COVID-19 Life now and beyond

[OzzyPorter 44]

Morning all, an interesting article I read online about the danger that COVID-19 could pose to smaller clubs. It is looking very very likely that this virus is going to spread rapidly and with that danger comes the very real possibility of the government announcing plans to limit social interaction. As seen in other countries, one of the ways to do that would be to play all sports events behind closed doors. The problem for smaller clubs is that they will still be responsible for the majority of match day costs but will not receive any gate receipts. For many clubs this would be a financial disaster and could force a few to go the same way as Bury.

So what is the answer? I think the only way to ensure the future of league clubs is to cancel the season and write it off. All promotions and relegation's forfeited and obviously no winners of the respective leagues.

I would support that and in addition to banishing our own relegation fears it would also be amusing to watch the reaction of Leeds and Liverpool fans!

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,294]

I don’t see why the season can’t be delayed for a couple of months, rather than cancelled or played behind closed doors. 
 

Whilst your solution of cancelling the season and scrapping all promotion and relegation may be amusing, I think it would be far more likely that if the season was to stop now, current positions would be used, Liverpool would (deservedly) win the premier league Leeds wouldn’t have the chance to bottle it and we’d be in div1 

[OzzyPorter 44]

A couple of months? This virus will be ongoing until the end of summer by all accounts. Certainly it is not expected to peak for another 6-8 weeks. That doesn't leave any time to fit in the rest of the games before the beginning of next season.

With regards to ending the season now as it stands, there is no way this will happen as the clubs that it will negatively impact would have grounds for legal action.

[Downsouth 1,772]

Sorry but for me personally OP I fail to see any amusement whatsoever due to the current situation even at the expense of other football clubs fans.

Let us all hope that the rest of the season can be completed as per normal conditions.

Sadly for all of us we have a threat which at this time can not be fully comprehended and which many of us could become very personal.

Do not mean to be a sour puss but I just do not think anything remotely humorous can come of it

[OzzyPorter 44]

Lighten up. Talk about an overreaction!

[Downsouth 1,772]

5 minutes ago, OzzyPorter said:

Lighten up. Talk about an overreaction!

Why is my own opinion an overreaction?

As far as lightening up I am very chilled up guy

[RiseAgainst 1,362]

If we cancel the football season, presumably we'd have to cancel all sporting gatherings across the board? That would suggest we'd be in the grip of a virus so severe that kids can't go to school, employees can't go to work, pubs and clubs close, etc. It'd be like Children of Men, but without the trip to the south coast. And then when do all these mothballed facilities re-open? I don't believe in two weeks' time, Italian schools will all re-open their doors as if nothing had happened. If they did, all it takes is one or two kids with COVID-19, and they're closed again. Rinse, repeat.

Back to football, I think this season would have to be written off, with the hope of resuming afresh in August. You can't confidently promote or relegate teams after 36 games in a 46-game season, and I can't see clubs fulfilling remaining fixtures behind closed doors. You'd still need stadium staff/groundskeepers/officials to be present, any or all of whom could spread the virus.

For a long time, I thought this was just another mass panic, like swine flu (which I actually had), bird flu, SARS or E. coli. But it does actually seem to be having more of an effect on society, even if death rates still pale in comparison to cancer, flu, car crashes, etc.

[wilsoncgp 3,838]

Well the next phase is to try delay spreading to the summer, the phase which we are entering now. It's no longer about containing the virus, people have it and it's no longer simple to figure out where it came from; it's in the general public and will continue to be passed on. So the idea will be to try and limit and delay the spread as much as possible until the summer, hotter months.

The EFL isn't going to be hit a great deal by the international competitions should they still go ahead. Particularly those smaller teams you're talking about. So I'd say League One or League Two and further down may well finish off during the summer. Possibly even the Championship. We're not even at closed doors matches yet, though. By the time it comes to call off games, we'll probably be much closer to the end of the season with much fewer games to play. And teams lower down the ladder may even find greater attendances during the summer months given there's very little domestic football played during those times!

It'll be interesting to see if the transfer window comes into effect before then, though. You'd have to assume it will open and close at the regular times because (as we've already seen from the pretty immediate return to 'end-of-August' closing) the rest of the world probably won't alter their dates just to match ours and it would have to be a combined effort to get it shifted. So will we end up with clubs trying to sign players to avoid relegation or push for promotion mere weeks before either is confirmed? Teams like ours with expiry dates on plenty of senior contracts may well either have to push for short-term extensions (which I imagine a few players would go for) or will be pushed to sign players who may not be useful to them beyond those weeks.

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,294]

42 minutes ago, OzzyPorter said:

A couple of months? This virus will be ongoing until the end of summer by all accounts. Certainly it is not expected to peak for another 6-8 weeks. That doesn't leave any time to fit in the rest of the games before the beginning of next season.

With regards to ending the season now as it stands, there is no way this will happen as the clubs that it will negatively impact would have grounds for legal action.

If a couple of months is too short a timeframe, then who knows when the season will be finished? What if as predicted, this goes on until October? I’m not sure I could cope with this season going on for another 6 months, it’s been horrible. 
 

I think the best thing would be to end the season as it stands if it comes to it, then start a new one when the whole thing has died down, whenever that would be. 
I don’t think clubs would take legal action in a time of national crisis though, football isn’t that important in the scheme of things and it would be incredibly disingenuous of clubs to go down a legal route.
 

If clubs have to stop playing, then they will have to accept their current league position, that makes the Charlton game even more of a must win for us!

[AnglianRed 2,280]

1 hour ago, OzzyPorter said:

Morning all, an interesting article I read online about the danger that COVID-19 could pose to smaller clubs. It is looking very very likely that this virus is going to spread rapidly and with that danger comes the very real possibility of the government announcing plans to limit social interaction. As seen in other countries, one of the ways to do that would be to play all sports events behind closed doors. The problem for smaller clubs is that they will still be responsible for the majority of match day costs but will not receive any gate receipts. For many clubs this would be a financial disaster and could force a few to go the same way as Bury.

So what is the answer? I think the only way to ensure the future of league clubs is to cancel the season and write it off. All promotions and relegation's forfeited and obviously no winners of the respective leagues.

I would support that and in addition to banishing our own relegation fears it would also be amusing to watch the reaction of Leeds and Liverpool fans!

Coronavirus isn't anywhere close to being a serious public health risk yet...just over 100 cases identified and 1 death (an elderly lady with underlying health issues) so I don't see any clubs / leagues being ordered to play out the remainder of the season behind closed doors.

The government has made it clear they want to balance their measures for dealing with the virus, against unnecessary economic impacts.

So I don't think there will be any limitations on social interaction. Especially now that we are entering Spring and a period of warmer weather, which is expected to curtail the virus.

 

So Liverpool will still be PL champions, Dirty Leeds will get promoted and Boro's survival will continue to hang in the balance.

 

[wilsoncgp 3,838]

21 minutes ago, RiseAgainst said:

Back to football, I think this season would have to be written off, with the hope of resuming afresh in August. You can't confidently promote or relegate teams after 36 games in a 46-game season, and I can't see clubs fulfilling remaining fixtures behind closed doors. You'd still need stadium staff/groundskeepers/officials to be present, any or all of whom could spread the virus.

I think the concern is much more the 30-40,000 attendants being trusted individually to treat themselves and each other with care to prevent the virus from spreading. The club would be much more capable of enforcing its own prevention schemes across its own employees. So closed door matches won't be anywhere near as much of a risk and are a pretty reasonable next step to take.

[Naisby 98]

It’s all to do with who gets landed with any bills for the cancelling of events etc.

it would have been prudent to advise folk not to travel abroad before the last half term, but had the government done so it would have been liable for the costs unless it could prove its actions were justified.

The same will happen regarding sporting/cultural events here too, there will be an agreed procedure of events that trigger responses and it will only be then that such things as cancellations of league fixtures etc will happen.

The big one regarding cancellations or postponements will be the Olympics, personally I think behind the scenes the decisions have already been made, it will be either a full postponement till a later date, or it goes ahead but with no spectators and athletes and judges officials kept isolated. Japan already saying it has the right to the games anywhere in 2020, however I think we will be looking at a years postponement or we skip this one and Japan does 2024 and Paris 2028.

But it’s all down to who will pay any compensation if events cancelled, once governments and sanctioning bodies off the hook watch em shut all down.

[boro_fan_in_brum 106]

Media hype!!!

Everyone should research the virus.  For most people under 60 it'll be like the common flu.  We lived through sars, swine flu etc. Years ago so don't flap.  The one big thing that wasn't around last time was social media.  Smart phones, YouTube, WhatsApp etc.

Hysteria caused by the media..

[boro_fan_in_brum 106]

https://beta.spectator.co.uk/article/The-most-dangerous-thing-about-coronavirus-is-the-hysteria/amp

Just go have a cup of tea

[BillyWoofs_shinpad 1,294]

14 minutes ago, boro_fan_in_brum said:

Media hype!!!

Everyone should research the virus.  For most people under 60 it'll be like the common flu.  We lived through sars, swine flu etc. Years ago so don't flap.  The one big thing that wasn't around last time was social media.  Smart phones, YouTube, WhatsApp etc.

Hysteria caused by the media..

Phew, that’s a relief then, thanks for the heads up.