Could they void the PL due to the Coronavirus? | No | Resuming June 17th

Feed Me

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It used to be the norm that players could move at any time during the season (no transfer windows). No reason why that can't be brought back for a few months at least. Besides, most players out of contract at the end of June will probably have their futures already sorted out anyway. However, I don't think that the 30th June contract expiries is just cause to throw a spanner into the works. Not when you consider there's far greater, & more important, issues, that need to be prioritized.
Ah, changing the rules yet again...
 

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When it’s safe to do so the season will be finished. Without a rule for a situation like this the integrity of the PL would be compromised if the season was voided. The Italian FA have asked UEFA to cancel Euro2020 so they can finish their leagues. I expect other national leagues to follow suit.

This will mean Utd getting a chance at CL football which I know means more to you guys than denying LFC a title. :rolleyes:
feck the CL, you not winning the title is the main thing :lol:

The best thing now is that if you get awarded it, it will be hollow and you will likely have no fans there to celebrate it.

No one will talk about the win because the news will all be about something far more important.

Delicious.
 

Classical Mechanic

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Of course it depends on public health, no-one knows where that will be by the summer. Lots of grim forecasts but football will plan ahead based on different scenarios and advice from health and govt officials. That’s why I said it will be completed when it’s safe to do so.
Up to 8 million needing hospital treament over the course of a year is the leaked estimate from the government, its going to be hell. This season is dead and people won't care a jot about it in a years time. It will be regarded as the trivial matter it is.
 

TRUERED89

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Or: 'SHIT! Better stock up on toilet roll like a fecking lemon so everyone else, including the elderly, can't get any when they genuinely need it. Oh and 17kg of pasta too'
:lol: This. What’s up with this moronic toilet roll obsession atm? Is that really the first thing that comes to people’s mind in times of a pandemic. This surely proves how low the population’s IQ really is!
 

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When it’s safe to do so the season will be finished. Without a rule for a situation like this the integrity of the PL would be compromised if the season was voided. The Italian FA have asked UEFA to cancel Euro2020 so they can finish their leagues. I expect other national leagues to follow suit.

This will mean Utd getting a chance at CL football which I know means more to you guys than denying LFC a title. :rolleyes:

Italy can ask and you can try to pursued us it's in our interests for "a chance at CL football", really you're grasping desperately for the title as it's slipping away.

There are rules, the new league starts on 1 July, there is no football allowed between 1st and 20th June. The league may likely not finish. I'll go further, there is six weeks to start games again or it's over. The probability of the happening is low. There is no rule in place to award anything if the league is suspended and didn't complete.
 

Highfather_24

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So there are 3 options :

1. Null and void the season. No winners, no CL spots, no relegation. Reset to what it was to the beginning of the season. We lose out on CL, but Liverpool also dont win the title.

2. Finish the season as soon as possible. Probably behind closed doors. We might get CL, but Liverpool win PL.

3. Do something in middle like playoffs. I think this brings a lot of complications and is a legal minefield. Not likely.

I think the best option for us is 1. Chances are there is going to be no Champions League next season. This corona thing is a marathon not a sprint. And chances of finishing the season seems slim.

And Liverpool with all their talk of greatest team of all time, get knocked out of all competitions, AND dont even win the league? Amazing.

Null and void. Thats the best solution now.
 

kafta

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I think there are too many complications to scrap the whole season. Timing is unclear, but i'd bet they plan on finishing the season.

I heard Mark Goldbridge yesterday, talking about how the season could be scrapped if 14 out of the 20 premier league clubs vote for it to.

Teams in relegation, teams clear from relegation and teams who are comfortable in mid-table would probably be for it.

I guess the only actual clubs against scrapping it would be us, Liverpool and Leicester. Im not even sure if this is a thing.
 

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I think the longer term uncertainty makes it more likely they'll finish this season, whenever they can. Imagine if there is a second wave in winter 2020 and we need to suspend again. It would seem ridiculous to cancle 19/20, start 20/21 and then perhaps have to scrap that too. Do we then go back to 18/19 results once again? I'd favour trying to complete this season and perhaps holding Euro 2020 if viable and then see where we are and what the health situation is.
 

stevoc

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It will be finished eventually on the basis that you can't start a new season without completing the previous one.

If you don't complete one season, whats to stop 14 teams that aren't happy with the way the next season is going all working together and voiding it? Its sets an incredibly dangerous precedent to not finish a season that is about 75% of the way through.
I admire your optimism mate, but there is a precedent already for seasons being abandoned when they can't be completed.

I sense you don't want to answer my question because you don't want to allow yourself to even contemplate the possibility that this season won't be completed, which lets be honest is becoming the more likely scenario with every passing day. Denial now will only lead to more disappointment later. The opinions in the articles below give us an insight into what a lot of the decision makers are currently thinking.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/spo...-league-season-liverpool-coronavirus-17928693

https://talksport.com/football/6824...eague-finish-major-doubts-coronavirus-crisis/
 

ROFLUTION

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Don't know if it has been suggested yet, but here's another possible solution (albeit all solutions will probably be crap)

1) Play the remaining 8 GWs in the summer (from july/august on) when the peak corona has played out. (Skip preseason and just keep players in "OK" condition until then)
2) Cancel the FA Cup and League Cup 2020/21, this would maybe free up 6-8 gameweeks over the season.
3) Start the new season later on when 2019/2020 season has finished.
4) If possible, then for fairness sake, then let current FA-Cup teams continue where they left, at the exact same time next year.

This is of course only possible depending on what happens with the Euros, and whether they postpone it to the summer/winter of 2021 or not. A leaked NHS document has according to the Guardian stated that the outbreak will last over a year in the UK, so this idea might seem unfeasible too, but thought I'd share it anyways, in case the projection doesn't hold water.
 

dwd

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Of course it depends on public health, no-one knows where that will be by the summer. Lots of grim forecasts but football will plan ahead based on different scenarios and advice from health and govt officials. That’s why I said it will be completed when it’s safe to do so.
This is just blind hope and what you want to happen. Nobody knows what’s in store yet. Football is insignificant now.
 

SirAF

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I think there are too many complications to scrap the whole season. Timing is unclear, but i'd bet they plan on finishing the season.

I heard Mark Goldbridge yesterday, talking about how the season could be scrapped if 14 out of the 20 premier league clubs vote for it to.

Teams in relegation, teams clear from relegation and teams who are comfortable in mid-table would probably be for it.

I guess the only actual clubs against scrapping it would be us, Liverpool and Leicester. Im not even sure if this is a thing.
Big mistake.
 

NiceGuyEddie

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I can't see how anything other than wiping the slate clean and starting again next season is going to work.

My take on some of the common "solutions" being suggested:-

End the season now as is, Liverpool declared champions - Not fair on the bottom 3 who still have everything to play for, or teams still in with a chance of CL spots. Will open up the FA to massive legal action. City, albeit very unlikely, could still mathematically catch up with Liverpool and it would always be seen as a tainted title to anyone but bin dippers.

Carry on the season behind closed doors - hearing a lot of people suggest this, but they seem to be mssing the point that a significant amount of players/managers could be infected and/or self-isolating over the next few months. Some of them may not be 100% fit afterwards. For matches that aren't televised, where is the financial incentive coming from? Yes I know some teams have large squads and could potentially play the kids, but this is going to skew results unfairly. Not only that but clubs might be able to scrape a team together in the short term, but a month down the line who knows? Only takes one team pulling out to unfairly Traveller the whole thing up.

Declare this season null and void - seems like the fairest and most sensible solution to me for everyone but Liverpool. Start again with a clean slate this August/September when hopefully the peak has passed and things are settling down a little hopefully.
 
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Oh goodness me, that cnut of a girl sitting as guest on skysports news right now just called the vice chairman of West Ham United "Self Service" and "Self centered" for calling the season null and void. She is adamant that season must be completed, must be completed blah blah blah .........

But when Skysports presenter asked the question what about players being isolation, they will not be conditioned, trained, fit enough, no pre-season games... that girl had no answer and was just coming up with utter crap.
 

Jericholyte2

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The issue with this is that, if the season is null and void, it has to be null and void for all. You cannot say it doesn't count for 19 of the 20 clubs but that Liverpool are crowned champions.

I think, even if it means there is no 20/21 season they have to complete the fixtures in order for the season to be rendered valid.
 

dwd

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Oh goodness me, that cnut of a girl sitting as guest on skysports news right now just called the vice chairman of West Ham United "Self Service" and "Self centered" for calling the season null and void. She is adamant that season must be completed, must be completed blah blah blah .........

But when Skysports presenter asked the question what about players being isolation, they will not be conditioned, trained, fit enough, no pre-season games... that girl had no answer and was just coming up with utter crap.
Amazing isn’t it. Wonder who she supports? There’s only one group of supporters being selfish here, again.
 

ghaliboy

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Feels weird having absolutely zero sport on. I've even read a book or two in the last few days, to my 10 month old mind. But still - strange times.
 

sewey89

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Oh goodness me, that cnut of a girl sitting as guest on skysports news right now just called the vice chairman of West Ham United "Self Service" and "Self centered" for calling the season null and void. She is adamant that season must be completed, must be completed blah blah blah .........

But when Skysports presenter asked the question what about players being isolation, they will not be conditioned, trained, fit enough, no pre-season games... that girl had no answer and was just coming up with utter crap.
Who was it?
 

EwanI Ted

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Why does it? What's wrong with playing it over the Summer?
Things won't be calmed down by then. Its not expected to peak til May or June at the earliest. We won't even be able to decide til July at the earliest. Absolute best case scenario is that things die down quickly by June/July, we make a decision in August and the games get played in September. Hell, at the mo it looks touch and go if we can start next season on time, even if we write this season off entirely.
 

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Things won't be calmed down by then. Its not expected to peak til May or June at the earliest. We won't even be able to decide til July at the earliest. Absolute best case scenario is that things die down quickly by June/July, we make a decision in August and the games get played in September. Hell, at the mo it looks touch and go if we can start next season on time, even if we write this season off entirely.
Honestly wouldn't surprise me if they resumed the season when they say they will in April, even if it is behind closed doors.
 
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Don't know if it has been suggested yet, but here's another possible solution (albeit all solutions will probably be crap)

1) Play the remaining 8 GWs in the summer (from july/august on) when the peak corona has played out. (Skip preseason and just keep players in "OK" condition until then)
2) Cancel the FA Cup and League Cup 2020/21, this would maybe free up 6-8 gameweeks over the season.
3) Start the new season later on when 2019/2020 season has finished.
4) If possible, then for fairness sake, then let current FA-Cup teams continue where they left, at the exact same time next year.

This is of course only possible depending on what happens with the Euros, and whether they postpone it to the summer/winter of 2021 or not. A leaked NHS document has according to the Guardian stated that the outbreak will last over a year in the UK, so this idea might seem unfeasible too, but thought I'd share it anyways, in case the projection doesn't hold water.
so are we cancelling the FA cup next season just to satisfy Liverpool and their selfish desire to be champions?
 
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If you break it down into chunks it’s easier to see that finishing the season is the worst option there is.

1. will games resume in April? Extremely unlikely. It’s going to be a number of months as a minimum where you can’t play football.

2. if it goes past 30 June, players contracts expire. This again, is where you need to look past Liverpool. League 1 and league 2 teams can’t afford to offer players 3-5 year contracts, and routinely will have 10-12 players out of contract at the end of the season, along with 4-5 loan players. It’s completely impractical for them to play the remainder of the matches in July, August and beyond.

3. You therefore have to have a transfer window, and this will need to apply to all clubs.

4. if you restarted the league in July/ August. Utd. Could have signed Kane, Sancho etc. Makes a mockery of the competition. Multiply that by every club.

5. You would then need another transfer window between seasons. Look at a team like Aston Villa for example, they will male vastly different transfer decisions based on whether they get relegated or stay up. You can’t just roll one season into the next.

6. players need a break. A proper break, self isolation is not a break.

7. of therefore the season can’t be finished by the end of June (or if you could finish it in July, you cajole get round some of these issues), then it needs to finish. It won’t restart, it will be abandoned.

8. you then have a transfer window, hopefully with a proposed start date dependent on the virus for the start of the new season.

9. the CL and Europa league will be scrapped next season. Pre qualifying was proposed to start in August which clearly won’t happen. You wouldn’t be able to work out who qualifies in any case. Would spurs and arsenal qualify because of their league standing in 19/20! That would be a joke.

10. 20/21 will likely start later on any case so no champions league or Europe league games will ease the fixture congestion. Much better than scrapping domestic cup competitions. Football is much more than the top clubs.

11. Upshot is. 19/20 will be abandoned. No winners, no promotion, no relegation. 20/21 starts with the same teams in each league as 19/20 at some point later this calendar year and no european competition on 20/21. Will resume the season after.
 

DoubleDinhos

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If you break it down into chunks it’s easier to see that finishing the season is the worst option there is.

1. will games resume in April? Extremely unlikely. It’s going to be a number of months as a minimum where you can’t play football.

2. if it goes past 30 June, players contracts expire. This again, is where you need to look past Liverpool. League 1 and league 2 teams can’t afford to offer players 3-5 year contracts, and routinely will have 10-12 players out of contract at the end of the season, along with 4-5 loan players. It’s completely impractical for them to play the remainder of the matches in July, August and beyond.

3. You therefore have to have a transfer window, and this will need to apply to all clubs.

4. if you restarted the league in July/ August. Utd. Could have signed Kane, Sancho etc. Makes a mockery of the competition. Multiply that by every club.

5. You would then need another transfer window between seasons. Look at a team like Aston Villa for example, they will male vastly different transfer decisions based on whether they get relegated or stay up. You can’t just roll one season into the next.

6. players need a break. A proper break, self isolation is not a break.

7. of therefore the season can’t be finished by the end of June (or if you could finish it in July, you cajole get round some of these issues), then it needs to finish. It won’t restart, it will be abandoned.

8. you then have a transfer window, hopefully with a proposed start date dependent on the virus for the start of the new season.

9. the CL and Europa league will be scrapped next season. Pre qualifying was proposed to start in August which clearly won’t happen. You wouldn’t be able to work out who qualifies in any case. Would spurs and arsenal qualify because of their league standing in 19/20! That would be a joke.

10. 20/21 will likely start later on any case so no champions league or Europe league games will ease the fixture congestion. Much better than scrapping domestic cup competitions. Football is much more than the top clubs.


11. Upshot is. 19/20 will be abandoned. No winners, no promotion, no relegation. 20/21 starts with the same teams in each league as 19/20 at some point later this calendar year and no european competition on 20/21. Will resume the season after.
Surely a clean slate is a clean slate. You can't factor this season in if you're going back to the beginning. So there's no need for prequalifying. Just begin from the start of the competitions proper.

Spurs and Arsenal (if the City ban holds) would have every right to kick up a fuss. If we're truly beginning again everything resets: Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea, City/Arsenal. Redraw the groups.

United, Wolves, maybe Arsenal in the Europa.
 

ROFLUTION

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so are we cancelling the FA cup next season just to satisfy Liverpool and their selfish desire to be champions?
As said, no solutions are a 100% fair, but at least this way, you could maybe continue this years FA cup into 2021 as suggested.

Doubt this is feasible anyways - the outbreak will be longer than just a few months, so it will effect next season too. It would be unfair if a 50% struck Southampton met a 0% struck Wolves, but that could be scenarie next season og this summer og we extend the competition. There's just no 100% fair solution
 

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I don't know about shortening next season but there's certainly plenty of scope to reduce the amount of games played in all competitions. The Carabao Cup needs to be ditched for starters. Then UEFA need to look at doing away with the group stages in the EL & the CL, taking both comps back to the days of the old European Cup when they were straight-forward 2 legged affairs. Even if we started the new season in September it would still give the leagues a full 9 months before the season ends. Let's not forget too that most of the European Leagues are in the same position, so voiding this season might be the easiest thing to do but it most certainly ain't the right thing to do, & only people with an agenda or vested interest would disagree, so that's why I'm absolutely convinced that those who govern our game will eventually do 'the right thing' & find a way to ensure this season comes to a natural conclusion.
Aye, plenty of options to work around should there be a shortened football season next year. Scrapping group stages, league cups and exploring potentials for splits (eg Championship-L2 sides playing 34 instead of 46 league games) are all workable and fair alternatives.
 

DomesticTadpole

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Aye, plenty of options to work around should there be a shortened football season next year. Scrapping group stages, league cups and exploring potentials for splits (eg Championship-L2 sides playing 34 instead of 46 league games) are all workable and fair alternatives.
Could they not regionalise the lower leagues again into North and South, less games and less travelling.
 

Sandikan

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Could they not regionalise the lower leagues again into North and South, less games and less travelling.
That devalues bothering to get promoted though.

Take Wycombe, we've done amazingly to get to league 1, so if you suddenly regionalise say league 1 and 2, then in effect you've taken the promotion away.
 

Random Task

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Aye, plenty of options to work around should there be a shortened football season next year. Scrapping group stages, league cups and exploring potentials for splits (eg Championship-L2 sides playing 34 instead of 46 league games) are all workable and fair alternatives.
This whole shortening of next season to complete the current one doesn't sit right with me.

Why is this season more of a priority than the following one or any others thereafter?
 

EwanI Ted

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Honestly wouldn't surprise me if they resumed the season when they say they will in April, even if it is behind closed doors.
I'd forget about that idea. The problem isn't about crowds at games, its about players and club officials all infecting each other. Sports is a great way transmitting the infection. Until the spread of the virus is understood well, continuing the season risks an outbreak among clubs.
 

shaky

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All this talk of what's fair and what's not fair. Life is just about to get a lot more unfair for millions of people. Football clubs are just going to have to take their doses of unfair too. We're entering the most trying times since WW2. I'd be surprised if we even see another game of football this year, let alone have the chance to finish the season. When people start dying in their numbers, nobody is going to have much sympathy to spare on the plight of a few unlucky football clubs missing out on their rewards.
 

Offside

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I'd forget about that idea. The problem isn't about crowds at games, its about players and club officials all infecting each other. Sports is a great way transmitting the infection. Until the spread of the virus is understood well, continuing the season risks an outbreak among clubs.
Yes that's true. That's why the PL may be able to resume if there is a quicker way of testing the virus that comes forward, and daily checks can be made on players.
 

Gio

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This whole shortening of next season to complete the current one doesn't sit right with me.

Why is this season more of a priority than the following one or any others thereafter?
If the rationale applies that it's not fair to freeze the season as the final standings at this stage, then it's based on the premise that team didn't sign up to play 30 rather than 38 league games before the competition started. Changing the format of next season allows all teams to sign up in full knowledge of the format before it begins.

Irrespective of what happens with this season, the next campaign may need to be shortened regardless. Whether that's down to completing this season, the pandemic delaying the start of next season, or the virus surging back in the winter, we will need to think about changing the format to put in some contingency.
 

adedawson

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Even if they said the season would carry on... would players want too. Look at the comments being made by the likes of Rooney and co.

I think C.Ronaldo's gone back Portugal and said he wont return to Italy till its all over. People with families wont want to be putting themselves at risk.