[Football] Deeney refuses to return to training

[Green Cross Code Man]

Schoolteachers aren't going to be forced back into the classrooms until they feel it is a safe environment. So why should the greed of clubs and the EPL force footballers back to work unless they too have a safe environment at which to work.

I have now had to reassess my opinions on two players as a result of coronavirus: Kane and Deeney!

Deeney must do whatever he considers best protects him and his family. And I would support any other players who adopted a similar approach.

Add Sterling and Rose to that list. I intensely disliked both before but appreciate their stance on this. Sometimes football has to take a back seat and with all these players, until more is known, they are right to be very cautious in reference to higher incidence of problems and death for black people.

 

[Pierre the Painter]

Reports this morning saying some other Watford players have failed to show up for training....................sharing Deeney's concerns, or possibly in support of their skipper (or both).

If they share Deeneys concerns that's fair enough, it is true that each player will have their own individual attitude to risk, and their own circumstances particularly if they live with vulnerable people who may be shielding. Why they would feel the need to support their skipper when he's already been told he doesn't have to come back if he doesn't want to makes no sense though.

Also at the moment the PL has only voted on a return to non contact, socially distanced training, players have only been asked to come back to train with full social distancing guidelines and being tested twice weekly, currently this is a far safer working environment, given the distancing, the facts its outdoors and the twice weekly testing, than nearly any other working environment in the country. I totally understand that if/when they are asked to return to full training if their concerns haven't been addressed they may choose to not take part at that point but not now (unless like Deeney they are effectively totally shielding and confined to their own homes for the full duration of the lockdown).

Sadly if Deeneys son is particularly poorly and susceptible to this I doubt he will be seen in a Watford shirt for a very long time, he rightly puts his childs health first, the risks won't be going down anytime soon and even if they did with the flu season upon us in early Autumn which is as dangerous if not more than Covid-19 for children I can't see him coming back which will be a huge loss to Watford for the coming season.

 

[Saunders]

You mean even if he’s tested to be clear he can’t go back.....sorry can’t quite work that one out..no vaccine is 100% safe ...I’m also not arguing against Deeneys stance

They are going to be playing a lot of games in a short number of days if you test clear before the game then sure great, they arent going to be testing you till the next and so on. He can vaccinate himself to protect his kid, never said they are 100% safe but then you can die eating peanuts.

 

[Saunders]

No..but the op was referring to being in quarantine...so the idea would be that he would have those results

No that is exactly what I meant I didnt even mention the word quarantine.

 

[dazzer6666]

They are going to be playing a lot of games in a short number of days if you test clear before the game then sure great, they arent going to be testing you till the next and so on. He can vaccinate himself to protect his kid, never said they are 100% safe but then you can die eating peanuts.

Yeah, but.....suspect Deeney is thinking :

-the tests aren't anywhere near 100% reliable, so he might be mixing with someone who is unknowingly infected already
-there is no vaccine and no cure
-it's very obvious the BAME population is more susceptible to this turning serious
-if he knew his kid had a peanut allergy, he would be going out of his way to avoid contact with peanuts

 

[rippleman]

They are going to be playing a lot of games in a short number of days if you test clear before the game then sure great, they arent going to be testing you till the next and so on. He can vaccinate himself to protect his kid, never said they are 100% safe but then you can die eating peanuts.

There's a vaccine? Really? Where?

 

[LamieRobertson]

They are going to be playing a lot of games in a short number of days if you test clear before the game then sure great, they arent going to be testing you till the next and so on. He can vaccinate himself to protect his kid, never said they are 100% safe but then you can die eating peanuts.

You mentioned the word guarantee to be safe ..hence it seems reasonable to assume 100%

 

[LamieRobertson]

No that is exactly what I meant I didnt even mention the word quarantine.

You didn’t mention the exact word but seemed to imply it in your first post when you referred to being separated from his family ..For example in Germany in the buildup to their fixtures as I understand it they were separated from families ..I’m not sure how long etc ..but it’s an example

 

[LamieRobertson]

No that is exactly what I meant I didnt even mention the word quarantine.

Just to expand on the Deeney story a bit rather than getting bogged down in who said what ..listening to talksport this morning they confirmed he hadn’t attended training and that others in the BAME category had followed suit ..not surprising in some ways as he is quite a figurehead at the club

 

[Saunders]

There's a vaccine? Really? Where?

i said wait till there is a vaccine earlier in the conversation

 

[Saunders]

You didn’t mention the exact word but seemed to imply it in your first post when you referred to being separated from his family ..For example in Germany in the buildup to their fixtures as I understand it they were separated from families ..I’m not sure how long etc ..but it’s an example

That wasnt what i was implying you cant be in quarentine when you are playing football and training it is the very opposite of that.

 

[LamieRobertson]

That wasnt what i was implying you cant be in quarentine when you are playing football and training it is the very opposite of that.

Yes..poor choice of word by me

 

[Blue3]

How would you enforce social distancing?

We are weeks behind Germany ...our football isn’t coming back for a month or more?
We’ve only slackened off a little ...can you come up with other solutions? Essential businesses were already opened up .....load still aren’t ....nothing is different how Tescos are operating to before the easing of those restrictions.

Ok to answer one at a time

Weeks behind Germany......... The U.K. And Germany went into lock down on the same day at which point Germany had approximately 80 cases while the UK had approximately 400 cases, the U.K. Government was so intend on protecting the NHS it failed to undertake social testing in big enough numbers while Germany was in a better position regarding hospital beds and ventilators so we're in a better position to test far far more and control the spread, both Countries are easing lockdown we have approximately 35,000 deaths while Germany with a far larger population has had approximately 8,000 deaths, yes we are weeks behind Germany and restating football now or in a month or so time maybe far to early.

We've only slackened off a bit......... The roads shops parks beaches are all up and running looking out of my window anecdotally it's very busy out there.
I think the Government should reel in some of this easing for fear of it all licking off again.

Anecdotally the shops were far less busy during the period of lockdown and some shops enforce social distancing more strictly than others

 

[LamieRobertson]

Ok to answer one at a time

Weeks behind Germany......... The U.K. And Germany went into lock down on the same day at which point Germany had approximately 80 cases while the UK had approximately 400 cases, the U.K. Government was so intend on protecting the NHS it failed to undertake social testing in big enough numbers while Germany was in a better position regarding hospital beds and ventilators so we're in a better position to test far far more and control the spread, both Countries are easing lockdown we have approximately 35,000 deaths while Germany with a far larger population has had approximately 8,000 deaths, yes we are weeks behind Germany and restating football now or in a month or so time maybe far to early.

By the way wasn’t the German reporting of deaths different?

We've only slackened off a bit......... The roads shops parks beaches are all up and running looking out of my window anecdotally it's very busy out there.
I think the Government should reel in some of this easing for fear of it all licking off again.

Anecdotally the shops were far less busy during the period of lockdown and some shops enforce social distancing more strictly than others

Yep Germany were/are ahead ..like I said they’ve started playing last weekend ...we’ve started training ..when are you thinking PL are commencing matches it’s going to be some weeks don’t you think?

Don’t disagree with it being busy ...traffic on the roads etc ..still seeing fair number cycling walking ..etc and no doubt more interaction ..but generally from what I see people are doing the distance thing ...not all but then not all were before the slight loosening . So what feeling in do you think should happen that will be taken notice of ...I’m not picking holes just curious

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Yep Germany were/are ahead ..like I said they’ve started playing last weekend ...we’ve started training ..when are you thinking PL are commencing matches it’s going to be some weeks don’t you think?

Matches are due to start on June 12th I believe, however players want this pushed back to June 19th. So it's 3 to 4 weeks away at the moment. I don't think Germany had such a gap between training starting and the first set of matches.

 

[NooBHA]

I am totally torn on my thoughts on this.

I really like Troy and i find him quite funny when he is on TV - I also support his stance on not going back to work if he doesn't feel that it is safe to do so.

On the flip side we have this Enigma all over the World where some people's fears are greater than others and as such if you left the final decision as to when people go back to work then the Country would take about 20 years or more to recover from this Pandemic. It could take that long anyhow but it will be slowed by the reluctance of people to engage in the outside world again.

I do think it is too soon for Football to be starting again but it cannot be up to individual employees to be dictating when people return to work. Some people would never want to go back. Some actually don't at all and they will use ''fear of contracting the virus'' for as long as they can, just to avoid working. Especially if they are still being paid.

What needs to be done is. The Government needs to provide ''Very Specific Guidance'' on all of the things which need to be in place before specific employers can call employees back to work. Once that employer meets the safety Guidelines laid down the Government - At that point if an employee refuses to go back then they should be able to terminate an employees employment if they wish. And by the same token if they wish to respect that employees wish and still pay them they should be able to do that as well if they wish.

I wonder if Troy would take this stance if his contract was up at 30th June 2020 ?

So I am torn in my views on the subject

 

[LamieRobertson]

Matches are due to start on June 12th I believe, however players want this pushed back to June 19th. So it's 3 to 4 weeks away at the moment. I don't think Germany had such a gap between training starting and the first set of matches.

Thanks ..that adds up.

 

[Offside Oz]

Are they still planning to play loads of games in a short space of time? Like a game every 3 or 4 days for each team?

 

[Blue3]

Yep Germany were/are ahead ..like I said they’ve started playing last weekend ...we’ve started training ..when are you thinking PL are commencing matches it’s going to be some weeks don’t you think?

Don’t disagree with it being busy ...traffic on the roads etc ..still seeing fair number cycling walking ..etc and no doubt more interaction ..but generally from what I see people are doing the distance thing ...not all but then not all were before the slight loosening . So what feeling in do you think should happen that will be taken notice of ...I’m not picking holes just curious

I am sure I read that 3 weeks training would be required before the season could restart which could mean football starting in say four weeks, I think that's far to soon not only for the players managment medical staff but more importantly I think it sends out the wrong message to the wrong social groups, it's yet more loosening that supports group activities therefore my view is that this season should be declared over and August should the situation allow would see the start of next season.

More Busy it certainly is just walked my dog at the park I counted six groups of individuals who for all I know all live together but I doubt it.
At the train station stood the station passenger assistance and around him stood seven what I took as his friends all chatting in very close proximity to each other
I would like to see the police out enforcing social distancing at supermarkets train stations and other public places.

Maybe I am wrong and that but today another confirmed 363 individuals died as a direct result of Covid 19 and everyone thinks this is an underreporting and that's still far to many

 

[Weststander]

Yep Germany were/are ahead ..like I said they’ve started playing last weekend ...we’ve started training ..when are you thinking PL are commencing matches it’s going to be some weeks don’t you think?

Don’t disagree with it being busy ...traffic on the roads etc ..still seeing fair number cycling walking ..etc and no doubt more interaction ..but generally from what I see people are doing the distance thing ...not all but then not all were before the slight loosening . So what feeling in do you think should happen that will be taken notice of ...I’m not picking holes just curious

This.

Football in England might be starting in about 5 weeks time.

But before that, La Liga on 12 June and Serie A on 20 June.