how long will a Sky, BT, shirt manufactures, etc, be willing to postpone next season?
So, what’s my idea if it becomes safe to play again but we simply do not enough time to play all the games? I think we could decide everything through play offs, including the title.
Liverpool vs Man City play two legs for title
Leicester vs Burnley (two legs) vs the winner of Sheffield United vs Spurs (two legs) = 1 CL spot
Chelsea vs Arsenal (two legs) vs Man United vs Wolves (two legs) = 1 CL spot
Relegation decided by three losers of ….
Brighton vs Norwich (2 legs)
West Ham vs Villa (2 legs)
Watford vs Bournemouth (2 legs )
Okay, perhaps I am being selfish as a lot of this is based on my own entertainment. Imagine the couple of weeks of television that would provide?
While it would seem unfair on some (especially the League leaders) it’s the only way where everyone’s fate would be in their own hands.
If Liverpool are the great champions they claim to be, then what’s the issue of beating City over two legs?
Depending on what play off you are in is a consequence of your performance over the majority of the year.
As much as a team might feel it harsh for their future to turn bleak on two games, they equally can rescue their whole seasons in such a short time. If it got us back into the CL, you wouldn’t complain, and plus ….how funny would it be if Liverpool didn’t win the title?
The fine details would have tyo be agreed, but who thinks this could work?
Dan Smith
lifes at stake and the bigwigs are thinking of monetary gains….
the league can stop, start and cancelled anytime…
but a human life cant…..
Precisely. I agree with you. If schools, universities, air travel, shopping malls, places of worship etc can be temporarily shut down, what of mere entertainment which can always be resumed anytime when it is safe to do so? Who said that football is a matter of life and death? Which coach or player is willing to sacrifice their lives? I doubt if there are many wiling to lose their lives so as to please their clubs or fans. Similarly how many sensible people would risk their lives to go and watch games? Where there is life everything is possible.
This has to be the end of sports, concerts, pubs, clubs, beach holidays, mass worship, flying, etc, full stop! Because even if we get over the Corona virus, the highly contagious, and deadly flu season won’t be far behind. If we’re being serious about containment, and saving lives, then we’ll need lock downs every year from now.
It’s going to interesting if it’ll be just a case of Corona was trending, or do people really want to continue saving lives?
To use the words made famous by John McEnroe:
You cannot be serious!
So City beat Liverpool over two legs by a dodgy penalty or lucky deflection and get crowned Champions.
Yeah, great idea!
Really funny if it turns out this way . 😂
Sorry to say it, but I think all bets are off, as to when any top level football can be played anywhere, UK, Europe or anywhere else. And how clubs and competitions will look, when it can, is highly uncertain.
I’m sorry that it seems all bets are off too Anders. I’ve been searching Betfair to get a bet on the flu killing more people than coronavirus but so far nothing 🙂
As the coronavirus appeared at around the time of the flu season, making it a very fair bet, you would think that the hysterical ones would have given me a great price! Easy money for them right?
Maybe not – so far it stands (at time of writing):
Worldwide coronavirus deaths: 13,642
Worldwide flu deaths this ‘season’: 109,064 (i.e. approx 8x more)
As you can see, a great pity. It would have been a most excellent bet!
Now stand by for the deluge of ‘callous’, ‘uncaring’, ‘selfish’ etc remarks to follow from people who believe the hype, like you do, and don’t like facts to get in the way of a good bout of hysteria.
Chief Scientific adviser to the UK Government, Sir Patrick Vallance says UK has 8000 a year from Flu (he should know!). Then he said….. “There are 8,000 or so deaths from flu in an average season.
“It can be more than that in a bad season.
“And if we can contain this down to the sort of level where it looks comparable to that – which would be a remarkable achievement – then that would be an outcome which is really quite remarkable.
“Given that we haven’t got vaccines and other things.”
He added: “There will be some overlap (with flu-related deaths) and we don’t know how much of an overlap there will be.
“Of course, it’s true as it’s been pointed out repeatedly that those most at risk are the elderly and those with pre-existing diseases – and so they, in any case, have a higher risk of serious disease over that period.
“But we don’t know the numbers at the moment, and the idea is to try and minimise those and get on top of this.”
He has also stated that he would be happy if there are less than 20,000 deathsin UK. Jack, you ARE going to be proved wrong I’m afraid….
Relax Jon, it’s just the screaming, mindless schoolgirl-at-a-Justin Bieber concert part of you that’s coming out. Nothing to worry out.
Vallance – Average uk deaths per year from the flu = 8,000
All other sources – Average uk deaths per year from the flu (over the last 5 years) = 17,000
Conclusion? Vallance – another lying government minister.
Come back Guy Fawkes, all is forgiven! 🙂
WISHING TO BET ON THE DEATH TOLL! Words fail me but thoughts do not. There are very many normal human people on here, almost all of us and there are a tiny percent, like Gunner Jack who are self centered to his core and who bewail the fact that Betfair fail to share his own ghoulish desire to publish betting odds on the dying rates between seasonal flu and Cortona. Ugh” Such an inconvenience to him, poor chap!
UGH!I WANT TO HEAVE, WITH DISGUST!
I’ts just an immature, childish follow up to your last post about him Jon, don’t waste your time. His attitude is “didn’t like my last post, ooh, I can do better than that” ignore him
Thought you said a bit of humour, even black humour, was ok Jon?
And why do spurs get Leicester, burnley and Sheffield? They’re big boys now isn’t it? Or so they say… they should be in the Chelsea Man U and Arsenal group. It’d be funny to have the “champions league finalist” end up bottom of the group 😂
I stopped reading at Liverpool vs City in a play-off for the title.
It’s just an idea though tmjw, his idea. It’s not perfect, not that I’ve heard a perfect solution to the mess we find ourselves in. I think the whole point was to create a discussion where others share their ideas and see if we can’t then come up with a better collective plan for how we would resolve the league
I agree that it’s just a case of brainstorming, and discussion, to find a solution. Even so, that was so ridiculous to say, even merely as a suggestion, that it brought into question the entire integrity of the article.
In the same vain, I am thinking of penning of an article myself: Ozil or Messi, who would you pick?
Messi all day long, even though he’s not an Arsenal player. Our darling playmaker has had a difficult past 2 years and articles about him on the forum evoke some very strong emotions to say the least lol so rather not open up that can of worms
I know TMJW, absolutely ridiculous.
I know , his solution was better
Oh wait didn’t give one lol
So you read most of it lol
Your not very good at this are you ?
Yeah but that’s quite far into article mate
DAN , It needs to be faced fully and once and for all, that ANY resumption of football right now would be both immoral and if not already so, then by perhaps next wek also illegal. Some have not YET grasped the sheer scale of this fight for our global human species to survive that we are ALL involved in so deeply. TBH, I personally feel bad that I am even discussing football at this time. I prefer not to look forward at all, since we are clearly only near the start, and not the end of a battle for human survival enmasse.
As a libertarian to my toes, I do not think we can, nor should we, force folk to think as we may do personally on this life and death matter and there is room, even a need, for some humour, even “black” humour.
But to concentrate in the forefront of our minds about WHEN football will resume is so low down the list of HUMANE priorities as to make it seem immoral even to discuss it serously. Just my take but I guess many will concur.
Looks like the headline: ‘Coronavirus: Arsenal to return to training on Tuesday 23 March after completing 14-day isolation’ is no longer valid.
Pity. I was hoping Arsenal would be leading the way and showing an example to the rest of the clubs so we can get on with finishing the league. Perhaps they would like to but are not allowed to? Who knows? At least that was their original intention.
According to Jon Fox though, sending perfectly healthy footballers out to get in some practice/play football would be ‘immoral . . . and perhaps by next week illegal’ as he thinks footall shouldn’t even be discussed at this time.
Obviously ‘Some of us have not YET grasped the sheer scale of this fight for our global human species to survive . . .’
Not a tad over the top then Jon? This global human species who have survived the Black Death, Spanish Flu, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Common flu (annually), SARS, MERS et al will not be able to fight off a weak virus which, for the most part, can only kill those who are elderly and already have at least one ongoing disease, sometimes two, and even then fails in its mission 85% of the time.
In fact, we should not even ‘concentrate in the forefront of our minds about WHEN football will resume’ as it is ‘so low down the list of HUMANE priorities as to make it seem immoral even to discuss it seriously.’ Nice of you to take such a calm, logical and balanced view Jon 🙂
At least JF says ‘there is room, even a need, for some humour, even “black” humour.’ Great! Here goes:
JF ‘I am a libertarian to my toes’. Excellent humour I admit – but of course a downright lie. Jon, you are an Authoritarian to your core, the opposite of a Libertarian. Coupled with your narcissism this makes you someone who’s inane ramblings simply cannot be taken seriously.
This is you who tries to tell people what they can, or cannot, write or even think. For instance do you remember when you admonished someone who supported one of my comments, telling her that she should basically ‘cease and desist’!!??
Yes, the great Narcissist and Authoritarian, the self appointed ‘policeman of the forum’ has the brass neck to actually believe he has the right to tell others on here what they should or shouldn’t write. Oh, but he’s a libertarian right. Sorry, wrong!
Anyway, if you don’t believe him, he will shout at you by WRITING IN CAPITALS so that hopefully you can more fully understand his twisted points. Social media niceties are of course completely lost on narcissists as they believe that none of that applies to them as they are so far above the rest of the human race.
Thankfully he says ‘I do not think we can, nor should we, force folk to think as we may do personally on this life and death matter’
Well that’s a nice change of mind Jon. So far you’ve castigated me at least 20 times, using deplorable language, because I’ve had the cheek to disagree with your wild, over-the-top comments on this very subject in the past.
Anyway Jon, if you can make this new thought (i.e. not trying to force others to think as you do) one of your guiding lights in the future all may be well and good – but I won’t be holding my breath of course.
I look forward to your calm, well balanced and factual response.
My, my, I ought to be so flattered , reading so many of my borrowed gems of wisdom , even when they are lied about, as you have done, Gunner Jack. I am also tickled by how well and in such detail you claim to know my character, even though we have never met, never spoken face to face and you know nothing – save the few morsels I , together with others who do likewise – very occasionally dispense on here. And yet you are suddeny a psycho analyst and self appointed one too it seems!
Strange then that you do not even know how, or even whether I vote and how I live, yet you think it fine to judge my character merely because my love for humanity prompted me to rightly challenge your despicable views? Could it be that it is YOU, rather than me who is the ill informed one and who has an arrogant view that HE is always right! After all , you have posted much thesame post a number of times, though nowhere near the false number of twenty times you allege I have criticised you, which is of course a flat lie. But why worry about a mere lie when you already carry no compassion for others, esp the weak, vulnerable and elderly who do not fit within your 85% who you are pleased to say will survive this virus. You make me sick, sir!
Glad I make you sick Jon. You on the other hand don’t make me anything. Perhaps a bit sorry for you is all.
Anyway back to business: is this the ‘weak, vulnerable and elderly’ group to which I myself belong?
Strange that I should have no compassion for myself don’t you think? You don’t think this comment, which you’ve made about me several times, is a litle odd?
Oops no, you don’t actually think do you Jon? Far better to just lie back and be carried on the wave of mounting hysteria fuelled by media headlines than actually delving deeply into the facts of the matter isn’t it?
Jon it’s almost 11pm here and will be going to bed soon so please don’t think I am ignoring you if I don’t reply to any of your further comments. All being well (i.e. if I don’t wake up dead from corona) I’ll be back at around 6 or 7am Monday morning, which is about 10-11pm still Sunday your time.
“Glad I make you sick Jon”! How well that sums you up Gunner Jack! I do not know which country you are in but I am so relieved it is not in Britian and hence I will not ever meet you in person, even when we poor 15%, which , astonishingly, incudes you, are eventually either dead or out of danger. That you were actually looking to strike a bet on Betfair, to make a profit from the comparison of death rates betwen seasonal flu and Corona, speaks volumes about your lack of compassion. Fortunately, Betfair is less ghoulish and I have said my final word to you now , so enjoy your sleep and by contrast to you, I HOPE YOU SLEEP WELL AND STAY FIT.
Jon, amazingly (well, to you anyway), I of course hope that everyone sleeps well and stays fit. As you probably know, I am nowhere near the hard hearted, unsympathetic and uncompassionate person that you try hard to make me out to be.
You state that you’ve ‘said my final word to you’.
Do you know I wondered how you were going to get out of answering my much-asked question of you: ‘Why would I castigate the weak, vulnerable and elderly when I am in that group myself?’
As your many statements to that effect are clearly ludicrous I am still waiting for your answer weeks after first asking you, and have then asked you the same question many times since. You ignored that question every time.
Anyway, I’m sure you will be able to prise yourself out of your self inflicted ‘not talking’ state just as soon as you can dream up your next insulting statement/s to me.
To refresh your memory here are a few things you’ve called me so far. Feel free to regurgitate them if you’ve run out of ideas. According to you I am:
callous, disgusting, inhumane, immoral, have an ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude and of course the deepest cut of all, telling me ‘ . . . you are, presumably, another bizarre Ozil lover. HOW SAD FOR YOU!’
Oh dear, I’m doomed! LOL
You talk a lot of sense
Thank you Dathballz. You are one of the few who think so. Most of the others have a sort of ‘follow the crowd’ mentality – like a lynch mob.