KingsX

If he can’t handle a covid “lockdown” … the real thing may be tough on the lad.

So much is right with this idea. Might add to the bog roll shortage in those offices, though.

This is predictable backlash given the minority of parties (clubs like West Ham, pundits gaining an audience by moralizing) whose interests it serves. “It’s wrong to even talk about resuming the season while people are dying” is a self-serving red herring -- perhaps from those moral paragons, the Dildo Twins & Kerrin. Of course those who run football are spending this downtime working out how to recover from this problem! That’s their job. They are hardly going to switch right over into building hospitals. For the powers that be, there are 752 million reasons to finish this season. The major TV rights holders are much more powerful enterprises than the PL. If some club boards think they will negotiate most of that money back, they are dreaming. Commercial sponsors likewise. Surely only clubs courting the drop can perceive financial benefit from cancellation. Among big clubs, only Spurs might even be equivocal. If folks on here are expressing long seated feelings of “they’ll screw us if they can, and they can”, those feelings may be well founded. But for now, the interests of the powerful remain aligned with ours. Ed Woodward is said to be focused on collecting on all ₤300M worth of sponsorship contracts -- not trying to call the season off because of worries about CL qualification. Why would MUFC rush to add another nine figures to their huge debt? If the worst happens, it will be because a long covid impact makes it inevitable*. Not to benefit the big six clubs. It could burn a billion pounds off their top lines, many times what four could make from a 2020-21 CL. * (by which point even us football fans may have finally worked out, there are bigger worries)

Thanks for responding. Interesting that we flipped almost overnight! But that’s how things have gone lately. Two friends of mine own wine-and-beer bars/carryouts that do good business on-premise. For both, people coming in to drink stopped on a dime (busy one day, zero the next -- even before the state shut it down). But it was just as suddenly replaced by massive case sales. Almost like the locusts stripping the bog-roll aisles. That’s going to have to sustain my friends for a while, and hopefully general chat will sustain FT.

Social media is suddenly one of the few ways to connect with other people *. And it becomes a daily habit. You’d expect communities like Foxes Talk to stay (or become more) active. On the other hand, football is offline and seeming a lot less life-and-death than we thought. The City forum, like the sports media, has seen more recycling and historic/nostalgia content. It seems to have slowed down. I’m on here less (silver linings and all) but is that typical? So many other topics, not least the virus' impact, to discuss. @Mark, can you share an idea of how visits and posts are going since the league was suspended, compared to normal times? Curious to know how much General Discussion is up or down, and the City forum. * or not so in the UK?

COVID-19: KingsX Statement – 20 March, 2020 Here I sit, a common story suspended in this purgatory Bored as hell, but not infected; No COVID (nor much life) detected. No games to watch, no transfer news, no refs to hate. Gives me the blues FT no longer is my fix, this Desert of a thousand clicks. Footballers who cannot play are duller than Puel in gray. Madders’ clothing? not my shout Ain’t much left to talk about. Posters once so on the money classic threads that were so funny Now tired enough to make me dream of a millionth post in Name This Team. And if this poem is even worse than all the shite, I’ve posted erst I’ll gladly fall upon my sword. forgive me Lord -- I am that bored.

I signed up for the free trial. (Can’t see Amazon Prime alone getting us through covid-19.) My Mrs was so into the British Baking Show, she watched every season twice. I found her a new favorite, Blown Away -- a reality competition between glass blowers instead of bakers. While different enough to seem fresh, it’s the same premise. Frenzied preparation, expert judging, one disaster per episode (the glass falls off the rod = the cake falls off the plate). Edited down to 23 minute episodes, so no time to get bored. If there’s a BBS (or Iron Chef) addict in the house, I recommend it as just enough of a change of pace.

So reminiscent of Chapacoense. But in the first world, where even more bad decisions and broken rules had to combine for it to happen.

If you have the Athletic, their latest info at https://theathletic.com/1669393/2020/03/13/coronavirus-and-football-games-closes-doors-euros-champions-league/ bits and pieces: The football authorities [in Italy] have already revealed they are considering three options: declare the season null and void and start again in August; end the season now, dishing out the prizes, promotions and relegations on the basis of the current tables; or wait for the worst of the outbreak to pass and start playing again as soon as possible, perhaps with a series of play-offs to decide this season’s winners and losers. At the meeting between Premier League clubs on Friday, the FA chairman Greg Clarke said that he did not think it is “feasible” that the season will be completed. The vast majority of clubs [are] keen to complete the domestic fixture list, even if that means playing until July. The only thing currently stopping that — apart from a much graver health crisis than currently predicted — is Euro 2020. UEFA knows that and will move it. The Athletic has heard that the tournament’s suppliers have already been told to stop preparing for this summer and start thinking about how and when it can be squeezed in next summer. If UEFA has to move Euro 2020, and it knows it does, it could probably live without the Nations League. Likewise, if FIFA wants to do its bit, it would probably agree to postpone the start of its new and improved Club World Cup. [But] there is the mother of all sporting schedule snafus to consider: what happens if Tokyo 2020 becomes Tokyo 2021. The Athletic has spoken to sources at several EFL clubs over the last 24 hours and they have described the prospect of going behind closed doors or having no games until next season as “catastrophic”, “disastrous” or “unimaginable”.

If only.

Not half bad for a half hour’s work #9

Virus, schmirus ... rugby players are Real Men !

Not sure about “stopped” by authorities. But big transfers require in-person scouting and confirmation by senior figures before the deal can be sealed. That is not going to be possible in the near future. Right as clubs reach that point in their recruitment. Look for greatly increased interest/value in PL-proven players in this summer’s window. Guys from foreign leagues will be seen as punts because their dossiers will be incomplete. This could really put increased pressure on our squad. While also inflating prices domestically, and reducing them elsewhere.

Genius idea, why disown it!