League Suspended.

[StriderHiryu]

3 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

If they put it on tv too, one game at a time, it'll give millions of people something to watch, hopefully resisting the urge to go outside and risk the spread.

I think the government are supporting the league resuming to lift "the national mood" so this could well happen. There has been talk of showing some games on terrestrial tv.

[Yes N'Didi]

French league has ended, declaring current positions as valid and crowing PSG, conforming CL/EL places and relegating Amiens and Toulouse

[1972 Fox]

I think we have to face up to the likelihood that this season will not be finished. Sad but almost inevitable I feel. 

[boots60]

There is talk about the possibility of playing some games at St George's Park.

This is in my opinion a terrible idea. There is barely enough room to park for Aldi. Currys/Pc world & KFC customers let alone staging an 11 aside game of football.

[Corky]

4 minutes ago, Blue Fox 72 said:

I think we have to face up to the likelihood that this season will not be finished. Sad but almost inevitable I feel. 

Until the threat of having to pay back the TV money goes away, the season will need to finish. No way are clubs going to vote to give away serious amounts of revenue.

[Raj]

What do you know @UpTheLeagueFox

[PhillippaT]

28 minutes ago, Yes N'Didi said:

French league has ended, declaring current positions as valid and crowing PSG, conforming CL/EL places and relegating Amiens and Toulouse

Amiens? Oh dear. I guess my uncle over there will be disappointed.  Well, maybe - I haven't seen him in years   (My Mum is half-French, and I'm not sure being quarter-French has really affected me that much )  Meh.

[Super_horns]

57 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

I think the government are supporting the league resuming to lift "the national mood" so this could well happen. There has been talk of showing some games on terrestrial tv.

Sky and BT seemed to then dismiss such an idea though although sure again money can be traded?

 

PSG Champions in France.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/psg-coronavirus-ligue-1-season-cancelled-champions-league-a9492771.html

 

Bottom 2 relegated (think they were well bottom too unlike Villa and Norwich)  and top 2 in the 2nd division promoted with no relegation play-off.

 

 

[1972 Fox]

49 minutes ago, Corky said:

Until the threat of having to pay back the TV money goes away, the season will need to finish. No way are clubs going to vote to give away serious amounts of revenue.

We will see but the decision may not be in the hands of the clubs. The government might not allow an imminent restart and UEFA may enforce a deadline for this season to be finished.

 

Edited 30 April 2020 by Blue Fox 72

[Guest ttfn]

2 hours ago, fox_up_north said:

The other option is to only play a proportion of the remaining games. There's 9 left for most teams. No way we get through all nine games with UEFA breathing down necks to get CL going. I do think dominoes are starting to fall with most of Europe ending their seasons and we surely can't be far behind. 

 

If the players were to report back to training on 1 June, they'd need at least 2 weeks to warm back up. That then puts you into June 14 and teams could do 3 games over the space of a week, in neutral grounds and perhaps be stationed in one part of the country. They could also each play a team above and below them. 

 

Take us for example - base ourselves in London and play Watford, Chelsea and Palace on Monday, Weds and Saturday - all at Charlton's ground. 

 

There could then be a group of Bournemouth, Wolves, Southampton and Spurs all based at Swindon's ground. So on and so on. 

In theory, you can have five "groups" of four. Is it perfect? Far from it but if all teams go into it knowing what they're getting into, all players currently with the club (and not on loan) can be used then the TV companies can be happy, you're minimising the risk. It also takes VAR out of the equation if you use lower league stadiums. 

At the moment - I do not see the season ending and this is as creative as I can get. 

I think at the very least they need to play the games in hand.

[brucey]

 

[StriderHiryu]

36 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Sky and BT seemed to then dismiss such an idea though although sure again money can be traded?

 

PSG Champions in France.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/psg-coronavirus-ligue-1-season-cancelled-champions-league-a9492771.html

 

Bottom 2 relegated (think they were well bottom too unlike Villa and Norwich)  and top 2 in the 2nd division promoted with no relegation play-off.

 

 

Sky and BT would prefer to show the matches as long as they aren't portrayed as the bad guy. I think that for this decision to be taken, the majority of stakeholders probably voted in favor of it, and that could well include the clubs and players themselves. Or at least some representation.

 

You can see the argument both ways. As a Leicester fan if the season ends now we get Champions League next season and that would be incredible for the club. It also doesn't risk anything in terms of lives.

 

But on the other hand, life has to go back to normal at some point, and until a vaccine is available for all, there will always be an element of risk. If games are held behind closed doors, and world class health and testing facilities are on stand by to set it up, then I think it's OK. At some point life must go on, and if there's 100 people at the game (total of all staff plus match officials) then that sounds OK. I have seen that many people que outside a Sainsburies near me!

 

Is the move money motivated? 110% it is. But it does also have benefits. People are bored, and worse than that many are depressed. As a Watford fan I am sure that just like us you don't support your team because you expect them to win things, you watch them because they are YOUR club, that you love! Being able to see your boys play again can bring many of us joy and there is something to be said for that. And you have Nigel Pearson in charge who will keep you up!

 

Perhaps I am in the minority for thinking like this though!

[The_77]

19 minutes ago, brucey said:

 

Looking for one adult ticket for Spurs away. 

 

[Leeds Fox]

45 minutes ago, The_77 said:

Looking for one adult ticket for Spurs away. 

 

I didn’t know Spurs sold Adult Tickets. I thought all their fans were babies.

[Lionator]

If they can't play all games, how about;

 

- Full points for the 1st game against each team.

- Half points for the 2nd game played each team.

 

That way it gives greater weight to the games where everybody has played everybody will not completely ignoring the other games which have taken place.

[moore_94]

Didn’t take long

[Ric Flair]

I'm now very open to cancelling the season and we get awarded 3rd! 😂😂

[Super_horns]

2 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Sky and BT would prefer to show the matches as long as they aren't portrayed as the bad guy. I think that for this decision to be taken, the majority of stakeholders probably voted in favor of it, and that could well include the clubs and players themselves. Or at least some representation.

 

You can see the argument both ways. As a Leicester fan if the season ends now we get Champions League next season and that would be incredible for the club. It also doesn't risk anything in terms of lives.

 

But on the other hand, life has to go back to normal at some point, and until a vaccine is available for all, there will always be an element of risk. If games are held behind closed doors, and world class health and testing facilities are on stand by to set it up, then I think it's OK. At some point life must go on, and if there's 100 people at the game (total of all staff plus match officials) then that sounds OK. I have seen that many people que outside a Sainsburies near me!

 

Is the move money motivated? 110% it is. But it does also have benefits. People are bored, and worse than that many are depressed. As a Watford fan I am sure that just like us you don't support your team because you expect them to win things, you watch them because they are YOUR club, that you love! Being able to see your boys play again can bring many of us joy and there is something to be said for that. And you have Nigel Pearson in charge who will keep you up!

 

Perhaps I am in the minority for thinking like this though!

Yes I agree if it's all planned well and everyone cooperates then they should try to end the season but I just can see it failing somehow.

 

There is talk of games at St George's Park 3 times a day etc.

 

But where will the players stay and keep safe or even behave ! 

[The_77]

1 hour ago, Leeds Fox said:

I didn’t know Spurs sold Adult Tickets. I thought all their fans were babies.

I just need one for the away end

[Guest Eamonn]

40 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Yes I agree if it's all planned well and everyone cooperates then they should try to end the season but I just can see it failing somehow.

 

There is talk of games at St George's Park 3 times a day etc.

 

But where will the players stay and keep safe or even behave ! 

They should all play and stay at La Manga. What could possibly go wrong?

[Webbo]

Most of this is behind a paywall. sorry if it's been posted already.

Quote

.Leicester and Norwich have told their players to be prepared for a return to training in early May. Brendan Rodgers, the Leicester manager, and Norwich head coach Daniel Farke have mapped out provisional plans to start training in the first week of May, ahead of a possible resumption of the Premier League season in Jun

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/04/09/leicester-city-norwich-city-prepare-return-training-early-may/

[Webbo]

The ALTERNATIVE Premier League table: French boffins devise a new 'fairer' formula for deciding leagues that finish prematurely

 

As doubts grow about the viability of playing out the rest of the Premier League season, a number of methods have been mooted to complete the campaign.

There are those who would take the table at the halfway stage – when everybody had played each other once – and simply double the points totals.

Others think the fairest method would be to go on a points per game basis to work out how the campaign should conclude.

There are some who think it is best to just take the table as it stands. 

It uses all of the matches – and therefore data – available, but does away with the 'injustice' of how the fixture list has fallen for a given team. 

A single result against a team stands. But playing a club twice leads to different outcomes, as explained in the methodology. 

Your points taken from results against clubs you have played twice are halved.

A pair of wins results in three points, a win and a draw in two and a win and a loss in 1.5 points. Similarly, two draws equals a point, a draw and a loss is worth 0.5 and, unsurprisingly, two defeats is worth nothing.

As L'Equipe put it, it has the advantage of giving the same weight to results obtained for a team against each of the 19 opponents they have played.

While reports now suggest PSG will be crowned champions by using the fixed table, the alternative was interesting. 

Applying it to the Premier League was a combined effort between Sportsmail and Opta's data wizards. And while a lot of the Premier League has come out similarly, there have been some surprising final positions.

For example, Arsenal would slide down the table. While they have had a difficult campaign, no one would expect them to finish in the bottom half.

But the L'Equipe method has brought about that outcome. They drop from ninth to 12th below Crystal Palace, Burnley and Newcastle, for their worst finish since 1994-95.

Palace finish ninth, jumping up two places, and there's a boost for Newcastle too.

Meanwhile, Manchester United would miss out on a place in the Champions League again. They would be stuck in the same place they are in the Premier League, fifth behind Chelsea.

The top four would be the same as it currently is, although the gap between City and Leicester would tighten to just two points.

And Liverpool would break the Premier League record for points collected in a single season. They would have 109, nine more than City achieved in 2017-18

There would also be no European football for Spurs next season – just two campaigns after reaching the Champions League final – as they would finish eighth.

Meanwhile, Wolves and Sheffield United could look forward to European tours, depending on what is decided about the FA Cup. 

While the entire top eight would remain in the same positions according to this method, there would be huge differences at the bottom.

It would lead to a celebration for Bournemouth, who would climb out of the relegation zone and secure another season of Premier League football.

Despite being bumped up, there would be no second season in the Premier League for Aston Villa, who would finish 18th.

The real blow, though, would be dealt to Watford. They have undergone a mini-revival under the stewardship of Nigel Pearson.

Yet their results would see them collect just 32 points all season. That would mean they would slide into the relegation zone and finish 19th.

Unsurprisingly, current basement boys Norwich would not have a reprieve and would still be bottom of the league.

There would also be disappointing outcomes for Everton – dropping two places – and Brighton – falling one – while West Ham and Southampton would each go up one spot. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8273111/Manchester-United-miss-Arsenal-fall-12th-ALTERNATIVE-Premier-League-table.html

[FoxFossil]

2 hours ago, Leeds Fox said:

I didn’t know Spurs sold Adult Tickets. I thought all their fans were babies.

No picture is correct. Plastic fans.

[worth_the_wait]

I'm still not sure this season's games will be completed.  

 

But if they do play games at the KP ... then instead of putting clappers on every seat, they could put blow-up dummies on every seat instead.

 

This would re-create the match day experience.

 

For added reality, deflate half the dummies on 80 minutes!  

 

I didn't really just say that, did i?  Oops.

[brucey]

16 minutes ago, FoxFossil said:

No picture is correct. Plastic fans.