I have changed my mind on this. I originally was of the opinion that just you just scrap this season and start again.
I now think what is more likely is to scrap next season and finish this season come what may.
Most of Europe is in lock down and will be for the next 12 weeks. I am not sure when the 1st rounds of the European competitions are meant to start but that already can't happen.
I don't know how much "integrity" this season will have as we could play Hull in September with a completely diffrent set of players than we would have done. But it's probably the least worst option.
If we're playing Hull in September then how do you fit in next season and get it played before the Euros?
What happens when you finish the season in November with everybody shaking each others hands job well done but then you can't play a full 20/21 season before the Euros?
If the season can't be finished before the end of June sorry but logically there's no other realistic solution than to end the season no relegations and top two go up. It's the least hassle to it and also gives enough flexibility to complete next season as well especially if you have to delay the start of 20/21 to September which is quite possible.
Shorten the 20/21 season accordingly. If it were to start in November, make it a 25 game season, and 32 for the lower leagues, etc etc.
So a 32 game season for League One & Two means only 16 home games instead of 23. This will 100% not happen because then clubs are missing out on 7 home games income, how would you sell season tickets? Sorry but it has to be all or nothing.
I think null and void is only the way to do it IF we can get a new season underway by September. Don’t want to be in a position where they decide to void this season in July aiming to start fresh then next season is delayed and we have another problem trying to work out how to complete next year too.
All football below the National League has been ended, with all results expunged, so no promotion or relegation this season
While people talk about how harsh it would be on Liverpool not winning the title after building up such a commanding lead. There are teams lower down the pyramid that already wrapped promotion up. They now miss out.
Agreed correct decision. There's no decision which will keep everybody happy but I think the biggest legal challenge would be to relegate teams without a full season played.
The current league table is only a guide as to how the season might finish so should not be used to determine final placings. Technically a league table means nothing until the season has finished.
Pretty sure under the circumstances as harsh as it will be on South Shields, Liverpool and all other league leaders the correct decision has been made and hopefully this now follows suit up through the EFL and The Premier League. I don't see those complaining about not winning the league or being promoted getting far in court.
Agreed correct decision. There's no decision which will keep everybody happy but I think the biggest legal challenge would be to relegate teams without a full season played.
The current league table is only a guide as to how the season might finish so should not be used to determine final placings. Technically a league table means nothing until the season has finished.
Pretty sure under the circumstances as harsh as it will be on South Shields, Liverpool and all other league leaders the correct decision has been made and hopefully this now follows suit up through the EFL and The Premier League. I don't see those complaining about not winning the league or being promoted getting far in court.
Are we sure this isn’t us thinking with our hearts in that we would have got away with not being relegated - with a one way ticket to league one looking locked on?
If we were 25 points clear at the top I can guarantee this site wouldn’t be saying the same.
I am sure the Prem and will go on the same line of continue season indefinitely. With perhaps a larger top flight being carried when next season can start
I can honestly say that how it affects us is not a factor for me. You just can't relegate teams or give promotions to teams whilst they can be caught mathematically. The season can either be completed or it can't.
There's a side in the Combined Counties league (Jersey Bulls) who had won all 27 of their league games scoring 99 and conceding just 7. They must be gutted, although you'd think with a record like that they'll be strong enough to win promotion next season.
What about teams that had promotion mathematically wrapped up? how must they feel having the season voided?
Who are they? I think in those cases, maybe an extra place should be found for them in the higher division and sort out the number discrepancy the next season.
Agreed correct decision. There's no decision which will keep everybody happy but I think the biggest legal challenge would be to relegate teams without a full season played.
The current league table is only a guide as to how the season might finish so should not be used to determine final placings. Technically a league table means nothing until the season has finished.
Pretty sure under the circumstances as harsh as it will be on South Shields, Liverpool and all other league leaders the correct decision has been made and hopefully this now follows suit up through the EFL and The Premier League. I don't see those complaining about not winning the league or being promoted getting far in court.
Are we sure this isn’t us thinking with our hearts in that we would have got away with not being relegated - with a one way ticket to league one looking locked on?
If we were 25 points clear at the top I can guarantee this site wouldn’t be saying the same.
I am sure the Prem and will go on the same line of continue season indefinitely. With perhaps a larger top flight being carried when next season can start
You either finish the season within a timeframe that doesn't impact next season or you don't finish and call it null and void.
Whether you then promote teams or not based on current standings is another question due to the number of games played so far. It's the only logical outcome regardless of our current league position.
If I really wanted to argue our case I would say take each team's average league position throughout the season after each round of games. Not sure where ours would be but I think it would be around 16th while Wigan would find there's is probably 22nd. But that's not what it's about. I have yet to see one solid argument about extending the season beyond of June that has a solid workable plan and allows for a full 20/21 season to finish on time for the Euros without scrapping cups or games from next season. That's because it doesn't exist no matter how well intended suggestions are, therefore you come back to my original point.
I really dont care what happens. If im going to league one grounds next season then so be it. People are dying and the nhs are fighting a war at the moment.
I really dont care what happens. If im going to league one grounds next season then so be it. People are dying and the nhs are fighting a war at the moment.
Can’t help feeling this is the first domino toppling. Next the National League, then the EFL and then the PL. There are no right ways to end the season but if the season can’t be completed missing this year is probably the way to go. Personally I think next season might not start until after the new year anyway. We might have a truncated season then, perhaps only playing other teams once.
The four Bundesliga clubs in this season's Champions League have pledged 20m euros (£18.3m) to support fellow German teams during the coronavirus.
Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen will forego their share of the national media revenue and donate the remainder from their own funds.
The German Football League (DFL) will decide how the money will be distributed.
"We want to send a signal of solidarity to all clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2," Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.
Former West Germany striker Rummenigge added: "In these difficult times, it's important that the stronger shoulders support the weaker shoulders. With this, we also want to show that football is standing together right now."
Dortmund chief executive officer Hans-Joachim Watzke said: "We have always said that we would show solidarity if clubs, through no fault of their own, should run into difficulties that they can no longer overcome themselves.
"Borussia Dortmund is currently having a major impact on society through a wide range of initiatives. And naturally we are prepared to help out other professional football clubs if it is ultimately a matter of cushioning the financial effects of the pandemic."
Christian Seifert, a spokesman for the DFL executive committee said: "The initiative shows that solidarity is more than just lip service in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2."
A number of Premier League clubs want to end the current season with immediate effect and replay it in full once it is deemed safe to do so — even if that means Liverpool being denied a first title in 30 years.
One senior figure told The Athletic it is morally wrong for football to even be discussing playing behind closed doors while the coronavirus crisis is at its peak.
“You look at the people sitting around the Premier League table by Skype; their egos cannot sustain a mirror being held up to them,” they said. “The fact is they are not as important as a Tesco delivery driver at this time. We run a game. No more, no less. There is no place for sport at the moment.”
At a meeting of all 20 top-flight teams last week, there was a “100 per cent” commitment to completing the 2019-20 campaign whatever that may take, including the prospect of staging matches behind closed doors, and the idea of declaring it “null and void” was off the table. That was largely motivated by the possibility of having to pay back £762 million in broadcast revenue which has already been distributed, in addition to issues around competitive integrity.
But privately, some clubs have developed strong reservations about resuming football during the coronavirus crisis and are leaning towards the season being re-run regardless of the consequences.
This was a view initially raised by West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady on March 14 and in the subsequent Premier League video call, she and Brighton & Hove Albion chief executive Paul Barber sounded a note of caution on the realities of finishing the matches, though there were no dissenting voices.
Yet behind the scenes, it appears there are more who do not share the collective message, with the chairman of another club telling The Athletic he finds the existing position “insulting”. Any decision on what comes next needs 14 of the 20 clubs to agree in a vote.
Despite European football’s governing body UEFA stating its aim of concluding all domestic and European club competitions by June 30, as things stand, the men’s and women’s seasons in England have been “extended indefinitely” with fixtures recommencing “no earlier than April 30”.
One chairman is furious that the sport is even considering a return in the midst of such societal turmoil, describing it as “embarrassing” and adding: “What we are doing is wrong.”
Several teams are said to be of the opinion that April 30 should not be viewed as a chance to play, rather to buy time for the authorities to negotiate with broadcasters over the size of any rebate.
The next Premier League shareholders meeting is scheduled for April 3 and one high-ranking club official said: “I’m hoping the situation changes by then but unfortunately, the world is changing and it’s changing for the worse every day.
“It’s absolutely clear what is going to happen. It’s a worldwide pandemic. You just start (the Premier League season) again and there are very few losers. Liverpool, I know. But in the grand scheme of things, honestly, it really doesn’t matter. You’ve just got to start again.
“This (COVID-19) is going to get worse here (in Britain), so it’s not about players returning to training. If we all stay at home and self-isolate for the next two, three months, we’re going to get through this quite simply. But even then, there’s going to be a period of slow reintegration into normality, otherwise the virus will spike again. So, if we’re lucky, the new season will start in September.
“If they want to say, ‘This season is over and it will be recommencing with the final nine games being played out in September’, fantastic. But if that’s not feasible. Just end this league with whatever consequences that has. End it and say the new league will start in September.
“We look like petulant, ridiculous children now. I passionately believe what we’re doing is wrong. And I would like to think my colleagues now believe that as well, that the world has changed. It’s a scary place at the moment and we’ve got to treat it seriously.”
This concept is opposed by one chairman, who said: “How can you play a contact sport that could result in injury and a highly-paid, highly-privileged individual having to go to hospital to be fixed, placing an even greater burden on the hospital system at a time when the virus is escalating? I just find it so insulting that we’re even talking this way; it’s just not important.
“If we start playing behind closed doors, can you guarantee you’re not going to have thousands of people turning up outside (the stadiums)? It’s absurd. Forget the practicalities of it. I just find the whole proposition insulting. That people are on ventilators dying and yet we’re playing a game. I’m baffled by it. Even in good times, what we do is full of self-importance. It’s just a game of football.”
With Liverpool 25 points above second-placed Manchester City and two wins from securing the Premier League trophy, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United perceived to be overachieving in sixth and seventh respectively, and Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion in the Championship’s automatic promotion places, such views will not be universal.
But one club director feels football has its priorities wrong: “The position we’re taking is ridiculous. There are such bigger issues to deal with yet every question is, ‘Will Liverpool be champions?’.
“It really just doesn’t matter. In world history, this will be recorded as a very challenging time. There is a place for football and entertainment but that’s in a time when there are no troubles and there are no major issues that need to be dealt with.
“At a recent meeting, one club said, ‘Listen, I’m going to let my players go on holiday but if they get stuck because the situation changes, do you think the government will send private planes over to get them so they can play football?’. This is how disconnected and ludicrous they are.”
South Shields have already said might go to court.
I scan read an article from the South Shields chairman. He said that they had invested a lot of money in to this season.....the same amount that they would have invested regardless of them being top of the league. Don’t suppose he would be threading court action if they were bottom of the league. It’s tough shit basically. And rightly so
Comments
a league is based on playing every team the same number of times.
All football below the National League has been ended, with all results expunged, so no promotion or relegation this season
There are teams lower down the pyramid that already wrapped promotion up. They now miss out.
South Shields have already said might go to court.
The current league table is only a guide as to how the season might finish so should not be used to determine final placings. Technically a league table means nothing until the season has finished.
Pretty sure under the circumstances as harsh as it will be on South Shields, Liverpool and all other league leaders the correct decision has been made and hopefully this now follows suit up through the EFL and The Premier League. I don't see those complaining about not winning the league or being promoted getting far in court.
Yes they had a big lead (12 points) but Morpeth had 6 games in hand and there's certainly no guarantees SS would've won it.
If we were 25 points clear at the top I can guarantee this site wouldn’t be saying the same.
I am sure the Prem and will go on the same line of continue season indefinitely. With perhaps a larger top flight being carried when next season can start
how must they feel having the season voided?
Whether you then promote teams or not based on current standings is another question due to the number of games played so far. It's the only logical outcome regardless of our current league position.
If I really wanted to argue our case I would say take each team's average league position throughout the season after each round of games. Not sure where ours would be but I think it would be around 16th while Wigan would find there's is probably 22nd. But that's not what it's about. I have yet to see one solid argument about extending the season beyond of June that has a solid workable plan and allows for a full 20/21 season to finish on time for the Euros without scrapping cups or games from next season. That's because it doesn't exist no matter how well intended suggestions are, therefore you come back to my original point.
If im going to league one grounds next season then so be it.
People are dying and the nhs are fighting a war at the moment.
There are no right ways to end the season but if the season can’t be completed missing this year is probably the way to go.
Personally I think next season might not start until after the new year anyway. We might have a truncated season then, perhaps only playing other teams once.
The four Bundesliga clubs in this season's Champions League have pledged 20m euros (£18.3m) to support fellow German teams during the coronavirus.
Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen will forego their share of the national media revenue and donate the remainder from their own funds.
The German Football League (DFL) will decide how the money will be distributed.
"We want to send a signal of solidarity to all clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2," Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.
Former West Germany striker Rummenigge added: "In these difficult times, it's important that the stronger shoulders support the weaker shoulders. With this, we also want to show that football is standing together right now."
Dortmund chief executive officer Hans-Joachim Watzke said: "We have always said that we would show solidarity if clubs, through no fault of their own, should run into difficulties that they can no longer overcome themselves.
"Borussia Dortmund is currently having a major impact on society through a wide range of initiatives. And naturally we are prepared to help out other professional football clubs if it is ultimately a matter of cushioning the financial effects of the pandemic."
Christian Seifert, a spokesman for the DFL executive committee said: "The initiative shows that solidarity is more than just lip service in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2."
A number of Premier League clubs want to end the current season with immediate effect and replay it in full once it is deemed safe to do so — even if that means Liverpool being denied a first title in 30 years.
One senior figure told The Athletic it is morally wrong for football to even be discussing playing behind closed doors while the coronavirus crisis is at its peak.
“You look at the people sitting around the Premier League table by Skype; their egos cannot sustain a mirror being held up to them,” they said. “The fact is they are not as important as a Tesco delivery driver at this time. We run a game. No more, no less. There is no place for sport at the moment.”
At a meeting of all 20 top-flight teams last week, there was a “100 per cent” commitment to completing the 2019-20 campaign whatever that may take, including the prospect of staging matches behind closed doors, and the idea of declaring it “null and void” was off the table. That was largely motivated by the possibility of having to pay back £762 million in broadcast revenue which has already been distributed, in addition to issues around competitive integrity.
But privately, some clubs have developed strong reservations about resuming football during the coronavirus crisis and are leaning towards the season being re-run regardless of the consequences.
This was a view initially raised by West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady on March 14 and in the subsequent Premier League video call, she and Brighton & Hove Albion chief executive Paul Barber sounded a note of caution on the realities of finishing the matches, though there were no dissenting voices.
Yet behind the scenes, it appears there are more who do not share the collective message, with the chairman of another club telling The Athletic he finds the existing position “insulting”. Any decision on what comes next needs 14 of the 20 clubs to agree in a vote.
Despite European football’s governing body UEFA stating its aim of concluding all domestic and European club competitions by June 30, as things stand, the men’s and women’s seasons in England have been “extended indefinitely” with fixtures recommencing “no earlier than April 30”.
One chairman is furious that the sport is even considering a return in the midst of such societal turmoil, describing it as “embarrassing” and adding: “What we are doing is wrong.”
Several teams are said to be of the opinion that April 30 should not be viewed as a chance to play, rather to buy time for the authorities to negotiate with broadcasters over the size of any rebate.
The next Premier League shareholders meeting is scheduled for April 3 and one high-ranking club official said: “I’m hoping the situation changes by then but unfortunately, the world is changing and it’s changing for the worse every day.
“It’s absolutely clear what is going to happen. It’s a worldwide pandemic. You just start (the Premier League season) again and there are very few losers. Liverpool, I know. But in the grand scheme of things, honestly, it really doesn’t matter. You’ve just got to start again.
“This (COVID-19) is going to get worse here (in Britain), so it’s not about players returning to training. If we all stay at home and self-isolate for the next two, three months, we’re going to get through this quite simply. But even then, there’s going to be a period of slow reintegration into normality, otherwise the virus will spike again. So, if we’re lucky, the new season will start in September.
“If they want to say, ‘This season is over and it will be recommencing with the final nine games being played out in September’, fantastic. But if that’s not feasible. Just end this league with whatever consequences that has. End it and say the new league will start in September.
“We look like petulant, ridiculous children now. I passionately believe what we’re doing is wrong. And I would like to think my colleagues now believe that as well, that the world has changed. It’s a scary place at the moment and we’ve got to treat it seriously.”
Professional Footballers’ Association deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes told The Athletic earlier this week that an initial reluctance among players he is speaking to over staging matches in empty stadiums has started to shift because they realise there may be no other option.
This concept is opposed by one chairman, who said: “How can you play a contact sport that could result in injury and a highly-paid, highly-privileged individual having to go to hospital to be fixed, placing an even greater burden on the hospital system at a time when the virus is escalating? I just find it so insulting that we’re even talking this way; it’s just not important.
“If we start playing behind closed doors, can you guarantee you’re not going to have thousands of people turning up outside (the stadiums)? It’s absurd. Forget the practicalities of it. I just find the whole proposition insulting. That people are on ventilators dying and yet we’re playing a game. I’m baffled by it. Even in good times, what we do is full of self-importance. It’s just a game of football.”
With Liverpool 25 points above second-placed Manchester City and two wins from securing the Premier League trophy, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United perceived to be overachieving in sixth and seventh respectively, and Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion in the Championship’s automatic promotion places, such views will not be universal.
But one club director feels football has its priorities wrong: “The position we’re taking is ridiculous. There are such bigger issues to deal with yet every question is, ‘Will Liverpool be champions?’.
“It really just doesn’t matter. In world history, this will be recorded as a very challenging time. There is a place for football and entertainment but that’s in a time when there are no troubles and there are no major issues that need to be dealt with.
“At a recent meeting, one club said, ‘Listen, I’m going to let my players go on holiday but if they get stuck because the situation changes, do you think the government will send private planes over to get them so they can play football?’. This is how disconnected and ludicrous they are.”