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Pilot games

10 EFL games chosen for crowd piloting this weekend, 3 in the Championship...

Luton v Derby (really?!)
Middlesbrough v Bournemouth
Norwich v Preston

Very surprised at the first of those. Of all the grounds to choose, I'd have thought Luton's would have been one of the least likely candidates, considering it's ultra-cramped nature. Not only that, but wasn't the town subject to special COVID measures recently?

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Comments

  • Maybe Luton is the perfect test because if it can work there it can work anywhere.

    Sure I read somewhere that clubs were given only a few hours notice to put themselves forward. Maybe that held a few back.

  • If it proves safe at Luton then that bodes well for the rest of us

  • @Right_in_the_Middle @JohnnyAllAlone True, if there were no problems at Luton, that might then bode well for everywhere else.

  • Not sure how you can operate social distancing at the kennelworth slum?

  • Any optimism I had about this was severely knocked at lunchtime when I was listening to a news story about the new restrictions in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Two particular outbreaks had been identified in the county, one of which was rooted in a "club outing" to the Doncaster races pilot event, which stopped off at a series of pubs on the way.

    If pilots are going to be treated with this level of idiocy by those lucky enough to go, then pilots are all there will be for the foreseeable future, I'd say. Let's hope for better at the weekend's football.

  • Luton have pulled out, not enough time apparently

  • @StrongestTeam said:
    Luton have pulled out, not enough time apparently

    What a mess. Luton actually informed the EFL they would not have enough time to get the ground ready before the EFL announcement that they had been awarded a game!

  • Hull and Morecambe also not doing their trials

  • Six months on and two weeks after I returned to the smoke after shielding at home we have only just had perspex put up between each desk in the office...if they are going to that between the seats I can see why there would be delays!

  • I'm sure this will help....

    Nomads 'turned blind eye' to ill players before European tie despite positive Covid tests at club

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54199351

  • Unbelievable really. Morrison deserves every bit of the chosen image.

  • You wonder how else you could interpret the phrase "turning a blind eye" to players turning up ill!

  • Some questions on the news tonight around canning further test events as they may be pointless amid lockdown rules tightening and more positive tests.
    Orient said to be potentially considering forefitting their game vs Spurs after a number of positive tests to first team players is noteworthy particularly if there's any truth in it as it seems EFL clubs have been cutting down on testing frequency leading to Prem clubs paying for them to have tests ahead of cup ties.
    If these rarer tests are finding positives in larger numbers it questions what's going on behind the scenes, the duty of care to EFL players and the whole bubble idea.
    Possible bit of overplaying and even scaremongering but it doesn't look good for fans going back anytime soon or finances longer term.

  • So no fans for 6 months it looks like, Conference moth balled... Will leagues 1 and 2 play on? Really crazy time to get promoted when it's absolutely gutting to not be able to go to all the amazing grounds in the championship, while also being a financial godsend.

  • Hard to see Leagues 1 & 2 continuing without buckets of money heading in their direction.

    Pity if it does cease, I was looking forwards to the Peterborough Revenge tour

  • Its a fantastic time to be in Championship. It really is hard to see how Lg1 and Lg2 clubs can function and survive.

    Transfer spending in the premier league currently at c £500m this summer. There will be more before deadline. If significant numbers of clubs are allowed to die for want of a much smaller sum required to address an entirely predictable situation, football has failed.

  • @DevC said:
    Its a fantastic time to be in Championship. It really is hard to see how Lg1 and Lg2 clubs can function and survive.

    Transfer spending in the premier league currently at c £500m this summer. There will be more before deadline. If significant numbers of clubs are allowed to die for want of a much smaller sum required to address an entirely predictable situation, football has failed.

    It's both the best and worst season to miss if this is our only championship season... Especially to those who go to every game

  • I am assuming - hoping - that either the government or the PL gravy train will step up and save the lower leagues...I know capitalism is all about survival of the fittest and opportunities will arise from the present shitstorm, but I do feel we're in danger of being left with the Premier League, racing and polo if we're not careful...

  • Don’t forget grouse shooting.

  • I've not posted in this thread or on the subject of fans being allowed back in, because I've been struggling to work out how to post my thoughts on it without coming across like I'm insulting others on here. But here, roughly, are my thoughts - please don't be offended, none of this is aimed at anyone here.

    1. This was obviously always going to be the case - until there's a vaccine there is simply no safe way to get even 10% of a ground's capacity in and out of a stadium.
    2. I can't believe that anyone would even consider going to a game, it's obviously a huge risk to anyone who then comes into contact with you afterwards - it reminds me of the people who refuse to wear masks.
    3. Several football matches at the start of the pandemic have been identified as super-spreader events - reducing the capacity will just make them spreader events.
    4. None of this was ever safe. It's just the 2020 version of "let them eat cake".
  • @Chris said:
    Don’t forget grouse shooting.

    Great item on the C4 news yesterday. More about the damage it does than the old disease but even Her Maj is coming round to the environmental damage not being worth it on her lands!
    https://www.channel4.com/news/is-queen-about-to-turn-her-back-on-the-grouse-shooting-industry

  • Trouble is @drcongo , there might never be a vaccine. What then? Will football and pretty much all human activity be conducted online? Will our mental health survive that?
    There is always risk in getting out of bed in the morning (or staying in it for that matter). Its all about acceptable risk. I am not at all sure the public are ready to sign on to these restrictions for much longer - I heard a phone in this morning full of the same fools who supported Brexit making the same angry rants about what do the experts know - I read online (insert some bollox).....

  • I get you Dev, but...

    There is always risk in getting out of bed in the morning (or staying in it for that matter). Its all about acceptable risk.

    When I get out of bed in the morning, there's not much risk of me killing my 85 year old neighbour - so, I rather failed in my last post to get across this point - it's not necessarily your/my/our risk to take.

  • @drcongo said:
    I've not posted in this thread or on the subject of fans being allowed back in, because I've been struggling to work out how to post my thoughts on it without coming across like I'm insulting others on here. But here, roughly, are my thoughts - please don't be offended, none of this is aimed at anyone here.

    1. This was obviously always going to be the case - until there's a vaccine there is simply no safe way to get even 10% of a ground's capacity in and out of a stadium.
    2. I can't believe that anyone would even consider going to a game, it's obviously a huge risk to anyone who then comes into contact with you afterwards - it reminds me of the people who refuse to wear masks.
    3. Several football matches at the start of the pandemic have been identified as super-spreader events - reducing the capacity will just make them spreader events.
    4. None of this was ever safe. It's just the 2020 version of "let them eat cake".

    I don’t understand this mentality. We know that a vaccine may never exist and if it does it could be years away. So you’re advocating for a strategy of suppression for what could be years on end, or possibly forever.

    As we are seeing now, suppression involves a large portion of the population spending their entire working life at home and socialising being severely restricted. Not an acceptable way for us to continue in my view and should only ever have been used to buy some time initially to increase NHS capacity.

  • @DevC if you are hospitalised with Covid, you are looking at six months of rehab and possible serious permanent lung damage so whatever the numbnuts are saying they are or are not going to do and however poor the response from the mainly populist governments have been (faced with a very real problem rather than one they've made up) I'm doing my best to behave responsibly and reduce the risk for myself and others. Most people will. Labs all over the world are working on it, so there will be a vaccine. It's a pandemic and we'll get through it and the pub bores can then go on and on about how they took no precautions, had loads of fights about masks outside shops, and it never done them no harm.

  • edited September 2020

    We will definitely find one or more effective vaccines, as we have done with numerous other highly contagious viral infections; however having said that the latest view from the scientific community is that any effective vaccine is unlikely to be available until mid 2021; so that means we are unlikely to have any form of mass social gatherings before then.

    It is rumoured that the EFL has asked the PL for funding support, though the PL is dithering at this time. There are further rumours that they may be prepared (after government pressure) to loan money to the EFL to support their members; though this is a two edged sword as loans need to be repaid. Frankly a 1% levy on transfer fees (akin to the footballers pension fund levy) would have generated a pot in excess of £50m this year, add that to the £34m parachute payment Fulham didnt receive and we would be getting close to £100m to support lower league football for the 20/21 season and beyond. Of course the PL arent that bothered as long as they survice and can keep selling the TV rights around the world...

  • I get you @drcongo but in our analogy, we might kill our 85 year old neighbour. We might crash into him in our car or we might live the cooker on and the resulting fire might spread to his home. There are myriad risks that we and he run every day in the course of our lives.

    Death for all is a certainty. Every human activity carries a small risk of bringing that forward. We have to balance the risk of each activity we carry out for injury or death to us or others against the benefit for us/the economy of carrying out that activity.

    @Wendoverman it is true that scientists all over the world are seeking a vaccine and it is reported that good progress is being made. I am afraid though there is no guarantee that they will be fully or even partially successful.

    I will follow the rules to best of my ability out of respect for others. I am not convinced all will - in fact I think large numbers may increasingly not.

    While I will follow the rules, in truth my suspicion is that it might be better policy to reduce the restrictions, accept that some (but I suspect not many) people will die or be seriously damaged as a result, allow the vulnerable to shield if they wish but largely avoid the economic and mental health damage that our current response is causing.

  • I agree with that. There is virtually no "cost" in wearing a mask and potentially a benefit. So out of respect for others I can see no reason not to do it.

    We do have to guard against Government using the crisis to introduce "temporary" measures to restrict freedoms that end up permanent but wearing masks IMHO is simply not one of those issues.

  • @DevC said:
    Its a fantastic time to be in Championship. It really is hard to see how Lg1 and Lg2 clubs can function and survive.

    We've certainly got across the financial drawbridge just in time but not being able to watch my team is really affecting me. I am fed up of watching games on the TV. If I liked that I would watch the Premier League.

    Been meaning to ask you though. How have you got on having the same access to Wycombe matches as anyone else? Have you enjoyed being able to see a run of games and get more than the odd look at our players?

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