There's a good chance this weekend might be the last match of the season. No idea what will happen to promotion or relegation but at least with Rob buying the club we should survive as a club, I suspect a few won't.
You can't play out the rest of the season behind closed doors, clubs will go bust, it'll still encourage gatherings and the players will eventually just refuse to play once they start getting ill anyway.
I doubt that they'll just call an end to the season. They could just let clubs set the ticket price to watch on iFollow and broadcast all of them live. The club could end up making more money than gate receipts if that happens.
@drcongo said:
I doubt that they'll just call an end to the season. They could just let clubs set the ticket price to watch on iFollow and broadcast all of them live. The club could end up making more money than gate receipts if that happens.
Half our fans can barely turn a computer on, I can't see anywhere near the revenues as real match days, especially considering food / drink etc
And players are going to get ill (or at least test positive), unless the league postpones till mid summer during the scheduled euros - which I could easily see be postponed for a year.
The only live games I get to these days are at my local non league club (top of the league now sir!!). 100 odd people spread around a football pitch - part of the attraction is a sense of peace and solitude in otherwise busy lives.
I wonder if they will force those behind "closed doors" too.....
@chairboyscentral said:
It literally says in that Times story that they would play games behind closed doors and fans with tickets would be able to stream.
But the big question is if a fan has paid £40 to go to the game, does having the ability to watch it on tv compensate them? Or do the clubs have to refund them as well?
@chairboyscentral said:
It literally says in that Times story that they would play games behind closed doors and fans with tickets would be able to stream.
I've no doubt that's the plan to begin with, but it's a very fast moving situation, and the players / clubs have to agree to it as well, both now while it's not affecting most people directly, and in 2 weeks when players and their families will know someone affected.
@chairboyscentral said:
It literally says in that Times story that they would play games behind closed doors and fans with tickets would be able to stream.
But the big question is if a fan has paid £40 to go to the game, does having the ability to watch it on tv compensate them? Or do the clubs have to refund them as well?
Yeah, that is a potential problem. I personally wouldn't ask for my money back, but I imagine a fair few people would.
EFL to seek clarity over Premier League ‘crisis plan’ leak
Dan Roan
BBC Sports editor
The EFL are to seek clarity from the Premier League today after an apparent ‘crisis plan‘ to play all remaining matches in English football behind closed doors because of the coronavirus was revealed, the BBC has learned.
The emergence of what appears to be a proposed contingency plan took both the EFL and the DCMS by surprise, and does not appear to have been approved by government.
The Premier League have declined to comment, but have distanced themselves from the report in the Times newspaper
One senior EFL source described the leak as “unhelpful”
“There are now tensions between the two leagues, and even between clubs over how to handle this” they said
@chairboyscentral said:
It literally says in that Times story that they would play games behind closed doors and fans with tickets would be able to stream.
But the big question is if a fan has paid £40 to go to the game, does having the ability to watch it on tv compensate them? Or do the clubs have to refund them as well?
Yeah, that is a potential problem. I personally wouldn't ask for my money back, but I imagine a fair few people would.
I've got a pair of tickets to a non Wycombe game, and it's £80. Being able to watch it on a laptop isn't any sort of compensation.
But Wycombe wise, I probably wouldn't ask for my season ticket money back for the 4 homes, as ifollow is probably a fairly like for like option.
@Malone Just sit in the back garden, laptop on the table, wearing your scarf, with a can of Rebellion and a Tom Kerridge pie, and you won't even notice the difference.
One issue which someone just pointed out to me: if the season were to be extended - and for long enough - some players' contracts could run out before the end of it.
@LeedsBlue said: @Malone Just sit in the back garden, laptop on the table, wearing your scarf, with a can of Rebellion and a Tom Kerridge pie, and you won't even notice the difference.
I dare say some of our fans will still be in those woods, enjoying a view of 40% of the pitch
Incidentally, Denmark just shut down all schools and universities and is putting all non-critical public sector workers on sick leave. Denmark, as of yesterday, was 4 places below us in the in Corona League and is doing significantly more testing than we are, so our numbers are likely skewed low.
@chairboyscentral said:
It shouldn't really have taken the EFL by surprise...
Maybe the EFL clubs have looked at the damage caused by playing behind closed doors and seen that it's not in any way viable and that postponement is their only option.
@chairboyscentral said:
One issue which someone just pointed out to me: if the season were to be extended, some players' contracts would run out before the end of it.
Players contracts nearly all expire on 30 June I believe. Loan deals expire before that but league could presumably issue a decree that these are automatically extended. If absolutely necessary, presumably they could do the same with contracts extending until end of July say.
Some players will of course have holidays/other commitments booked but most of those may end up being cancelled because of the virus anyway.
Not quite sure why some believe that if we need to close football down because of this virus, we will be able to start up again in a couple of weeks. That feels unlikely to me.
Quite how they can sort out relegation/promotion without finishing the season reasonably quickly. Would bournemouth, currently in bottom three on GD (by one goal) accept being relegated without resorting to legals for example.
other potential solution i can see (and this would cause contract issues) is hope its over by end of summer, plan to finish season from say July to end August, have a couple of weeks break and then start new season but scrap all cups for a year to give time to finish it. Messy though.
@chairboyscentral said:
One issue which someone just pointed out to me: if the season were to be extended, some players' contracts would run out before the end of it.
Player contracts usually expire on 30th June.
Yeah, but that could become a problem if the season is put on hold for long enough - not that that looks like happening.
I must be missing something, because surely there's no point in playing PL/EFL games behind closed doors unless it's part of a wider travel and gatherings restrictions.
The sensible thing to do is suspend the season for a month and move the Euros back to 2021.
I'm with @floyd. I'm not sure why warmer weather kills the bloody thing, but if that's the case it is surely best just to postpone. We know when they say they will give the NHS 'all it needs' they mean to the end of April...
@floyd said:
I must be missing something, because surely there's no point in playing PL/EFL games behind closed doors unless it's part of a wider travel and gatherings restrictions.
The sensible thing to do is suspend the season for a month and move the Euros back to 2021.
The problem is if things are no better, or even worse by then.
At least by playing behind closed doors it gets games logged and gives you a chance of finishing the league.
Purposely having a month off means there's every chance of having to void things. I think there's a time of maybe 60 days of no action where a season is auto voided.
There probably WOULD be some sort of limit on gatherings if they did force things on sport though. We'll see what comes of today's meeting.
Comments
There's a good chance this weekend might be the last match of the season. No idea what will happen to promotion or relegation but at least with Rob buying the club we should survive as a club, I suspect a few won't.
You can't play out the rest of the season behind closed doors, clubs will go bust, it'll still encourage gatherings and the players will eventually just refuse to play once they start getting ill anyway.
I doubt that they'll just call an end to the season. They could just let clubs set the ticket price to watch on iFollow and broadcast all of them live. The club could end up making more money than gate receipts if that happens.
Half our fans can barely turn a computer on, I can't see anywhere near the revenues as real match days, especially considering food / drink etc
And players are going to get ill (or at least test positive), unless the league postpones till mid summer during the scheduled euros - which I could easily see be postponed for a year.
It literally says in that Times story that they would play games behind closed doors and fans with tickets would be able to stream.
The only live games I get to these days are at my local non league club (top of the league now sir!!). 100 odd people spread around a football pitch - part of the attraction is a sense of peace and solitude in otherwise busy lives.
I wonder if they will force those behind "closed doors" too.....
Will allowing STHs to stream games not result in them inviting all their mates to crowd around a screen to watch?
But the big question is if a fan has paid £40 to go to the game, does having the ability to watch it on tv compensate them? Or do the clubs have to refund them as well?
I've no doubt that's the plan to begin with, but it's a very fast moving situation, and the players / clubs have to agree to it as well, both now while it's not affecting most people directly, and in 2 weeks when players and their families will know someone affected.
Yeah, that is a potential problem. I personally wouldn't ask for my money back, but I imagine a fair few people would.
EFL to seek clarity over Premier League ‘crisis plan’ leak
Dan Roan
BBC Sports editor
The EFL are to seek clarity from the Premier League today after an apparent ‘crisis plan‘ to play all remaining matches in English football behind closed doors because of the coronavirus was revealed, the BBC has learned.
The emergence of what appears to be a proposed contingency plan took both the EFL and the DCMS by surprise, and does not appear to have been approved by government.
The Premier League have declined to comment, but have distanced themselves from the report in the Times newspaper
One senior EFL source described the leak as “unhelpful”
“There are now tensions between the two leagues, and even between clubs over how to handle this” they said
It shouldn't really have taken the EFL by surprise...
...assuming they are competent.
It presumably is not a decision for either the EFL or PL to make.
I've got a pair of tickets to a non Wycombe game, and it's £80. Being able to watch it on a laptop isn't any sort of compensation.
But Wycombe wise, I probably wouldn't ask for my season ticket money back for the 4 homes, as ifollow is probably a fairly like for like option.
@Malone Just sit in the back garden, laptop on the table, wearing your scarf, with a can of Rebellion and a Tom Kerridge pie, and you won't even notice the difference.
This whole thing is a dream come true for us misanthropes.
One issue which someone just pointed out to me: if the season were to be extended - and for long enough - some players' contracts could run out before the end of it.
I dare say some of our fans will still be in those woods, enjoying a view of 40% of the pitch
Incidentally, Denmark just shut down all schools and universities and is putting all non-critical public sector workers on sick leave. Denmark, as of yesterday, was 4 places below us in the in Corona League and is doing significantly more testing than we are, so our numbers are likely skewed low.
It's like we have a few games in hand.
Maybe the EFL clubs have looked at the damage caused by playing behind closed doors and seen that it's not in any way viable and that postponement is their only option.
Player contracts usually expire on 30th June.
Players contracts nearly all expire on 30 June I believe. Loan deals expire before that but league could presumably issue a decree that these are automatically extended. If absolutely necessary, presumably they could do the same with contracts extending until end of July say.
Some players will of course have holidays/other commitments booked but most of those may end up being cancelled because of the virus anyway.
Not quite sure why some believe that if we need to close football down because of this virus, we will be able to start up again in a couple of weeks. That feels unlikely to me.
Quite how they can sort out relegation/promotion without finishing the season reasonably quickly. Would bournemouth, currently in bottom three on GD (by one goal) accept being relegated without resorting to legals for example.
other potential solution i can see (and this would cause contract issues) is hope its over by end of summer, plan to finish season from say July to end August, have a couple of weeks break and then start new season but scrap all cups for a year to give time to finish it. Messy though.
Yeah, but that could become a problem if the season is put on hold for long enough - not that that looks like happening.
Perhaps tables decided by “normalised” tables - points per game, goal diff per game. No playoffs so top 3 up from league 1 for example.
The fact that Wycombe would be third so automatically promoted has no bearing on this of course.........
I must be missing something, because surely there's no point in playing PL/EFL games behind closed doors unless it's part of a wider travel and gatherings restrictions.
The sensible thing to do is suspend the season for a month and move the Euros back to 2021.
I'm with @floyd. I'm not sure why warmer weather kills the bloody thing, but if that's the case it is surely best just to postpone. We know when they say they will give the NHS 'all it needs' they mean to the end of April...
The problem is if things are no better, or even worse by then.
At least by playing behind closed doors it gets games logged and gives you a chance of finishing the league.
Purposely having a month off means there's every chance of having to void things. I think there's a time of maybe 60 days of no action where a season is auto voided.
There probably WOULD be some sort of limit on gatherings if they did force things on sport though. We'll see what comes of today's meeting.
That’s a fair point @Malone.
Ireland have advised no indoor gatherings of 100+ people or outdoor gatherings of 500+ people. I'm starting to get worried now.