[Football] Premier League - Void or positions stand ?

[father_and_son]

Discounting all the football and fan issues (because these mean jack), the driving issues will be financial/contractual.... Player contracts, sponsorship contracts, catering contracts, TV rights, etc etc. The money men while determine whether there is a "cut off" to this season or whether the remaining games can be played.
The decision will be made at the last moment possible and I'm sure the government will be required to pass some legislation to protect all the parties from lawsuits.


My personal view... Delay, delay, delay, void. Restart. Sky, Liverpool, Leeds and kicking up the biggest stinks (understandably) but be unable to sue because of the "Coronavirus Amnesty Bill".

 

[BadFish]

Void the season, every other option is open to being sued.

I think voiding it is also open to being sued.

I am changing my mind from my earlier post and am now suggesting that the only viable option is to recommence when okay to do so and then work out a plan for altering next season as appropriate.

This is all mental

 

[Albion my Albion]

I'd go with Tom H PP's suggestion.

Finish the season in May and June.

Suspend the current season then complete it when conditions permit. Seems little point in setting in stone a new season without finishing this one first. Wasn't there something about European leagues having to realign to fit in with the timing of the Qatar World Cup anyway? If so, then this might actually be helpful, albeit for all the wrong reasons

 

[seagullwedgee]

Player contracts tend to end on June 30th. I would guess about 150 premier league players are out of contract on that date this summer, and many will not want to be forced to renew or extend beyond that.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I'd go with Tom H PP's suggestion.

Finish the season in May and June.

Finish the season just when the epidemic is predicted to be at its height? Yeah, that sounds sensible.

 

[The Fifth Column]

Managers to settle each game by playing the fixture virtually on FIFA20 using current squads. No chance of Granny Hodgson getting to grips with a PS4 controller so that's Palace down and I expect to see us rocket up the table with our relatively young Potter showing the rest of the PL a clean set of heels.

 

[Mike Small]

- suspend season until further notice
- move Euros to next summer
- use time where Euros would be to clear backlog
- set a date where if the situation is prolonged and the season cannot be completed in the extension then null and void season no promotions or relegations

Play games behind closed doors as well. Footballers can handle this virus the evidence points to. I say this as an asthmatic myself. Finish the season in July if needed.

 

[sparkie]

Play games behind closed doors as well. Footballers can handle this virus the evidence points to. I say this as an asthmatic myself. Finish the season in July if needed.

Can they ? They will have a 100% survival rate ? What if one died on the pitch and was found to have CV infection ?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I think voiding it is also open to being sued.

I am changing my mind from my earlier post and am now suggesting that the only viable option is to recommence when okay to do so and then work out a plan for altering next season as appropriate.

This is all mental

I think out of all the options it’s the one that clubs are less likely to win if they do

Too many “what ifs” if they promote/relegate.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Player contracts tend to end on June 30th. I would guess about 150 premier league players are out of contract on that date this summer, and many will not want to be forced to renew or extend beyond that.

Who pays the players wages when they are out of contract as well.

 

[amexer]

When does transfer window open

 

[sparkie]

When does transfer window open

It was mid-June last summer.

 

[Lever]

Discounting all the football and fan issues (because these mean jack), the driving issues will be financial/contractual.... Player contracts, sponsorship contracts, catering contracts, TV rights, etc etc. The money men while determine whether there is a "cut off" to this season or whether the remaining games can be played.
The decision will be made at the last moment possible and I'm sure the government will be required to pass some legislation to protect all the parties from lawsuits.


My personal view... Delay, delay, delay, void. Restart. Sky, Liverpool, Leeds and kicking up the biggest stinks (understandably) but be unable to sue because of the "Coronavirus Amnesty Bill".

I think this is the most likely outcome.... but maybe there will be some more twists and turns before 'void'.

 

[jonny.rainbow]

Use the ‘super-computer’ to calculate the outcome of the remainder of the season.

It’s usually REALLY accurate.

 

[Lincoln Imp]

End the season now, respect promotion positions but disregard relegation and play off positions, adjust 2020/21 relegation numbers to allow each division to revert to current numbers by season 2021/22. Not fair, but fairer than any other option I can think of.

I'd be really happy if someone shot this down in flames but I still haven't seen a better option.

1. Simply voiding the season would open the door to TV companies suing for the return of their entire 2019/20 fees.

2. Playing remaining games to when it is safe to do so is hopelessly vague, but is likely to lead to matches being played after the due start date of next season.

3.Not even playing behind closed doors is fair. For example, we have already played all the top sides away in front of intimidating home crowds but others haven't. It is unfair if our rivals avoid doing the same.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Perhaps they should take average points (and goals for and against) to date and project these forward for the remaining games in order to dish out the league placings, silverware and prize money, but no promotion or relegation.

 

[Acker79]

I say void the season. It is unfair to say 'liverpool have all but won the title let's give it to them' but not Norwich have all but been relegated, and leeds are all but promoted let's swap them'.

Plus, liverpool were ahead last season and dropped points allowing a resurgent city to claim the title - we've already seen liverpool starting to wobble, no guarantee they would win the title, so we can't just give it to them anyway.*

Villa haven't had the same opportunity to earn points that the teams around them have. We could say City/Villa/Arsenal/Sheff Utd can pair up and play each other so all have 29 games, but Will city be motivated? 3 points to them means nothing - it won't improve their position, they could lose to any of the others and it not mean a jot to them, making it unfair on the others - an easy win for sheffield puts them out of reach of Arsenal who would then need to win by four to get into the top 7, an easy win for villa is unfair on Watford who would drop into the relegation zone. Sheff have already played watford twice. So we can't take positions as they are, even if we play just enough games to give everyone 29 played.

On top of all this, we are missing out on the entertainment and fun that the remainder of the season would have brought the millions of premier league fans around the world. The best way to compensate for that, is the sheer delight many of us will get from seeing Liverpool denied the title again, and Leeds being denied promotion and the rage and ranting from their fans at the injustice of it all. It really is the best option.

(*my tongue is very much in cheek, there. Just trying to justify denying them the title).

 

[Seasider78]

I'd be really happy if someone shot this down in flames but I still haven't seen a better option.

1. Simply voiding the season would open the door to TV companies suing for the return of their entire 2019/20 fees.

2. Playing remaining games to when it is safe to do so is hopelessly vague, but is likely to lead to matches being played after the due start date of next season.

3.Not even playing behind closed doors is fair. For example, we have already played all the top sides away in front of intimidating home crowds but others haven't. It is unfair if our rivals avoid doing the same.

TV companies: We want our money back
Premier League: No problem
TV companies: Whilst we are here what is the price for the next TV rights
Premier League: Oh that just went up 200%

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

How does the league deal with players that would have been out for the season/miss a large section of games.

I’m sure there are better examples than this, but the break means Villa will have John McGinn back.

How will clubs relegated feel if he plays well in all and it means Villa stay up?

 

[Icy Gull]

How does the league deal with players that would have been out for the season/miss a large section of games.

I’m sure there are better examples than this, but the break means Villa will have John McGinn back.

How will clubs relegated feel if he plays well in all and it means Villa stay up?

You’ll have Kane back too of course and we may have Izquierdo. If the season does get back on track clubs should certainly be able to use their newly fit players. The bottom three, even if we are one of them deserve to go down. I won’t complain if McGinn was the reason Villa stayed up over us.