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

[Sandikan]

Just heard some Scousers in the pub saying let's just play Man city behind closed doors on April 4th and get the title officially won So then they can cancel the league.

One eyed to the last.
In a global emergency, and they want to just bypass the rules just for their own end, and then fall back in line!

 

[Thiagoal]

In cricket, if a game is abandoned then they use Duckworth Lewis to sort out the result! It takes into account probability and previous history to come to a likelihood of victory!

If the season is abandoned then maybe some boffins could come up with a formula based on form, previous history, home advantage etc that when crunched together will provide the final league table! Would be exciting watching the virtual results come through on the vidi printer

 

[FootyGirl88]

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[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

In cricket, if a game is abandoned then they use Duckworth Lewis to sort out the result! It takes into account probability and previous history to come to a likelihood of victory!

If the season is abandoned then maybe some boffins could come up with a formula based on form, previous history, home advantage etc that when crunched together will provide the final league table! Would be exciting watching the virtual results come through on the vidi printer

the obvious flaw in your argument is that the DL calculation is pre-determined before a game starts - they don’t introduce a system to predict the outcome midway through the game.

 

[dwd]

In cricket, if a game is abandoned then they use Duckworth Lewis to sort out the result! It takes into account probability and previous history to come to a likelihood of victory!

If the season is abandoned then maybe some boffins could come up with a formula based on form, previous history, home advantage etc that when crunched together will provide the final league table! Would be exciting watching the virtual results come through on the vidi printer

It's not cricket.

 

[Greck]

Exactly this.
People keep talking about finishing the season however late, but what if there's no football at all until say July? Teams would then need to spend a few weeks getting sharp again, and then you'd still have 3months of the season to fit in.

The FA have to have a final cut off date in mind.
The 3 weeks black out buys them time, but it's exceptionally optimistic to expect


It's moving fast. A few days ago the behind closed doors thing was seen as the way to get things done.
But then so many playing staff started falling down, that became no better an option.

So it's going to be very interesting watching this pan out.

if this thing goes as far as july it could go even further and affect the new season. There will have to be a contingency plan to accommodate an interrupted season for even next season. The football calendar could be getting shifted one way or another

 

[Traub]

In cricket, if a game is abandoned then they use Duckworth Lewis to sort out the result! It takes into account probability and previous history to come to a likelihood of victory!

If the season is abandoned then maybe some boffins could come up with a formula based on form, previous history, home advantage etc that when crunched together will provide the final league table! Would be exciting watching the virtual results come through on the vidi printer

It’s StoreyTime

 

[VP89]

So when it's a question of what should happen about the champions league spots incase of voiding the league, everyone says 'let UEFA decide' (essentially because there is no solution to that if you want to completely void the league) but when it comes to the league everyone thinks there should only be one solution

No, I'm saying the champions league and Europa cups is a Uefa issue and the League is a PL issue.

In both cases we are saying the league (and the European competition) is void. The workaround is up to the relevant bodies to decide. Either a ranking approach or a play off or whatever

 

[Acquire Me]

Would Liverpool win the Premier League if continued? Yes, most certainly. Suggesting anything else is reaching, albeit it is mathematically possible.

Will Liverpool win the Premier League if not continued? No, it’s impossible.

The Premier League uses the fairest way to determine a champion in sports, one that is used throughout European club football

Each of the 20 teams plays the other 19 teams twice — once at home and once away — for a total of 38 matches. Three points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. The team with the most points at the end of the season is declared champion.

Tiebreakers, if necessary, are goal differential and goals scored. If the teams are still tied after the tiebreakers, the clubs have a playoff at a neutral site only if the position of the clubs is required to determine the championship, relegation or qualification for European competition.

Hope this helps.

 

[Fridge chutney]

I think we've already reached that stage mate. That's why many feel it would be better to void this season completely, allowing the players to return home and concentrate on what's important such as family and health, rather than worrying about the season starting up again at an unknown date.

But you try telling the scousers that.

This.

"It's not fair that 75% of the season didn't mean anything in the end"...

It's a global pandemic FFS. There are bound to be certain sacrifices made, and something as "trivial" as sport will be first on the list of things to sacrifice for public health and resolution of normality. Pandemics are unfair, but I'll save my tears for those people who die, lose loved ones and their livelihoods, not for forgone trophies.

 

[Che Guevara]

Would Liverpool win the Premier League if continued? Yes, most certainly. Suggesting anything else is reaching, albeit it is mathematically possible.

Will Liverpool win the Premier League if not continued? No, it’s impossible.

The Premier League uses the fairest way to determine a champion in sports, one that is used throughout European club football

Each of the 20 teams plays the other 19 teams twice — once at home and once away — for a total of 38 matches. Three points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. The team with the most points at the end of the season is declared champion.

Tiebreakers, if necessary, are goal differential and goals scored. If the teams are still tied after the tiebreakers, the clubs have a playoff at a neutral site only if the position of the clubs is required to determine the championship, relegation or qualification for European competition.

Hope this helps.

What do the league rules say about such scenarios? That's what has to be followed.

 

[stevoc]

Ofcourse there is no perfect solution, but I don't see how cancelling the season is any better. Completely remove everything that has been done throughout the season without any reward for the efforts of numerous teams.

Sheffield won't get to play in Europe, Leeds and West Brom won't get promoted. Highly unfair to ask them to do everything again, and essentially giving a free pass to teams like Norwich, Villa and Bouremouth to continue to get the high EPL revenue for one more season.

Regarding the WWII situation, the war broke out in September when the season was very early. I'm sure if the same pandemic happened in September there would be no question over cancelling the season because it would've been only 1 month old.

Whether the season is cancelled or in the unlikely situation that the current positions stand it will be unfair on one set of teams or another.

But it is a league campaign the whole premise of a league competition is that every team plays every other team home and away. All the teams go into the season aware of the rules. If in the very rare scenarios like the current crisis where its potentially not possible for the competition to be completed, then while not completely fair on every team the fairest and least complicated overall solution is to void the season. And it's irrelevant whether 9 games have been played or 29 games, if the season can't be completed then it must be voided. And i say that as a United fan who's team would probably benefit from the current standings being made the final ones.

Having said that as funny as it would be to see the scousers denied the title i hope the current crisis eases quickly and this virus is no longer a threat to peoples lives. I also hope if we get over this relatively quickly that the season can be completed at some point before the new one starts.

 

[stevoc]

What guarantee is there that we will perform better than the rest in those two given that we havent particularly performed great against the bottom teams?

Again, there are many more questions regarding what to do with a null and void season (the cheif of which is European football) than finishing it now with the current table.

If the season is rendered null and void then it in effect never happened. So whenever football can resume as normal you revert to the last completed season to decide European spots etc. which in this case would be the 18/19 season.

 

[bleedred]

What do the league rules say about such scenarios? That's what has to be followed.

I don't think anyone expected this , like forever. That's why its an unprecedented scenario, its not just the PL, I think no other league has a plan for such scenario and people have no clue how to deal with this or what will happen.

I am pretty sure, after this, there will be a clause in the league and also in players contracts in the case of a league suspension/cancellation.

I can see only two options, somehow finish the league or cancel it all together. The inbetween half cooked options would be unfair for one team or another.

 

[marukomu]

Manchester's sister city link with Wuhan dates back to 1986 and is based on economic activity to encourage trade and investment between the UK and China.

So who came to United in 1986 and sorted this out?

 

[Strelok]

What bizarre assumptions you've made in this rambling post. If you don't want to get annoyed, then start posting with more caution. Words matter, else you're part of the problem:

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...out-covid-19-can-be-as-dangerous-as-the-virus

Ok fine, it's fake news. Happy then ?

Out of 12 people in the group, two to three saw changes in their lung capacity.

While it's too early to establish long-term effects of the disease, scans of nine patients' lungs also "found patterns similar to frosted glass in all of them, suggesting there was organ damage," Tsang said, according to the Post.

"Some patients might have around a drop of 20 to 30% in lung function" after full recovery, he said.

"They gasp if they walk a bit more quickly,"

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/cor...tion-gasping-air-hong-kong-doctors-2020-3?amp

And again, please stop quoting me on this.

 

[ti vu]

What bizarre assumptions you've made in this rambling post. If you don't want to get annoyed, then start posting with more caution. Words matter, else you're part of the problem:

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...out-covid-19-can-be-as-dangerous-as-the-virus

Only see this (the article) now.

Fake news is bad, but indeed some people are new to this whole Wuhan virus if one doesn’t raise an eyebrow about who said all the beautiful words in that article.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The very same guy who refused to declare global pandemic until SHTF in Europe. Much of the damage could have been prevented. What he said in that article is to cover for his ass about not declaring global pandemic much earlier. Same guy criticized country to stop flights from China, now shifting the blame about the world “lack of urgency“!

https://www.change.org/p/united-nat...dros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-who-director-general

 

[lolok]

I think they can finish the season under restrictions. There are some tests for COVID that only take 4 hours to get the results. It would take some logistics, but it seems to me that the league should test the players the morning of the game. If they test positive-- then they can't play. If they test negative, they are gtg. If they develop a fever b/w the morning of the game and game time-- then they are out even if they tested negative.

If they have to go closed door, so be it. If they want to allow teams to allow 20% (or whatever # you felt safe with,) of their capacity in to watch, provided they all spread out in the stadium, I'd be ok with that.

I'm just bored out of my mind, and I'd like the season to resume. Unless they want to void the season so Liverpool aren't the Champions- then I'm ok with that too.

 

[NK86]

I think they can finish the season under restrictions. There are some tests for COVID that only take 4 hours to get the results. It would take some logistics, but it seems to me that the league should test the players the morning of the game. If they test positive-- then they can't play. If they test negative, they are gtg. If they develop a fever b/w the morning of the game and game time-- then they are out even if they tested negative.

If they have to go closed door, so be it. If they want to allow teams to allow 20% (or whatever # you felt safe with,) of their capacity in to watch, provided they all spread out in the stadium, I'd be ok with that.

I'm just bored out of my mind, and I'd like the season to resume. Unless they want to void the season so Liverpool aren't the Champions- then I'm ok with that too.

What you are forgetting is if one player has it, then chances are that the whole team gets it. The logistics is then going to be difficult to manage if you are checking things in the day of the match. It's not just the supporters or players. You have to set up for telecast and a whole host of other things need to be taken care of. All that to be done in the last minute is crazy. Even crazier if they have to get it cancelled each time the virus pops up in someone participating.

Nevermind the logistics nightmare, the chance that the league would even contemplate putting people at risk at a time like this is next to zero.

 

[mariachi-19]

So who came to United in 1986 and sorted this out?

This is too fecking good

1986, Wuhan becomes Sister City to Manchester. 1986, Manchester United appoint Sir Alex Ferguson... makes history on his way to upserting Liverpool as the most decorated club in football history...

2020, United in rebuilding phase, Liverpool waltzing to premier league title...

Wuhan becomes an epicenter of a global pandemic... halts premier league before it can be finished, potentially preventing Liverpool from winning their first league title in 30 years...

 

[RedRonaldo]

If the league is suspend for next 2-3 months, the league, and all the remaining competitions this season, has to be abandoned.

However, if the league is suspend for another 7-8 months, maybe we can bring forward this season result to midway through next season.

 

[Tarrou]

If the league is suspend for next 2-3 months, the league, and all the remaining competitions this season, has to be abandoned.

However, if the league is suspend for another 7-8 months, maybe we can bring forward this season result to midway through next season.

so forget 20/21 and just finish this season next season you mean? won't that destroy tonnes of smaller clubs?

 

[waza7111]

Just play it all behind closed doors until the season finishes. Postponing it for long periods would result in a very late finish which would mess up next season's schedule too.

 

[Sandikan]

Just play it all behind closed doors until the season finishes. Postponing it for long periods would result in a very late finish which would mess up next season's schedule too.

This was last week thinking.
Out the window now loads of players and coaches have started getting it. With the problem only bound to increase.

 

[Member 101269]

Liverpool’s lead tends to skew people’s thinking, but it’s completely irrelevant how far they are ahead. For Liverpool, winning the league is clearly a big thing - you can’t crown them champions, because that therefore means you have to make assumptions about who qualifies for the CL, Europa League and who gets relegated and promoted throughout every league.

it’s fantasy to think the league will finish. Players contracts run out on Jun 30th, so what do you do with players who are out of contract. Do Utd play without Ighalo and Matic, who does Smalling and Sánchez play for? Multiply that for every team in Europe, and it’s a mammoth problem.

to finish the league, it needs to be done by 30 June.

I agree, it's by the 1st June? the close season where no games are to be played is 1st-30th June

 

[SirAF]

Take a look at Oliver Holt’s Twitter. What an absolute arrogant douchebag

 

[RedRonaldo]

so forget 20/21 and just finish this season next season you mean? won't that destroy tonnes of smaller clubs?

I mean if the league for next season is also affected for months, maybe we can combine 2 season into 1.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Football behind closed doors is crap and defeats the whole point of football being for the fans.
As a one off maybe it’s ok, to play a quarter of a season, business end at that, behind closed doors is awful

 

[hasanejaz88]

Btw I've read people here mentioning the Finnish hockey league being void with no winners, that's because they have playoffs to determine the champion and its not based on league standings. So it has absolutely no relation to how football standings work.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Football behind closed doors is crap and defeats the whole point of football being for the fans.
As a one off maybe it’s ok, to play a quarter of a season, business end at that, behind closed doors is awful

Agreed. They need to assess the situation, probably at the start of May. If the situation looks better and they can play, maybe ban over 65+'s.

If they can't, they really have no choice but to void the season. The idea anyone can be crowned Champions is ridiculous because the second you do that, you have to keep every other position in the league the same and it becomes a total farce.

I'm a United fan, we're in a shit position if they do that, in many ways a much worse position than Liverpool as we have a second season with no Champions League football, personally I hope like hell we can finish the season in the Summer.

 

[Ciro]

Could we void next season and finish this one off next year?

Would anybody be unhappy about that? (Apart from us on the caf obv)

It's possible that we may only have half of next season anyways

Exactly. The idea that the season should be null and void and just restart is just utter nonsense and without logic. Do people think the virus will just go away in 5 months time and that's it? Who's to say that next season isn't suspended because of another outbreak? Do we just cancel next season too? Voiding the season will just be a dangerous precedence set. The most sensible thing to do is complete the season when it's suitable to do so. It's much easier to abandon a season that hasn't already started 2020/2021 than the current. I guess there will be more clarity at the end of next week.

 

[Shipperley]

With the nature of viruses generally, voiding the league would be a stupid option. What happens if we get past this outbreak and then (as I would think is reasonably likely knowing how other coronaviruses work), a mutated Co-Vid 20 strain comes along next year like regular flu does? Do we then have two voided seasons back to back?

How we stop that is up to Medicine, not the place for me to speculate about it on a football forum. But until a solution is there, is there even a point in turning up if 75% of a season can just be written off?

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Exactly. The idea that the season should be null and void and just restart is just utter nonsense and without logic. Do people think the virus will just go away in 5 months time and that's it? Who's to say that next season isn't suspended because of another outbreak? Do we just cancel next season too? Voiding the season will just be a dangerous precedence set. The most sensible thing to do is complete the season when it's suitable to do so. It's much easier to abandon a season that hasn't already started 2020/2021 than the current. I guess there will be more clarity at the end of next week.

this is unprecedented, and so there are no contingency plans in place.

Yes the season needs to be void of the games cannot be completed in a timely manner.

Dont let being a selfish Liverpool fan cloud your judgement.

For subsequent seasons, there be an agreement over how to react if something similar happens in the future, and appropriate changes will be made, there will be clarity, and there will be fairness.

frankly clubs like Utd on the cusp of the CL this year, or clubs in and around the relegation zone, or those in the championship in the playoffs have far more to lose than Liverpool.

There has to be a finite date of when the season can finish by, and that’s when players contracts run out. If you carry on the season into July and August - do Utd carry on without Matic, Ighalo who are out of contract? Aggravate that to every club in Europe then you have a mammoth problem.

again, if you look outside of one club, you will see that clubs in league 1 and league 2 don’t sign players up on long term contracts, and many clubs will likely have 10 squad players out of contract on June 30th. It’s unrealistic to continue after that date, and if that’s the case, then the season needs to be null and void.

 

[christinaa]

So Celtic Manager Neil Lennon has come out saying that he expects that Celtic be given the Scottish PL if football doesn't continue.

I'm sure that Slippy Gerrard will agree to this!!

 

[christinaa]

this is unprecedented, and so there are no contingency plans in place.

Yes the season needs to be void of the games cannot be completed in a timely manner.

Dont let being a selfish Liverpool fan cloud your judgement.

For subsequent seasons, there be an agreement over how to react if something similar happens in the future, and appropriate changes will be made, there will be clarity, and there will be fairness.

frankly clubs like Utd on the cusp of the CL this year, or clubs in and around the relegation zone, or those in the championship in the playoffs have far more to lose than Liverpool.

There has to be a finite date of when the season can finish by, and that’s when players contracts run out. If you carry on the season into July and August - do Utd carry on without Matic, Ighalo who are out of contract? Aggravate that to every club in Europe then you have a mammoth problem.

again, if you look outside of one club, you will see that clubs in league 1 and league 2 don’t sign players up on long term contracts, and many clubs will likely have 10 squad players out of contract on June 30th. It’s unrealistic to continue after that date, and if that’s the case, then the season needs to be null and void.

This IS precedented!

When the War started football was stopped and the leagues were declared null and void.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

This IS precedented!

When the War started football was stopped and the leagues were declared null and void.

disagree. They may have the same effect (on football) but they are completely different scenarios.

 

[brian017]

Liverpool this, Liverpool that. The death toll is rising everyday. Football isn’t that important

 

[Woodzy]

This.

"It's not fair that 75% of the season didn't mean anything in the end"...

It's a global pandemic FFS. There are bound to be certain sacrifices made, and something as "trivial" as sport will be first on the list of things to sacrifice for public health and resolution of normality. Pandemics are unfair, but I'll save my tears for those people who die, lose loved ones and their livelihoods, not for forgone trophies.

I know a couple of self employed people who work in the entertainment industry who are already going to be struggling to pay their rent next month due to cancellations.

This virus is going to have an impact on so many levels, but of course the priority is making sure Liverpool get their name listed in the record books!

We need to shut everything down, wait for this thing to get sorted and then start from the beginning when all is clear, it’s as simple as that and the Liverpool fans can cry all they want.

 

[christinaa]

disagree. They may have the same effect (on football) but they are completely different scenarios.

Disagree.

Why? Because one is war and one is a virus?!

Basically it's the same thing: Leagues had to be stopped and Leagues declared as Null and Void.
We can all understand this.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Disagree.

Why? Because one is war and one is a virus?!

Basically it's the same thing: Leagues had to be stopped and Leagues declared as Null and Void.
We can all understand this.

If you read my posts, I believe that the season should be voided. But that the effect, not the cause. Let’s not conflate world wars with the current situation.