1 hour ago, Coxy15 said:

I think the worst thing you can do is take the money from players wages. Yes they may well be overpaid, but it's the billionaires that owna nd run football that cause those high wages. A footballer is an individual who has worked his hardest day in, day out to beat thousands of others to get the chance of being a professional footballer. Most footballers come from poorer backgrounds, with families to support, or come from poor countries and do a lot of work investing in their home country. Not to mention that a footballer, while highly paid, has a career of 20 years maximum, of which only about 8-10 of those years will be peak earnings.

It's easy to point at someone on 250k a week and say he should give up his money, but if he breaks his leg next year, then his career could be done, his earning days over. Billionaire owners, like ours, have no age limit, have a wide business portfolio, financial advisers etc all to protect them from the damage of this pandemic. If all the owners of premier league football clubs put in 5-10% of their net worth, there would be so much money flooding in. I'd rather put pressure on the owners to give up 10%, than footballers to give up 30%.

as players wages make up a huge part of a club's outgoings , it makes sense to consider cutting wages to just millionaire status instead of the current multi-millionaire status.

 

 

14 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

as players wages make up a huge part of a club's outgoings , it makes sense to consider cutting wages to just millionaire status instead of the current multi-millionaire status.

 

 

https://www.premierleague.com/news/1651836

I thought I'd better research this a bit more and found that the PL have already proposed 30% pay cut for players. I don't know if it actually happened but a little tightening of the belts should see them through.

I heard something that refutes this players have a short career thing, apparently the average for a job now is 4 years whereas footballers average is 8 years so they have double the longevity and security while also earning hundreds/thousands times more. Its a myth that Gordon Taylor (the f**king vermin) at the PFA has perpetuated and people just seemed to believe it. Professional footballers have an incredible career in this country and are in a privileged position, theres no arguing with that. I know of people who have taken pay cuts requested by their company to keep them in a job, the players should be in the exact same position if their club is in a precarious situation.

2 hours ago, Andy North said:

The game desperately needs TV revenue and if next season needs to start behind closed doors then so be it.

The TV revenue is made up of two factors, subscriptions, and advertising. They'll find it difficult to hold onto subscribers if football has no crowds. So that leaves advertising, but with few subscribers who will be watching the adverts ?

I can see a certain sector of sponsorship doing deals with sky/bt to get football back on the TV, the betting sector. I can see them throwing money at sky/bt to make sure the football is free to air, opening up the betting markets again.

Clearly the best thing to do is to select 1 player from each club and put all of those in a texas holdem poker tournament.

Obviously the Liverpool player would have the most of the starting chips, if he wins in the end he gets the league title, fair and simple.

1 hour ago, dkw said:

I heard something that refutes this players have a short career thing, apparently the average for a job now is 4 years whereas footballers average is 8 years so they have double the longevity and security while also earning hundreds/thousands times more. Its a myth that Gordon Taylor (the f**king vermin) at the PFA has perpetuated and people just seemed to believe it. Professional footballers have an incredible career in this country and are in a privileged position, theres no arguing with that. I know of people who have taken pay cuts requested by their company to keep them in a job, the players should be in the exact same position if their club is in a precarious situation.

Gordon Taylor, I can't stand the man

his basic salary is £1.19 Million a year,  with a £ 770,000 bonus last year.   And £ 56,000 in benefits.

There's a wage that could do with a cut !

2 hours ago, dkw said:

I heard something that refutes this players have a short career thing, apparently the average for a job now is 4 years whereas footballers average is 8 years so they have double the longevity and security while also earning hundreds/thousands times more. Its a myth that Gordon Taylor (the f**king vermin) at the PFA has perpetuated and people just seemed to believe it. Professional footballers have an incredible career in this country and are in a privileged position, theres no arguing with that. I know of people who have taken pay cuts requested by their company to keep them in a job, the players should be in the exact same position if their club is in a precarious situation.

This will probably be an unpopular opinion but I think footballers should have had a significant wage cut throughout all of this, especially at clubs who need the extra income to survive. They're should have already been some law set high above that had that set in motion in the event of something like this.

I know it's not their fault but when all said and done they're being paid for a service they can't at this minute provide, and are paid with wages that are largely covered by the income clubs earn while they're providing said service.

A date of 1 June has been given but that could change depending on what happens in the next few weeks with changes to the lockdown rules. I know that sports people have been training at home but presumably managers of teams will want their players to spend sometime together before games and events start. The risks of starting games behind closed doors has already been covered in this thread so given those and the possibility that the start date of 1 June may not be possible all the more reason to scrap this season but sadly I can't see that happening.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/52619111

No professional sport, even behind closed doors, will be staged in England until 1 June at the earliest, the UK government has announced.

The government has published a 50-page guidance document detailing how England will begin to ease lockdown measures.

Step two of that plan - which will not be allowed to start before 1 June - includes "permitting cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact".

The document states that reopening venues that attract large crowds, such as sports grounds, "may only be fully possible significantly later depending on the reduction in numbers of infections".

2 hours ago, Boyne said:

No professional sport, even behind closed doors, will be staged in England until 1 June at the earliest

I wonder if this includes full team training?  

9 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

I wonder if this includes full team training?  

I guess that squad training will take place from 1 June and managers and coaches will want at least a week to make sure all is okay. Just seen this on the BBC. A possibility of not having games at neutral venues. It gets more confusing the day. Doesn't help those e.g. medical staff who will have to provide support.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52579299

35 minutes ago, Boyne said:

I guess that squad training will take place from 1 June and managers and coaches will want at least a week to make sure all is okay. Just seen this on the BBC. A possibility of not having games at neutral venues. It gets more confusing the day. Doesn't help those e.g. medical staff who will have to provide support.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52579299

Training in pairs then fives happened in Germany while in lockdown (I think) so maybe similar restrictive sessions could happen here too.

Premier League clubs facing £340m TV refund even if season resumes - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52579299

13 hours ago, Boyne said:

I guess that squad training will take place from 1 June and managers and coaches will want at least a week to make sure all is okay. Just seen this on the BBC. A possibility of not having games at neutral venues. It gets more confusing the day. Doesn't help those e.g. medical staff who will have to provide support.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52579299

Some fans will travel, whether home grounds or neutral grounds, especially if they have something to play for, it's just what some do. Accident waiting to happen sadly.

40 minutes ago, chi blue said:

Some fans will travel, whether home grounds or neutral grounds, especially if they have something to play for, it's just what some do. Accident waiting to happen sadly.

Agree. As you say, an accident waiting to happen. The police and those in the medical profession have enough on their plates without having to worry about fans going to grounds.

14 hours ago, Argo said:

Training in pairs then fives happened in Germany while in lockdown (I think) so maybe similar restrictive sessions could happen here too.

Didn't they then start to find players infected on testing, and a whole squad (or very nearly) had to be quarantined again?

7 hours ago, Boyne said:

Premier League clubs facing £340m TV refund even if season resumes - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52579299

Someone has to take the hit, if not the players, or clubs, or TV, or sponsors, then who is left to take the hit ? I'll tell you who, us, somewhere along the line, it'll be us that pays. 

They'll twist and shape the game to fit, just to get the betting industry back up and running, they probably take over £340m worldwide in bets on a average weekend of EPL football. Thats billions lost in bets already. Bet 365 boss has a salary of £323 million, thats just her pay.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50834994

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

Didn't they then start to find players infected on testing, and a whole squad (or very nearly) had to be quarantined again?

That was in my city (Dresden). Two players tested positive last week and now the entire squad is under two weeks quarantine. The first match after the restart was supposed to be on Sunday 17th but that's now cancelled.

Dresden is actually one of the least badly affected major cities in the country (zero new cases yesterday), so if happened here then I can easily see it happening again with other teams.

Just now, bluedave said:

That was in my city (Dresden). Two players tested positive last week and now the entire squad is under two weeks quarantine. The first match after the restart was supposed to be on Sunday 17th but that's now cancelled.

Dresden is actually one of the least badly affected major cities in the country (zero new cases yesterday), so if happened here then I can easily see it happening again with other teams.

The football authorities keep telling us everyone wants the game back to get moral up amongst the population, doing us all a favour, money not the driving force!!!! Well what everyone wants is people to be safe and to get rid of this virus, not football taking away testing kits, health workers and emergency services so they can get football on. Us Football fans can live without football for the time being, so the football authorities need not to worry about our moral, unless there is something else motivating them!!!!

8 minutes ago, coco said:

Someone has to take the hit, if not the players, or clubs, or TV, or sponsors, then who is left to take the hit ? I'll tell you who, us, somewhere along the line, it'll be us that pays. 

They'll twist and shape the game to fit, just to get the betting industry back up and running, they probably take over £340m worldwide in bets on a average weekend of EPL football. Thats billions lost in bets already. Bet 365 boss has a salary of £323 million, thats just her pay.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50834994

Agree, someone will have to take a hit. Can't see players agreeing to a pay cut or a salary cap. Some of them could move to another country where there are no pay cuts or a salary cap. If other workers are having to take a pay cut to keep a job or help their business to survive it will be difficult for footballers and other sportspeople to justify not having to take a financial hit. If footballers do move from the Premier League to another country can see that going down well with broadcasters and sponsors. Fans will be an easy target i.e. putting up prices of tickets or increasing charges for TV subscriptions. That won't be a popular move with fans especially with money being tight. People will be giving a lot of thought as how to spend their money. For example, the choice could be between supporting a local business get back on its feet or supporting a sports team.

@chi blue You're spot on about the issue of morale. I can think of loads of things I want to do before going to football to boost my morale.  Meeting family and friends for a good natter over a pint.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52630497

England and Tottenham defender Danny Rose has criticised the Premier League's plans to restart the season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Club officials met on Monday to continue talks on "Project Restart", with the English top flight aiming to resume fixtures on 12 June.

As of 11 May, 32,065 people had died in the UK with coronavirus.

"Football shouldn't even be spoken about until the numbers have dropped massively," said Rose, 29.

"People's lives are at risk."

No professional sport, even behind closed doors, will be staged in England until 1 June at the earliest.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said being able to hold sporting events without fans could "provide a much-needed boost to national morale".

Rose, who is on loan at Newcastle United from Spurs this season, responded to the news on social media, using expletives and saying he did not care about the nation's morale.

Meanwhile, new data from YouGov showed 73% of 2,098 British adults surveyed would not see the return of football as a boost to their morale, with 19% saying it would.

 

You are allowed to meet one person in the park if their 2m from you yet in a few weeks 22 blokes sweating and spitting  on a field will be ok ?. I think what's leaving in a bad taste in everyone's mouth is most sports are having a lets wait and see policy but football (tv companies in reality) are desperate to get back even though it's obvious to everyone it's extremely risky if not downright dangerous.

4 hours ago, chi blue said:

Some fans will travel, whether home grounds or neutral grounds, especially if they have something to play for, it's just what some do. Accident waiting to happen sadly.

Such a pointless thing to do what are they going to do travel hundreds of miles and watch the game on their phone ?. All the big clubs bar Man City have fans all over the country so if Liverpool or Man United played in Bristol for example you could get local fans turning up.

7 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

You are allowed to meet one person in the park if their 2m from you yet in a few weeks 22 blokes sweating and spitting  on a field will be ok ?. I think what's leaving in a bad taste in everyone's mouth is most sports are having a lets wait and see policy but football (tv companies in reality) are desperate to get back even though it's obvious to everyone it's extremely risky if not downright dangerous.

Exactly. All this crap about it will be good for morale and people being desperate for football to return. What planet do the authorities live on. The planet money.

 

34 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

Such a pointless thing to do what are they going to do travel hundreds of miles and watch the game on their phone ?. All the big clubs bar Man City have fans all over the country so if Liverpool or Man United played in Bristol for example you could get local fans turning up.

Remember these scenes from Wembley just weeks after the Hillsborough disaster ? Fans wont listen to 'stay away' advice.