There are so many rumours  from null and void the season to playing behind closed doors. One proposal is to play several games in one day at the same stadium behind closed doors !

next season I've seen it suggested that if the season starts late that we play each team only once then a play off system to decide European places and relegation. Can't see that that would save that many games ?

Anyway, be of interest to hear what others might think ?

Hope everyone stays safe and well during these strange times.

Edit... Just seen that the Belarus season starts next weekend as planned !!

Edited March 28, 20206 yr by The Rising Sun
Explanation added

Teams are not really training so to play games isn't viable.

The only fair thing to do is to cancel the season and wait till it's possible to play football again in the right conditions. 

Championship teams can't do much as it's not fair to start the playoffs or promote any of them before all the games are played, same as it's not fair to relegate the bottom Premier League teams either.
I think mathematically Liverpool would have needed 6 more points to win in order to secure their title, in theory they could have lost their title still so giving them the title is also not fair.

If you can't complete the season, start over, tough luck for everyone but that's life.

In a blaze of glory as Chelsea win every game, Liverpool completely collapse and we run away with every trophy available!

3 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Teams are not really training so to play games isn't viable.

The only fair thing to do is to cancel the season and wait till it's possible to play football again in the right conditions. 

Canceling the season just isn't really a smart thing to do right now for many reasons.

Firstly there's the threat of this virus returning next winter so it's best to just get this season done then ask questions after, two voided season's on the spin will do a lot of damage to the game. Plus I don't want our young guys stats and wins vs Jose's Spurs (nor our win at Arsenal) wiped of record, I'm sentimental like that.

Furthermore we have a lot of wriggle room with the schedule within the next couple of years (although granted it could cause issues with contract timings all over the place). The winter world cup in 2022 and a flexible Euro's (Uefa will move it with no fuss if it means they can complete this season's CL and EL aswell as get next season's completed in full) mean that inadvertently we could find ourselves with a schedule that would allow us to finish the season after next right before the Qatar world cup, then after that TPTB can slowly work on getting the schedule back on to an August-May footing.

For many reasons I don't think a void will even be considered at this point, the only way it could join the board as a serious option is if an attempt to restart the season backfires spectacularly, and even then I reckon they'll give it another try.

From a whisper to a scream* as the always the victim, never our fault brigade realise that the wait for their first league title of the century goes on!

 

*Extra brownie points for cottoning on to the musical connection.

30 minutes ago, Upsetter said:

From a whisper to a scream* as the always the victim, never our fault brigade realise that the wait for their first league title of the century goes on!

 

*Extra brownie points for cottoning on to the musical connection.

I googled it, so I'm not gonna pretend I knew it, cos I didn't !

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Canceling the season just isn't really a smart thing to do right now for many reasons.

Firstly there's the threat of this virus returning next winter so it's best to just get this season done then ask questions after, two voided season's on the spin will do a lot of damage to the game. Plus I don't want our young guys stats and wins vs Jose's Spurs (nor our win at Arsenal) wiped of record, I'm sentimental like that.

Furthermore we have a lot of wriggle room with the schedule within the next couple of years (although granted it could cause issues with contract timings all over the place). The winter world cup in 2022 and a flexible Euro's (Uefa will move it with no fuss if it means they can complete this season's CL and EL aswell as get next season's completed in full) mean that inadvertently we could find ourselves with a schedule that would allow us to finish the season after next right before the Qatar world cup, then after that TPTB can slowly work on getting the schedule back on to an August-May footing.

For many reasons I don't think a void will even be considered at this point, the only way it could join the board as a serious option is if an attempt to restart the season backfires spectacularly, and even then I reckon they'll give it another try.

There is no sign that anything else will be played, that goes for example the Olympics and most probably Wimbledon as well, unless you mean to continue the season in July which to me would mean that it's better to start over as it has been too much break time and everyone would look like it's pre-season. With that much time passed it's clear that the season isn't normal at all which makes it invalid.

Yes, everyone's stats and wins will be gone but that's everyone not just our team only and that's the only fair thing to do. Our youth will still have the experience from what they did till this point in time.

At this point only a few teams gain from finishing this season by force, our team isn't one of them.

I think we may have to cancel the season, promote Leeds and WBA, and play a 22 team table next season. Rumors are many PL teams are pushing for this.

They are better off null and voiding the season, just a total reset and stick with the same teams and leagues. There may need to be a financial package for some teams who gambled on getting promotion, but other than that I cannot see how this season can be finished.

I saw one comment on twitter which I thought was interesting. It said that people’s view on whether the season should be cancelled or not depends on whether their team is having a good season or not. 
 

It’s a tribal argument essentially. 

16 hours ago, Gol15 said:

There is no sign that anything else will be played, that goes for example the Olympics and most probably Wimbledon as well, unless you mean to continue the season in July which to me would mean that it's better to start over as it has been too much break time and everyone would look like it's pre-season. With that much time passed it's clear that the season isn't normal at all which makes it invalid.

Yes, everyone's stats and wins will be gone but that's everyone not just our team only and that's the only fair thing to do. Our youth will still have the experience from what they did till this point in time.

At this point only a few teams gain from finishing this season by force, our team isn't one of them.

And what if we void it, start a new season and the second wave hits in November as some predict? It makes more sense to get this season done and ask questions later than to risk two voids on the spin.

2 hours ago, Argo said:

And what if we void it, start a new season and the second wave hits in November as some predict? It makes more sense to get this season done and ask questions later than to risk two voids on the spin.

Well if you force everyone to play out around 9 remaining games in the summer the season could finish but like I said it's already not your regular season so it comes down to what are the priorities and how much you really care about this one season because those 9 games alone might contribute to the second wave of the virus as well.

If the thing calms down but the second wave happens in whole Europe later on you can bet that Spain,Italy Germany,France they will also stop playing without having much thought about if one or two seasons got ruined.

For me at this point the season is already finished as teams are not having training sessions so even if you force everyone to play behind closed doors it's just not the same, to just do it in order to follow this form of tradition that it should be finished isn't that important to me when everyone would look like it's pre-season and not the final push...

Yeah the difficulty will be when players start moving about again across countries. Who knows what they’ll pick up and transfer. 

 

On 28/03/2020 at 13:04, Argo said:

Canceling the season just isn't really a smart thing to do right now for many reasons.

Firstly there's the threat of this virus returning next winter so it's best to just get this season done then ask questions after, two voided season's on the spin will do a lot of damage to the game. Plus I don't want our young guys stats and wins vs Jose's Spurs (nor our win at Arsenal) wiped of record, I'm sentimental like that.

Furthermore we have a lot of wriggle room with the schedule within the next couple of years (although granted it could cause issues with contract timings all over the place). The winter world cup in 2022 and a flexible Euro's (Uefa will move it with no fuss if it means they can complete this season's CL and EL aswell as get next season's completed in full) mean that inadvertently we could find ourselves with a schedule that would allow us to finish the season after next right before the Qatar world cup, then after that TPTB can slowly work on getting the schedule back on to an August-May footing.

For many reasons I don't think a void will even be considered at this point, the only way it could join the board as a serious option is if an attempt to restart the season backfires spectacularly, and even then I reckon they'll give it another try.

Playing out the season at this rate will only have a big knock on effect for years to come, whereas if it's voided it could potentially start again in September when things have cleared up, if they have by then. Trying to play it out at this rate will be a stupid move, because you're only going to be pushing everything else back, by the time we start playing it, it's going to go through June and August, players have stopped playing have to get them fit again, contract situations, etc. 

I think the smartest thing to do right now is void the season instead of cramming it all in and causing a big knock off effect for years to come. 

Government just said that social distancing could last for upto 3 months. Direct from the government:

“Paul Brand from ITV News asks Dr Harries if current measures in place will continue beyond three weeks.

She points out the UK has only had one week of the measure and that the prime minister said the situation would be "reviewed" after the three weeks.

But she adds it would be "quite dangerous" to then revert to normal life.

"If we stop then all of our efforts will be wasted," she adds.

She says that measures may be reduced gradually over time.

Dr Harries says it might be two or three months before we see the longer-term impact, and about three to six months before to see "at which point we can actually get back to normal".

"And it is plausible it could go further than that", she adds”

 

Very difficult to see the premier league resuming in June/July if there are rules still apply. Footballers won’t want to play either. They are employees remember 

The lower leagues have already voided their seasons. I can't see any real alternative for the PL and EUropean leagues. This virus isn't going away anytime soon, it will still be around even if cases start to drop. Plus players will have gone weeks/months without playing and will basically need a pre-season again, so might as well just start with a new season.

the Deputy Chief Medical Officer said today that it'll be 6 months before the UK is likely to be operating normally (that's if we don't have future waves of this thing) - That'd suggest a season starting in October!  That would mean missing 6/7 fixtures compared to an August start. Maybe an answer would be to scrap European competitions and play the PL fixtures in those mid-week slots.

I guess wherever the money will be made will dictate what happens.   

9 minutes ago, carrickblue said:

the Deputy Chief Medical Officer said today that it'll be 6 months before the UK is likely to be operating normally (that's if we don't have future waves of this thing) - That'd suggest a season starting in October!  That would mean missing 6/7 fixtures compared to an August start. Maybe an answer would be to scrap European competitions and play the PL fixtures in those mid-week slots.

I guess wherever the money will be made will dictate what happens.   

 I can see the seasons in the U.K. and the rest of Europe being written-off in the next few weeks especially if it could be another 6 months until the U.K is operating normally again and even then there may be some parts of society which may not be open for business until much later. Governments may well decide that they want to bring online businesses, building works, leisure industry gradually. Dare I say that football will be the least of societies priorities. Although saying that after all the weeks and months without entertainment the masses would like to go to sporting events, theatres, pubs etc to unwind and relax.  I for one am looking to going down to the pub to meet up with people I haven't seen for ages. Governments across Europe and the rest of the world will have to make big decisions and not everyone will be happen.

If this season's European seasons are written off, what then for next season's Champions and Europa Leagues? If current places are taken into consideration and used for next season's CL and EL is that being unfair on those teams that still have a chance of making one of the top places? Chelsea could miss out. Perhaps the CL and EL for season could be written off. @carrickblueAs you say, money could dictate. There are so many sponsors including those of shirts and also the TV broadcasters? Would they want to miss out on revenue and coverage?

No easy answer to this.

We Are The People.

 

14 minutes ago, Boyne said:

 I can see the seasons in the U.K. and the rest of Europe being written-off in the next few weeks especially if it could be another 6 months until the U.K is operating normally again and even then there may be some parts of society which may not be open for business until much later. Governments may well decide that they want to bring online businesses, building works, leisure industry gradually. Dare I say that football will be the least of societies priorities. Although saying that after all the weeks and months without entertainment the masses would like to go to sporting events, theatres, pubs etc to unwind and relax.  I for one am looking to going down to the pub to meet up with people I haven't seen for ages. Governments across Europe and the rest of the world will have to make big decisions and not everyone will be happen.

If this season's European seasons are written off, what then for next season's Champions and Europa Leagues? If current places are taken into consideration and used for next season's CL and EL is that being unfair on those teams that still have a chance of making one of the top places? Chelsea could miss out. Perhaps the CL and EL for season could be written off. @carrickblueAs you say, money could dictate. There are so many sponsors including those of shirts and also the TV broadcasters? Would they want to miss out on revenue and coverage?

No easy answer to this.

We Are The People.

 

i'd certainly write off the Scottish season  

3 minutes ago, carrickblue said:

i'd certainly write off the Scottish season  

Definitely!

11 minutes ago, carrickblue said:

i'd certainly write off the Scottish season  

And this could be the reaction of fans of one club. From that great day in 2005.

 

Just now, Boyne said:

And this could be the reaction of fans of one club. From that great day in 2005.

 

my heart bleeds......

It's a hard one. Really someone will sook regardless of the outcome. 

If they void - Leicester and especially Liverpool will carry on. 

If they take things as they stand - the teams in the relegation zone plus United, Spurs and Arsenal will all carry on. 

We qualify for the CL regardless under either situation so I don't mind. I'd like to see some football again before the end of the year but I'd be equally happy if we got away with making the CL while playing our youth and signing noone without consequences. Also gives all our injured players time to get properly fit again.