What should happen to this season?
Hope your all keeping well and healthy.
I dont know if this happend to be discussed but really: "What should happen to this season." Please see question attached.
Personally I would be happy with option 1 given a fresh start would ensure that 1: 24 teams in League One for the next footballing season is what most fans would like to ensure that a full division is in place and everyone gets to play at the same time meaning a fairer schedule than given clubs a 2 week break. 2: A new season with the usual footballing dates would ensure the transfer window can go ahead accordingly as usual with the timeframe set beforehand and other cup competitions can go ahead. 3: To allow the Coronavirus pandemic to ease and let fans and players across all divisions enjoy the new season. I'm guessing it could be under control by August. 4: The proposed 56 day window to finishing the season is a tragic idea as fixtures would be too congested and players would not enjoy this as there is an injury risk and other problems.
Like you, I would like football to come back soon all together, but this has to be done safely. I don't want to create a big arguement and I know this poll will not determine what would actually happen but I would like the EFL to know what we would like to happen.
Comments
Thanks for starting another thread on this. As welcome as being in lockdown
Not enough options in the poll anyway
Already got one massive thread on this
As a Wycombe fan, the season should be ended on PPG deciding promotion and relegation. nlNext season shouldn't be delayed from starting, if we're still in lockdown for the start of 2020/21 season, points should be given out based on results on the corresponding weekend the year before until play can resume, with us sniffing a run in the premier league which will no doubt continue to be played on the moon or some such
Can’t see them playing PL games on the moon tbh.
There would be no atmosphere...
I havent really been paying attention that much so apologies
You have to included voiding the season in the options if you truly want to cover all options.
Over 20,000 views and over 600 posts on the other thread. If you've missed that then I genuinely worry that you might have missed the current virus pandemic as well
In fairness the other thread has gone so far off the subject that a new one seems not altogether inappropriate,
Void the season unfortunately, even if it were restarted by the end of May then there’s not enough time for Transfers, summer Holidays, pre season Ect ect. To allow a August start to next season
I don't think that "summer holidays" will be much considered given that the players will have likely just had 2/3 months off.
What about scheduling and all that though?
All the best laid plans & all that, the schedules will have to readjust. Can you honestly see any of the players & public in general packing their flip flops to disappear to the beaches? I have a bad feeling, (based on just my gut feel nothing more), that this season will be either null & void or sorted by PPG? Allowing a further delaying of mass gatherings and a better opportunity to get the players back to full match fitness.
Having read an almighty load of threads and articles on this, I think it has to be an absolute certainty that we won't see this season played out. You simply can't go forward month after month eating into the later end of this year. Teams need to prepare for the next summer with contracts, with new signings, with tv deals etc. It's too much to work in just expanding it in a seemingly never ending state of limbo.
That has to be decision 1.
Decision 2 - of how they then sort out what the result of this season is, is anyone's guess.
Both voiding or taking average points will have humongous issues.
Even if we benefit, and they decide 3rd place on average points goes up automatically, that is a bit ridiculous, as we're currently 8th, and have 6 aways in the last 10, and our game in hand, having been useless away for months, is the league leaders! Even if we won it, we'd be about 1 point ahead of a few teams who are denied 9-10 games more being played out, plus the playoffs themselves.
Even more controversial with the relegation spots. And Europe in the Premier league - although it'd be a smart move to scrap Europe for next year - that'd take away one issue sensibly.
There's the obvious issues with voiding too. Liverpool denied a near guaranteed promotion. Championship teams like Leeds and West Brom a good 6-7 points clear. Relegation let offs for teams that don't deserve it.
Players like Akinfenwa losing record status at their club, what do you do with Bolton etc
The solution is simple. Just call this season unfinished rather than voided so that individual records stand and preserve the current league tables in aspic with no relegation or promotion and allow us to all play ‘what if...?’ for the next 20 years.
Tough (and faintly amusing) on the likes of Liverpool but this is the only fair way to go from where we are now.
A decision then should be made about whether to start next season ‘normally’ as a repeat of this one (with the interesting side issue of how to replace Bury) or to accept (as will prove inevitable) normality will be impossible to achieve in football before summer 2021 and get imaginative about different league/knock out formats for one season.
Unfinished implies and needs it to at some stage be finished though.
But agreed on the preserving of results and player stats, just have no end result.
What you certainly can't have is this permanent limbo that we "have" to finish this season, irrespective of how far into the future it goes. There has to be a final cut off time.
Otherwise we'll be finishing 2019/2020 in 2022, when Akinfenwa, and Bloomfield for two have retired etc and it's a totally different climate.
You've not seen my DIY jobs @Malone. They will all remain “unfinished” with no expectation from anyone that they ever be ‘finished’...
Your thoughts make sense, @Malone - but my counter is that all of this desire to get on with next season may set a precedent, in which we lose yet another season when the virus inevitably rears it's head again before a vaccine is mass produced.
Liverpool could be denied two titles in a row, Bolton could be either on -12 for three seasons in a row, or (just as unfairly), given a clean slate because it is a "new season".
The argument for finishing is not just based on a pig-headed wish for closure, but also an acknowledgement that things are likely to be unstable for at least another 12-18 months, and bring next season into danger too. Though there would be inevitable player turnover, the basis would be that the league position belongs to the club, rather than any particular player.
Obviously this is not a black and white issue, and great arguments can be made either way. There is no really ideal way of settling this. However, my desire for completion is much more based upon the reality that if we do not complete this season because of the virus, we may not see a complete season for at least a couple of years.
I don't understand the logic which says we should speculate how to reach a conclusion (in whatever fashion you prefer) to this season NOW so that, foe example, players contracts can be sorted for next season when we have no idea when/if next season will happen yet.
Until we know when/if football can resume and under what circumstance there is no necessity to conclude this season. Then will be the time for the EFL/PL/FA to reveal how its proposed to conclude this season. I'd expect them to have a range of plans already formulated to suite the different scenarios and go from there when the government makes an announcement which permits football to restart.
Precedents are dangerous, but must be remembered that these are (hopefully) very extreme times.
If they don't play out, and award based on 3/4 of a season, that's an even worse precedent, as what happens if say 60%, or 50%, or 40% of the season only had been completed. Do you award then?
They might have to write a rule, but having awarded on this year's 75%, what if we're only 74% through and a team have a 20 point lead?
Thank goodness we just have to sit back and watch it pan out.
@Shev Bolton would certainly be a huge issue. If this season was voided, they'd have a real chance at "getting away" with one a bit, as unlike this season, where they had 2months of a rag tag bunch of kids, next season they'd at least have a fighting chance of recovering that deficit.
And what happens with the Bury situation? We ended up with 23 teams as their situation was sorted so late. With loads of time to sort it, would we have a 24th team added back, potentially even them!?
Always having teams with games in hand this year has made it quite an awkward follow. Especially once the international call ups and other such stuff are added in.
Interesting to see some sports and sports entertainment (golf and WWE) making noises of playing behind closed doors come May. I can see football doing the same and run like the world cup is.
However, it would need to be completed before the end of June/when contracts end to stop it being a farce.
Given the projected 56 days to complete season then it would need to be the start of May to be done by end of June.
July off and next season start in August as normal.
@Malone - good shout on Bury. Can you imagine if Plymouth were awarded their 24th spot, owing to being the last club relegated last season? The Bolton and Bury situations were a mess at the time, but all the more so now!
I'm just imagining some kind of mad sorcery that would see us be awarded 3rd, get promoted, then by magic everything is fine for next season!
Haven’t the league said they’re planning to resume games behind closed doors in June or did I dream that?
@Twizz its the same logic that allows us to debate who will play in the tram on the next Saturday, what the score will be, how many people will be there, whether we’ll run out of crisps, etc. Ie none at all. But that shouldn’t and won’t stop us speculating wildly what may or may not happen.
I can't see the problem with next season in the event of being disrupted at any time by a resurgence in the virus.
Agree the ground rules in writing before the season starts. For instance, a minimum of 50% of games have to be played otherwise the season is automatically voided. Set an immoveable fixed date for completion of the season. No more than two games to be played per week. In the event of the season having to end early, positions decided on PPG. League Cup and the Noddy Cup dumped for the season.
Why would PPG be fair next season, but not fair now? I know clubs could agree before the season, but if it is demonstrably an unfair way of deciding things, it is not going to feel any more satisfying next season, agreement or not, especially if we are 51% of the way through instead of 77%.
But if it was specifically in the rules next season there could be no legal claim from disappointed teams. 50% may be too low a figure and 66.6% may be a better reflection on a season.
I agree it is unfair, but what other way is there to get a season actually completed?
One thing we all agree on is that there is definitely no ideal outcome! As far as getting through a season, how about the following idea for next season, if we do end this one?
Split every division in two based on PPG, for one season. This means no-one gets promoted or relegated, but bottom half teams don't get to fight for promotion, and successful teams cannot get relegated, when the divisions re-combine.
Every team in the 12 team divisions plays each other four times, for 44 games. This way, you could have a "half season" that is fair, if everyone plays each other home and away in the first 22 games.
So, we would be in division 5 with the other top 11 teams from the old L1. If we finish top 2 or win the playoffs, we go up to the Championship when the divisions combine after the vaccine. Finishing bottom would just mean being back in L1 when divisions combine again.
You could also keep the 8 division setup going for as long as is needed to wait for the vaccine, and just play 22 game mini-seasons, with two each year. The divisions could be combined whenever we are totally out of the woods. In this scenario, we could be relegated to division 6 after a half season of division 5.
I think we simply need to decide on
1) Playing the season out versus Not.
2)If we can't play out, whether we void it, or award positions.
3) If we have to award, is it on how it stands, or average points.
Any ideas on messing with formats and numbers, even for a year surely can't even get to the table.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52307147
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52316964
Dont know how either is going to work to be honest. Will the EFL follow the PL's proposals? If so it will surely be behind closed doors right?