League Suspended.

[st albans fox]

32 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

The Athletic says there is growing support for the season to be called null and void 

Who’d have thunk such a thing .......... June is ages away .... I hope the fa and premier league hold their nerve through the next six weeks .....

 

the growing support comes from all those threatened with relegation (plus the spurs/arsenal/Man City combo) and the few mid table clubs who would like the surety of knowing that they need not make any more plans before pre season training  in July ...... and are able to take the 40m hit from sky/BT of not playing the remaining fixtures.   assume that below the PL, this idea of null and void is v strong across the board away from auto promotion positions. 

[CosbehFox]

It reads as though most clubs are taking UEFA's deadline as literal when it can be moved. As clubs are complaining they don't feel it's right they should be playing during the lockdown/crisis. UEFA move the deadline for leagues to complete and then everything changes again. 

 

The Championship don't want to null and void as their clubs are far more reliant on the TV money they may forfeit. Similarly in League 1 and 2, the divisions are so tight that teams still have a chance of the playoffs. The Conference has a similar issue - Barrow for example, leading, could return to the Football League for the first time since the 70s and they have invested a lot on improving their ground for promotion. 

 

I think null and void opens up so many claims for compensation etc whereas pausing the season doesn't. 

[Ric Flair]

I'd be very surprised if this happens yet, it would need to rumble on past June before this would seriously happen, there's too much money riding on it for a start.

[Super_horns]

EFL looking to void this season as they need to start selling tickets for next ?

 

Who knows when that will be !

 

[ALC Fox]

17 hours ago, Fox92 said:

It is unfair on absolutely everything. Finishing this season should be prioritised over starting next season.

Agree 100%

 

We can truncate next season and play more games in a shorter period if needed. Clubs can use their academies to mitigate potential fitness/injury issues or the limit on squad sizes could be abolished for a season.

[srex9]

To ensure they finish this season and catch up with the next I'd prefer them to scrap the league cup for a year, maybe even shorten the FA cup? And get rid of international friendlies...

[bovril]

You can't encourage social distancing and tell non-essential workers to stay home and then tell people to play a contact sport for 90 minutes. They have families too. We should restart when it's safe for players to play, whether that's from the beginning or the current positions isn't the most important thing at the moment. 

[Col city fan]

I can’t see this season re-starting any time soon. If at all tbh

[KingsX]

4 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

The Athletic says there is growing support for the season to be called null and void 

 

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)

[Md9]

Would be crap if this got cancelled and teams like spurs got out back in the champs league next season even tho they would be nowhere near it if the season played out. Liverpool would be hard done to so would we obviously teams like West Ham and spurs where moaning at the start because they are shite and would do anything to forget their miserable season. Worry about finishing this season and delay next for as long as needed. We may not end up top 4 if we play on but then we can not say it’s anyone else’s fault it played out and we finish where we finish. 

[jerry]

Surprised with the amount of optimism for when normality returns ! From the escalating rates of infection and deaths then it could be only when a vaccine is produced that we could look at a resumption. How about cancelling next season and resuming  in February or  March next year so this season is completed to everyone's satisfaction ?

 

[Sampson]

Does that mean all Vardy's goals this season will be voided? 

[Midlands yellow]

However long it takes the season should be completed, too many matches played to declare it null and void. 

[Fox92]

13 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Does that mean all Vardy's goals this season will be voided? 

If it happens yes. And results. So our history breaking 9-0 won't be in record books.

[lcfcsnow]

15 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

If it happens yes. And results. So our history breaking 9-0 won't be in record books.

It would be ridiculous to be a consideration. The only time a season was postponed was after 3 games when war broke out. This season is 80% done.

[harpendenfox]

2 hours ago, jerry said:

Surprised with the amount of optimism for when normality returns ! From the escalating rates of infection and deaths then it could be only when a vaccine is produced that we could look at a resumption. How about cancelling next season and resuming  in February or  March next year so this season is completed to everyone's satisfaction ?

 

how depressing, but sadly you may turn out to be right. I find it almost impossible to imagine that spectator events will be feasible before September at the earliest. 

[Ricey]

If you cancel the season and begin next season in August or September, what happens if/when the death rate spikes again and we have to go into lockdown once more?

 

That could be for the whole winter due to the additional strain of seasonal flu. Do we cancel next season as well?
 

Cancelling this season sets a dangerous precedent. Finish this season and worry about next season once we know more.
 

Also, no way should a decision be made now. UEFA are flexible with their dates, so the last thing we want is to cancel but then find out the rest of Europe don’t follow suit.

 

 

[Sir Shep]

If the season is cancelled then as it would mean no relegation so we might as well declare the positions as final allowing Liverpool their title and us our C/L place. I can only dream. Can’t see the results being scrubbed off though or goals attributed to players. 

[ARM1968]

It is still too early to predict what will happen. Covid-19 has not finished with us or the world at large by a long shot and if it’s is anything like Spanish flue was recorded to be in 1918 there is likely to be a 2nd wave and even possibly a 3rd. 
 

football is literally meaningless at times like this, and yet due to the finances involved it is still massively Important to resolve things. I’m not sure this season could ever be completed without impacting massively on next season. I personally doubt this wave of the virus will subside much before mid July. Could be a very difficult 12 months ahead of us. 
 

the only thing keeping a smile on my face is the sound of wailing and the gnashing of teeth you can hear coming from Liverpool. 

[Costock_Fox]

I can’t see how the season can be voided. If football starts in 2 years time it needs to start from where it left off, no ifs or buts. I didn’t watch us play like cnuts in Norwich for nothing.

Edited 27 March 2020 by Costock_Fox

[shailen]

The integrity of the Premier league and all lower divisions is at stake. As funny as it would be to see Liverpool not get the title and having to start over, you can't ignore what has happened this season and start afresh. 

 

There are too many ongoing situations to just cancel the season. Promotion, relegation, European qualification, etc.. Its not fair on clubs that have invested heavily to achieve their goals - are they all going to be compensated for this amount and how far does this go. We could argue we went ahead with the new training ground on the basis of champions league football so if we are denied it do we get compensated legally? 

 

It would be devastating to cancel a season with only ten or so games left. When football returns it must be finished first before we think about next season, etc - whether that means a shift in when the season starts from now on, so be it. We can start next season in January for all I care and gradually shift it back towards August over a number of years. The point is this season has to finish first. 

[Corky]

Forget all the asterisks about Liverpool's title, nobody going down would be a far bigger bone of contention. This isn't a closed shop.

 

The season should finish at this level, every match should mean something, every record. If we have to wait, we will. Finishing the current season is more pressing than starting the next one.

[FoxFossil]

Finish the season with double points games, counting towards this season and towards the start of next thereby shortening next year's, as well as avoiding voiding this year.

Not seen this suggested; is there anything seriously wrong with it as an idea?

Edited 27 March 2020 by FoxFossil

[Super_horns]

Left field option I guess!

 

 Probably wouldn't be accepted.

[Heathrow fox]

5 hours ago, jerry said:

Surprised with the amount of optimism for when normality returns ! From the escalating rates of infection and deaths then it could be only when a vaccine is produced that we could look at a resumption. How about cancelling next season and resuming  in February or  March next year so this season is completed to everyone's satisfaction ?

 

Who knows it might even come to that