Problem solved and it comes in blue...

With footballing authorities or should that be broadcasters and sponsors (me being cynical again) wanting to restart the season soon I wonder how scheduling of matches will be decided. Not necessarily if games will be played at neutral venues or at the original intended venues but how scheduling will fit in with other sports. Both codes of rugby and cricket to name only three sports wish to re-start or start their seasons. If sports are given ahead to resume or start it may be that the police and medical services say that only one - or possible more if a city or town is big enough - is allowed to take place so that support services are not over-stretched. That could impact on when games are televised and may not go down well with broadcasters and sponsors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52665805

The government says it is "opening the door" for the return of professional football in England in June.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said Thursday's meeting with the Football Association, Premier League and English Football League had "progressed plans".

He added that plans for the sport to resume should "include widening access for fans to view live coverage".

Meanwhile, England's deputy chief medical officer said any return would be "slow" and "measured".

The Premier League met on Monday to discuss "Project Restart" and hopes for a return to action on 12 June, with matches played behind closed doors.

"We all agreed that we will only go ahead if it is safe to do so and the health and welfare of players, coaches and staff comes first," said Dowden.

"It is now up to the football authorities to agree and finalise the detail of their plans, and there is combined goodwill to achieve this for their fans, the football community and the nation as a whole.

"The government and our medical experts will continue to offer guidance and support."

He added that plans to return should "ensure finances from the game's resumption supports the wider football family".

The next meeting of Premier League clubs will take place on Monday, when top-flight players may return to initial group training under social distancing protocols.

Footballers have so far been limited to individual training but Premier League bosses hope a first phase of team training, under strict guidelines and restricted to 75 minutes, can begin next week.

England's deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said: "There will be small, carefully measured, step-wise approaches to see what can be achieved safely. The first of those is to return safely to training, still observing social distancing.

"We will have to see how that goes before we can even think about moving on to the return of competitive football matches."

Monday's meeting will come after a weekend when the Bundesliga, Germany's top flight, becomes the first major league to restart.

 

49 minutes ago, Boyne said:

With footballing authorities or should that be broadcasters and sponsors (me being cynical again) wanting to restart the season soon I wonder how scheduling of matches will be decided. Not necessarily if games will be played at neutral venues or at the original intended venues but how scheduling will fit in with other sports. Both codes of rugby and cricket to name only three sports wish to re-start or start their seasons. If sports are given ahead to resume or start it may be that the police and medical services say that only one - or possible more if a city or town is big enough - is allowed to take place so that support services are not over-stretched. That could impact on when games are televised and may not go down well with broadcasters and sponsors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52665805

The government says it is "opening the door" for the return of professional football in England in June.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said Thursday's meeting with the Football Association, Premier League and English Football League had "progressed plans".

He added that plans for the sport to resume should "include widening access for fans to view live coverage".

Meanwhile, England's deputy chief medical officer said any return would be "slow" and "measured".

The Premier League met on Monday to discuss "Project Restart" and hopes for a return to action on 12 June, with matches played behind closed doors.

"We all agreed that we will only go ahead if it is safe to do so and the health and welfare of players, coaches and staff comes first," said Dowden.

"It is now up to the football authorities to agree and finalise the detail of their plans, and there is combined goodwill to achieve this for their fans, the football community and the nation as a whole.

"The government and our medical experts will continue to offer guidance and support."

He added that plans to return should "ensure finances from the game's resumption supports the wider football family".

The next meeting of Premier League clubs will take place on Monday, when top-flight players may return to initial group training under social distancing protocols.

Footballers have so far been limited to individual training but Premier League bosses hope a first phase of team training, under strict guidelines and restricted to 75 minutes, can begin next week.

England's deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said: "There will be small, carefully measured, step-wise approaches to see what can be achieved safely. The first of those is to return safely to training, still observing social distancing.

"We will have to see how that goes before we can even think about moving on to the return of competitive football matches."

Monday's meeting will come after a weekend when the Bundesliga, Germany's top flight, becomes the first major league to restart.

 

You can't visit extended family, you can just meet one at a time in a park, but not your garden, people in relationships from different households can now meet but have to social distance and again outside, and worse of all 32k plus have died and over 400 again today, but not to worry, we can all be cheered up footballs coming back, the country's gone f**kin mad!!!

1 minute ago, chi blue said:

You can't visit extended family, you can just meet one at a time in a park, but not your garden, people in relationships from different households can now meet but have to social distance and again outside, and worse of all 32k plus have died and over 400 again today, but not to worry, we can all be cheered up footballs coming back, the country's gone f**kin mad!!!

Agree, the country's gone f**king mad. Care homes crying our for help both financial and PPE and yet there is the obsession to get football and other sports restarted with the idea that it will boost our morale. What a load of tosh. I'm sure that we can all think of loads of other stuff which will boost our morale.

 

16 minutes ago, Boyne said:

Agree, the country's gone f**king mad. Care homes crying our for help both financial and PPE and yet there is the obsession to get football and other sports restarted with the idea that it will boost our morale. What a load of tosh. I'm sure that we can all think of loads of other stuff which will boost our morale.

Totally agree. Morale is a trojan horse of an argument if I've ever seen one. No one give two hoots about the League 1 and League 2 which won't be coming back and lifting the morale of the fans of those clubs.

This is all about money and broadcasters and the giant financial hole that the Premier League has dug by paying people hundreds of thousands of pounds per week and operating on razor thin margins.

3 hours ago, Boyne said:

Agree, the country's gone f**king mad. Care homes crying our for help both financial and PPE and yet there is the obsession to get football and other sports restarted with the idea that it will boost our morale. What a load of tosh. I'm sure that we can all think of loads of other stuff which will boost our morale.

The match in South Korea on the BBC red button attracted millions of viewers and I wouldn't be surprised if The Bundi figures this weekend get close to if not outright break the viewing figures for sport.

For all the protests on the contrary, people will be tuning in their millions for the first PL game back.

5 hours ago, Argo said:

The match in South Korea on the BBC red button attracted millions of viewers and I wouldn't be surprised if The Bundi figures this weekend get close to if not outright break the viewing figures for sport.

For all the protests on the contrary, people will be tuning in their millions for the first PL game back.

I'm sure there will be millions tuning in, I won't if the sun's out, rather be outside running and a BBQ, but millions tune into soap operas and they are the most depressing sh*t out there, it won't get the moral of the country up though, my moral will get better when the virus is gone and we can all go back to normal, sadly the old normal will be years away, if it ever returns, Australia have now re opened pubs today, but Sydney that only had a handful of deaths (still to many), have a restriction of no more than 10 in a pub. I just still can't get my head round why football is potentially being bought back, when so much else is in chaos, football although we all love it, is just totally irrelevant. 

9 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Totally agree. Morale is a trojan horse of an argument if I've ever seen one. No one give two hoots about the League 1 and League 2 which won't be coming back and lifting the morale of the fans of those clubs.

This is all about money and broadcasters and the giant financial hole that the Premier League has dug by paying people hundreds of thousands of pounds per week and operating on razor thin margins.

Its 100% this, they can keep telling themselves its due to morale, or integrity or any other bullsh*t words but its purely down to cash. If they just admitted that then they can get no with it without all the moralising.

57 minutes ago, chi blue said:

I'm sure there will be millions tuning in, I won't if the sun's out, rather be outside running and a BBQ, but millions tune into soap operas and they are the most depressing sh*t out there, it won't get the moral of the country up though, my moral will get better when the virus is gone and we can all go back to normal, sadly the old normal will be years away, if it ever returns, Australia have now re opened pubs today, but Sydney that only had a handful of deaths (still to many), have a restriction of no more than 10 in a pub. I just still can't get my head round why football is potentially being bought back, when so much else is in chaos, football although we all love it, is just totally irrelevant. 

It depends how you define moral booster, if you mean in the sense of altering someone's general mood through all this ofcourse not but I imagine there's many people who can do with the escapism. I can relate as back in 2011/2012 I was in a very bad place and just to see Chelsea at the weekend was a blessing as I had 90 minutes of my mind being occupied with something else, I'll go as far as saying the CL run and ultimately win helped my recovery, possibly even saved my life.

That said it shouldn't be brought back until there's enough resources for key workers first and foremost and new daily cases are in their hundreds or less but like in Germany then they should look at doing it.

What goes largely unnoticed is the players whenever they play again it will be a lot safer than the last time they played. When we last took the field against Everton the virus was on the ascendency, the R was near maybe above 3, the lads shared the water bottles, full crowd, no testing etc whenever the next time they play they will have their own water bottles, have been tested atleast twice, playing BCD and the country's R will be below 1.

We are now at a stage in the country where we're gradually emerging from the lockdown and all non essential business will be looking at reopening with precautions, football being one.

Basically, no footballer should be tested until every NHS and Care home worker has been tested and the capacity is there to test them again on a regular basis, several times a week, AND the test results are returned within 15 minutes, as they are for, for example, ALL White House staff in the US, members of our government and the royal family.

If the capacity to test is there, it should be used for people on the front line, trying to save lives, not on footballers, politicians, actors or newsreaders.

And it doesn't count as a "test done" just to put a home testing kit in the post.

39 minutes ago, Argo said:

I can relate as back in 2011/2012 I was in a very bad place and just to see Chelsea at the weekend was a blessing as I had 90 minutes of my mind being occupied with something else, I'll go as far as saying the CL run and ultimately win helped my recovery, possibly even saved my life.

I doubt football with no fans could lift the moral of even the most dedicated fan.

 

My son hit it on the head this morning without realising. He said there's German football on tomorrow, I said well I won't bother watching, not interested, also football is crap behind closed doors, he replied yes, but there be loads of people betting on games. There you have it, Money!! That's why it's coming back, not morale, it's money

1 hour ago, chi blue said:

My son hit it on the head this morning without realising. He said there's German football on tomorrow, I said well I won't bother watching, not interested, also football is crap behind closed doors, he replied yes, but there be loads of people betting on games. There you have it, Money!! That's why it's coming back, not moral, it's money

The Premership will be like watching Sunday league football live from Hackney Marshes with no fans. It could go either way people will lose interest or it could get mega viewing figures if it's free to air tv.

Edited May 15, 20206 yr by bluehaze

16 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

The Premership will be like watching Sunday league football live from Hackney Marshes with no fans. It could go either way people will lose interest or it could get mega viewing figures if it's free to air tv.

Ive already talked about this earlier and said the only way it will be free to air is if sponsors pay for it, and when i say sponsors, i mean the multi billion £ betting sponsors, that's the 'morale' smoke screen blown away.

35 minutes ago, coco said:

Ive already talked about this earlier and said the only way it will be free to air is if sponsors pay for it, and when i say sponsors, i mean the multi billion £ betting sponsors, that's the 'morale' smoke screen blown away.

Doesn't say anything about sponsors in this.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/14/premier-league-must-show-free-to-air-games-and-share-money-to-restart-government

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/14/augsburg-head-coach-to-miss-bundesliga-restart-after-breaking-quarantine-for-toothpaste

 

Quote

 

Augsburg host Wolfsburg as the Bundesliga becomes the first of Europe’s major leagues to resume since the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

The club said in a statement that, by leaving the hotel, Herrlich had broken rules set up by a German Football League task force.

“I made a mistake by leaving the hotel,” said Herrlich, who was due to coach Augsburg in a match for the first time on Saturday. “Even though I followed all hygiene measures both when I left the hotel and otherwise, I cannot undo this.

 

24 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

Doesn't say anything about sponsors in this.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/14/premier-league-must-show-free-to-air-games-and-share-money-to-restart-government

Somewhere along the line the huge £ loss they talk about must come from somewhere. The government wont be able to force a private broadcaster to do jack sh*t, not without legal ramifications. SKY/BT wont just give up the money, no chance.

The only people losing TENS of millions every day from no football, the bookmakers.  And because their sector sponsor over half the teams in the league and are by far the largest sponsors to football, they will make up the difference, but you may not hear about it, cronies keep quiet.

Football being played so soon just shows how the game means very little, just a big distraction so that people don't even start thinking about reality and the players are the pawns, the expendable jokers...

I have just sent the following to my MP. I'll post the response when I receive it. Hopefully I haven't missed out anything.

"As you will be aware there have been a number of announcements and meetings about re-starting the football season. One of the reasons given for re-starting the season is that will improve the morale of the nation. 

Do you know if football fans either individuals or supporters groups have been consulted about whether or not they would like the season to be re-started? Or has it just been the case that the Government has been in discussions with footballing authorities, broadcasters, sponsors and bookmakers? If fans have not been consulted, why not? It would be very unfair if fans have not been consulted. I am a season ticket holder at Chelsea and have been in contact with a number of fellow supporters of the club and the majority are not in favour of the season re-starting. Many feel that it is not a priority and resources e.g. police and medical staff could be taken away from more important roles. There is also the issue of testing players and other football staff when there is still high demand for testing of hospital and other care home staff and also other key-workers.

I await your response."

 

As others have stated, the restart of football has got f**k all to do with morale but is down to money.
 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52679614

League One clubs have failed to agree whether to end the season early following discussions with the English Football League.

Friday's meeting involving all 23 sides in the division came after six clubs had said they were determined to complete their remaining fixtures.

The league was halted on 13 March amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The clubs will meet again on Monday, while teams in League Two are due to carry out discussions later on Friday.

BBC Sport understands there is a general acceptance among clubs in both League One and League Two that resuming the current campaign is impossible because of a lack of money.

But on Thursday Peterborough United, Oxford United, Sunderland, Fleetwood, Portsmouth and Ipswich Town released a joint statement saying they had "no desire for voiding the season, points-per-game scenarios or letting a computer decide our footballing fate".

A Twitter post by Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony, whose side are sixth with nine games to play, added: "For our fans/staff and for the integrity of our sport, we are all looking forward to completing our pending fixtures/season under guidance from the EFL at a time it is deemed safe to do so."

It is understood Friday's meeting via conference call saw clubs unable to come to a united position and so they will reconvene early next week.

On 13/05/2020 at 20:34, Munkworth said:

 Problem solved and it comes in blue...

Is that next seasons home kit?  Where the urban camo effect?

20 hours ago, Boyne said:

England's deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said: "There will be small, carefully measured, step-wise approaches to see what can be achieved safely. The first of those is to return safely to training, still observing social distancing.

'Small, carefully measured, step-wise approaches to see what can be achieved safely' - Then cram 30 matches in every week.  Sounds like a well thought out and safe plan.

I'll probably tune in tomorrow and check out the Bundesliga to see how it is without fans and all that. I have a feeling it won't be too pleasing and will have a feel of watching a U18 world cup match. Not that the football can't or won't be entertaining, but the crowd and its presence just adds so much. And if they pump in crowd noise or have digital fans fill the stadiums (they're talking about doing that for the NFL this season) then its the same as FIFA or Madden on PS4.

 

4 hours ago, Boyne said:

I have just sent the following to my MP. I'll post the response when I receive it. Hopefully I haven't missed out anything.

"As you will be aware there have been a number of announcements and meetings about re-starting the football season. One of the reasons given for re-starting the season is that will improve the morale of the nation. 

Do you know if football fans either individuals or supporters groups have been consulted about whether or not they would like the season to be re-started? Or has it just been the case that the Government has been in discussions with footballing authorities, broadcasters, sponsors and bookmakers? If fans have not been consulted, why not? It would be very unfair if fans have not been consulted. I am a season ticket holder at Chelsea and have been in contact with a number of fellow supporters of the club and the majority are not in favour of the season re-starting. Many feel that it is not a priority and resources e.g. police and medical staff could be taken away from more important roles. There is also the issue of testing players and other football staff when there is still high demand for testing of hospital and other care home staff and also other key-workers.

I await your response."

 

As others have stated, the restart of football has got f**k all to do with morale but is down to money.
 

How low is the morale of the nation anyway? So "low" that the only thing to do is to just put some live football games on the TV? Why even bother with that silly argument in the first place? Did anyone make a study about it and concluded that forcing football players to play would be the right thing to do? 

It's a mockery and it should insult a regular person if you ask me, there are a whole bunch of people that simply don't care about football at all and I simply can't think of how someone would feel better about the current situation by having this distraction of watching a live sport event on the TV...and if that is the simple case, that is just pathetic. If you don't want to think about the people dying from the virus or idk if you're just sad how about do something meaningful with your life instead of just searching for any entertainment just to hide from dealing with yourself and the reality?

On top of it, football players shouldn't put their own health at risk just so that people at home can forget about the virus for an hour and a half, nobody is asking them if they would like to play in these circumstances in the first place and nobody is offering them any help, these silly new rules about how they should avoid certain types of contact during the game that is by its nature a very physical game is just laughable and nobody knows how a game will look but if every player were to really try to avoid being close to another players face it simply will not be a real competitive game but just a charade!

The raising morale argument doesn't wash with me at all. We all want things to go back to normal but football is clearly pretty low down on most people's lists, and there is an understandable concern that restarting the football could even contribute to a resurgence in infections that would mean lockdown restrictions have to be extended or tightened again. Nobody wants that so why risk it.

The Bundesliga is about to restart but only a minority of 36% are actually in favour, according to a survey done by the German equivalent of the BBC. People generally don't want the good progress being made jeopardised for the sake of two hours entertainment on a Saturday afternoon.

I'll probably watch some of it but only to see how dull and lifeless it is without fans.