[Football] What would you do about this season?

[Eagle Slayer]

Finish the 19-20 season when it is safe to do so and when fans can attend. Why is starting a new season more important that finishing an existing one ? Who says the virus will not return during a new season and will people want that to be then voided too ? chances are when football is deemed safe enough to return most "working people" in every day life will probably be back working themselves. Assume if the season is voided the Premier League and TV companies could withhold their payments to clubs which could will force some clubs to close to going out of business.

 

[darkwolf666]

When I was a kid I used to play dice football, I had two dice of different colours, numbered 0 to 5, I then went through the fixtures and rolled the dice for each game to determine the results...

Seems about as sensible as many of the other suggestions including those from the Premier League themselves.

 

[Dorset Seagull]

When I was a kid I used to play dice football, I had two dice of different colours, numbered 0 to 5, I then went through the fixtures and rolled the dice for each game to determine the results...

Seems about as sensible as many of the other suggestions including those from the Premier League themselves.

Couldn't afford a dice so numbered the different sides of a pencil

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Simplistic to believe the same set of problems won't beset the start of 2020/21 season as are besetting the end of 2019/20 season. So why not use the remainder of this season to test potential workarounds for the early stages of next season?

 

[GT49er]

Sky report that Paul Barber has come out against the proposal to restart this season in neutral stadiums, and Albion is the first club to do so. What a fantastic man he is. It is an appalling idea. Great that Albion leads the way in putting the good of football ahead of financial considerations.

He also said that the season should be finished, behind closed doors. Sadly, it was only the neutral venues idea he was opposing.

 

[sparkie]

Simplistic to believe the same set of problems won't beset the start of 2020/21 season as are besetting the end of 2019/20 season. So why not use the remainder of this season to test potential workarounds for the early stages of next season?

Not really an even playing field if some teams play

15 home 14 away 9 neutral

and other teams play

14 home 15 away 9 neutral.


But if it is just used as a test to iron out problems for next season, and no relegation rests on it, then why not ?

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Abandon. Promote football league teams currently in automatic positions, and relegate one additional team for the next 2 years to get the numbers back to normal. Cancel the League Cup and FL Trophy to free up some playing windows.

The losers are obviously those in the playoff positions at the moment in the FL, especially those still chasing automatic - however that seems slightly less unfair and draconian than relegating sides who have a good chance of avoiding the drop, or witholding promotion from those who seemed very likely to win it. One slight crumb of comfort for the likes of Fulham would be that, with no relegated teams coming down, they'd be in a very good position to get promoted next year.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

It’s getting stupid now. The games will be more and more artificial and there is every chance that if we do restart we might have to stop again causing more and more problems.

The authorities need to stop fart arseing about, make a decision and bite the bullet. Stop the season now, final placings as they are. Declare Liverpool as Champions, promote teams currently in automatic promotion places but no relegation or playoffs.

Not only will this draw a line under the season it will also avoid massive arguments and probably extended legal actions as nobody can complain they have lost out, other than teams competing for European places or automatic promotion or play off places, who may or may not have qualified anyway.

Send everybody off on holiday and start next season two weeks earlier than normal to allow for more teams in each division. And relegate four teams in each of the next two seasons to bring the numbers back to where we are today.

It’s decision time, something football bodies are not good at. No more putting off we’ll meet again to discus how we get out of this hole. The problem isn’t going away, so deal with it. Not wait until the Government make the decision so football can blame it on them.

 

[gripper stebson]

Here's an option. Pause all football until next March (vaccine) and then carry on this season.

 

[jonny.rainbow]

Couldn't afford a dice so numbered the different sides of a pencil

Couldn’t afford a pencil, so I tore the results out of newspapers I found in a bin in the park and picked them one at a time from my clenched fist.

 

[Doonhamer7]

Easy, one big penalty shoot out at St. George’s - each team arrives in its own coach keeps separate from each other during day long session, ball is sterilised each time. You get 4 days of this L2, L1, Chamionship then Premier, sky could really make this an event! Or do what NASL did instead of penalties, one on one with attacker starting in centre circle and having 8 seconds to see if the can score - they can run at keeper, dribble round, chip, shoot from distance or whatever.

 

[Brok]

Couldn’t afford a pencil, so I tore the results out of newspapers I found in a bin in the park and picked them one at a time from my clenched fist.

Couldn't afford a dice, or a pencil, and had no shoes to wear to get to the park (which was a 27 mile walk).
I had to throw 6 stones in the air, at the same time, and see how many I could catch.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Couldn't afford a dice, or a pencil, and had no shoes to wear to get to the park (which was a 27 mile walk).
I had to throw 6 stones in the air, at the same time, and see how many I could catch.

We didn't have stones where we lived, had to cough up my own mucus and sea how many bits of spittle landed in my hands.

 

[A1X]

Here's an option. Pause all football until next March (vaccine) and then carry on this season.

So what happens with contract, transfer windows etc?

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Scrap future games.
Give teams points based on what they have and number of games played to give total for the season.
Use final league tables for awards and prize money.
No relegations but have promotions from leagues below.
Increase league sizes for one season and scrap league and fa cup for next season to ensure no backlogs develop.
Back to normal sized leagues for the following season.

Premier league accept a reduction in sky income for the remainder of existing contract to offset sky’s losses whilst no games have been played.

 

[butchy]

We didn't have stones where we lived, had to cough up my own mucus and sea how many bits of spittle landed in my hands.

Mucus? Where i grew up we would have given our left hands to produce mucus....our throats were so dry for lack of water that we collected rainwater in small plastic pots....we lived on a dry, arid and barren wasteland and so it rained so infrequently i can count on one hand the number of times that my everlasting thirst was quenched....

 

[Telboy]

Why not bin next season and finish this season whenever we can. They binned more than one season in the wars. There would be no rush. The only drawback is £s

 

[Deadly Danson]

Why not bin next season and finish this season whenever we can. They binned more than one season in the wars. There would be no rush. The only drawback is £s

Why on earth bin next season at this stage. Firstly, if everyone accepts before the season starts that the games will be played behind closed doors until it's safe to have a crowd then everyone knows ahead of time what the state of play is so it's a level playing field. Secondly, I know I'm in a minority but I'd be willing to bet we will have crowds back at football well before Christmas anyway.

The problem with finishing this season is that whatever you do the integrity will be lost one way or the other.

 

[Hu_Camus]

Mucus? Where i grew up we would have given our left hands to produce mucus....our throats were so dry for lack of water that we collected rainwater in small plastic pots....we lived on a dry, arid and barren wasteland and so it rained so infrequently i can count on one hand the number of times that my everlasting thirst was quenched....

Hands?!! I had my hands cut off in Saudi for stealing camel spittle off some donkey dung, I was so parched. Next thing I know I've died in a Bedouin Tent fire, and I was so thirsty I didn't even feel hotter.

 

[warmleyseagull]

Scrap future games.
Give teams points based on what they have and number of games played to give total for the season.
Use final league tables for awards and prize money.
No relegations but have promotions from leagues below.
Increase league sizes for one season and scrap league and fa cup for next season to ensure no backlogs develop.
Back to normal sized leagues for the following season.

Premier league accept a reduction in sky income for the remainder of existing contract to offset sky’s losses whilst no games have been played.

Think this might well be the solution many clubs would go for if it weren't for three problems: Money, Money, Money.

Instead I suspect the trade-off will be neutral venues for no relegation in PL just so that 92 entirely meaningless games (other than sorting the relatively small potatoes around finishing 14th rather then 15th etc) can be played for £750m. There wont even be cardboard cut outs or Mickey background noise; it will be farcical but if it saves losing £750m then clubs will vote for it. Not sure what EL will do; some rumbling that it would be better for L1 & L2 simply to finish now.