Coronavirus could prevent Liverpool from winning the Premier League title

[dockers_strike]

Probably bollocks but who knows what the fuck is going on. Friday is Victory in Europe Bank Holiday so the main reason the Friday meeting has been put back to the Monday.

Clubs have delayed their highly-anticipated return to training by a week as Project Restart hit another roadblock on Tuesday.

Provided the Government relaxes lockdown rules on Sunday, some clubs were due to return to their training grounds next Monday to commence small group training.

However, Sportsmail can reveal a number of teams have delayed their returns until May 18 at the earliest amid growing concerns over player welfare.

Provisional plans would see the Premier League recommence on June 12. There is still hope among clubs that they can meet that date, but putting back their return to training could yet have an impact.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set to reveal the next phase of the UK's lockdown guidelines on Thursday, with the Premier League due to hold talks on Friday aimed at kick-starting Project Restart. 

But Johnson has pushed his briefing back to Sunday, forcing top-flight chiefs to delay Friday's meeting until the start of next week — another factor in clubs' decision to delay their return to training.

As many as six Premier League clubs — thought to be Brighton, Watford, West Ham, Norwich, Bournemouth and Aston Villa — are understood to have objected to plans to play the remaining 92 games at neutral venues.

Premier League chiefs are lobbying the rebels and Sportsmail understands there is growing optimism that the Premier League will get the 14 votes necessary to press ahead.

Officials for the top flight, however, want all 20 clubs on board; three remain staunchly against plans to play the rest of the season at neutral venues but there is a feeling the rest can be persuaded.

News on Tuesday night emerged that club doctors have written to the Premier League amid major concerns over employee welfare.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8290031/Optimism-rebel-clubs-Premier-League-return.html

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Tony Moanero said:

Billy’s Boots reference, mate. A comic strip in Tiger and Roy of the Rovers. Billy Dane was awful at footy until he found an old pair of footy boots, which had magical powers, that once belonged to professional footballer, Charles ‘Dead-Shot’ Keen.

Everton are hoping to find 11 pairs of boots like that.

[JohnnyH]

Man Utd are in about £400m of debt or something like that? A debt they can service fairly easily because of the behemoth commercial industry they are. But do their fans realise that if there is 18 months of no TV money that there is a very real chance they’d go bankrupt?
 

Everton will probably be gone if this season in cancelled. 

 

Sooner the economy starts opening up the better (assuming it’s as safe as can be mitigated) so these self-interested footballers calling for the season to be cancelled can answer why it’s ok for them to sit at home while everyone else has to go back to work. 
 

 

[The Guest]

23 minutes ago, JohnnyH said:

Man Utd are in about £400m of debt or something like that? A debt they can service fairly easily because of the behemoth commercial industry they are. But do their fans realise that if there is 18 months of no TV money that there is a very real chance they’d go bankrupt?
 

Everton will probably be gone if this season in cancelled. 

 

Sooner the economy starts opening up the better (assuming it’s as safe as can be mitigated) so these self-interested footballers calling for the season to be cancelled can answer why it’s ok for them to sit at home while everyone else has to go back to work. 
 

 

It’s a small price to pay to stop Liverpool winning the league.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I listened to a podcast with a football economist and it said Liverpool is very close to overtaking United as a financial bohemoth all it would take is a year or two more of United being out the champions league and Liverpool to repeat their current success in that time. Probably won't happen now but United's vice like grip and that huge wealthy status is not set in stone.

[The Guest]

31 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

I listened to a podcast with a football economist and it said Liverpool is very close to overtaking United as a financial bohemoth all it would take is a year or two more of United being out the champions league and Liverpool to repeat their current success in that time. Probably won't happen now but United's vice like grip and that huge wealthy status is not set in stone.

It’s difficult to take any of them seriously when they all talk about the value of Man City completely ignoring their made up revenue figures that would disappear if anyone ever bought them.  We might take over United with us being at our peak and them being at their lowest but the season they qualify for the champions league again they would go head of us.  For us to take over them long term Klopp needs to stay here for a decade and we need to get lucky with his replacement.  We also need them to continue to make a mess of their managerial appointments 

 

For me though they aren’t the problem.  With the coronavirus damaging every teams income it means that City are going to pull quite far ahead again because they will continue to spend whatever they want.  The FFP measures will be slackened because of it as well.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see them catch United’s European cup number in the next 5 years.

[Barrington Womble]

8 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Probably bollocks but who knows what the fuck is going on. Friday is Victory in Europe Bank Holiday so the main reason the Friday meeting has been put back to the Monday.

Clubs have delayed their highly-anticipated return to training by a week as Project Restart hit another roadblock on Tuesday.

Provided the Government relaxes lockdown rules on Sunday, some clubs were due to return to their training grounds next Monday to commence small group training.

However, Sportsmail can reveal a number of teams have delayed their returns until May 18 at the earliest amid growing concerns over player welfare.

Provisional plans would see the Premier League recommence on June 12. There is still hope among clubs that they can meet that date, but putting back their return to training could yet have an impact.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set to reveal the next phase of the UK's lockdown guidelines on Thursday, with the Premier League due to hold talks on Friday aimed at kick-starting Project Restart. 

But Johnson has pushed his briefing back to Sunday, forcing top-flight chiefs to delay Friday's meeting until the start of next week — another factor in clubs' decision to delay their return to training.

As many as six Premier League clubs — thought to be Brighton, Watford, West Ham, Norwich, Bournemouth and Aston Villa — are understood to have objected to plans to play the remaining 92 games at neutral venues.

Premier League chiefs are lobbying the rebels and Sportsmail understands there is growing optimism that the Premier League will get the 14 votes necessary to press ahead.

Officials for the top flight, however, want all 20 clubs on board; three remain staunchly against plans to play the rest of the season at neutral venues but there is a feeling the rest can be persuaded.

News on Tuesday night emerged that club doctors have written to the Premier League amid major concerns over employee welfare.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8290031/Optimism-rebel-clubs-Premier-League-return.html

Seems the mail are a bit behind there. This was posted a couple of days ago on here. 

 

[Pete]

Why are they in such a rush to start 20/21 season? 

[dockers_strike]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Why are they in such a rush to start 20/21 season? 

Same reason why they need to finish this one, the money, whether they have to pay it out or receive it. Plus, UEFA seem to have this obsession with getting 'next' season up and running before end of September at the latest.

 

I guess FIFA and other sporting organisations are looking at the sporting calendar and thinking 'how do we sort this out?' and in some respects, I can see their problem.

 

It takes time, money and a fair bit of forward planning to get things like Olympics, World Championships etc up and running. One falling dominoe could bring the whole sporting calendar down and every sport will want to look after its own interests.

[aws]

3 hours ago, JohnnyH said:

 

Everton will probably be gone if this season in cancelled. 

 

 

 

Would be a terrible shame but if it saves one life. 

[dockers_strike]

Not good news this. I can feel my swing-ometer is on the move again.

 

The Bundesliga's return is set to be delayed until May 22 at the earliest by chancellor Angela Merkel, according to reports.

There had been hopes that the German top flight would be allowed to hold its first fixtures after the coronavirus shutdown on the weekend of May 15.

But reports suggest that the government will now insist there must be a two-week quarantine for all teams in the division before action can resume.

According to German press agency DPA, that could take the form of a training camp.

Chancellor Merkel is set to hold a meeting with the 16 heads of state on Wednesday morning at 10am to discuss Germany's plans for easing the lockdown – with some measures lifted on Monday.

It is now anticipated that they will not allow for a resumption until players have been quarantined for at least a fortnight, which would rule out the mooted restart on May 15, according to the Athletic.

A series of incidents over the last few days have also caused issues. Salomon Kalou was suspended by Hertha Berlin after filming himself violating hygiene protocols – shaking hands with team-mates, for example.

The first two rounds of tests held earlier this week revealed there had been 10 positive coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, Bundesliga 2 side Aue sent their whole team into isolation on Tuesday after a staff member tested positive.

Health minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday that there had to be strict punishment for violations of the coronavirus protocols: 'We have seen in the past few days that some players have to be more aware that something is at stake. 

'That is why a clear crackdown of the German Football League and the individual teams is very, very important.'

But he did hint at a resumption, adding: 'My impression is, of course, that many millions of fans in Germany also ask when it can start again'.

There were 61 new deaths in Germany from coronavirus on Monday, as a strict testing regime has limited the spread of the virus.

With the Bundesliga still likely to be the first league back – and the likes of the Premier League watching on – Bayern Munich star Manuel Neuer has urged the division's players to act responsibly.

'I am speaking consciously of the football family and football matches, because the fact that advice will be given on the restart of the federal leagues and, if possible, a decision is likely to have consequences for all of football, right down to the many amateur clubs and the youngest generations - and beyond also for many other sports,' Neuer wrote for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

'Even from other European countries, and indeed all over the world, people will be looking at us. This is an enormous responsibility for us, which we must be aware of with every fibre. We must be aware that it is also important to us now.' 

Elsewhere in Europe, LaLiga's players will start returning to training this week while the Premier League's 'Project Restart' will be discussed further on Monday. 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8291837/Bundesliga-return-not-22-German-government-requires-two-week-quarantine.html

[Stickman]

And yet it’s Liverpool who get all the toxic shit over trying to get the title even though we haven’t uttered a word about it yet these are using pandemic to wriggle out of being shit for 80% of the season . But no doubt they’ll be up for neutral BCD venues  come a new season 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheDrowningMan]

Time, in that case, for a league of European giants - no promotion, no relegation just the biggest and the best putting on the highest quality football in history with the biggest broadcast deals ever and no riff-raff to drag it down.  

[Ronnie Whelan]

Raphael Honingstein saying it's likely to be 15th May Bundesliga return.

[JohnnyH]

28 minutes ago, TheDrowningMan said:

Time, in that case, for a league of European giants - no promotion, no relegation just the biggest and the best putting on the highest quality football in history with the biggest broadcast deals ever and no riff-raff to drag it down.  

Jesus that sounds awful.

[TheDrowningMan]

1 minute ago, JohnnyH said:

Jesus that sounds awful.

Better than being held to ransom by opportunistic village clubs who don’t contribute in any way to the financial clout of the league. Might have the added bonus of forcing some of them out of business.

[JohnnyH]

3 minutes ago, TheDrowningMan said:

Better than being held to ransom by opportunistic village clubs who don’t contribute in any way to the financial clout of the league. Might have the added bonus of forcing some of them out of business.

Jesus that sounds awful x 2.  And pretty elitist too.

[dockers_strike]

28 minutes ago, Stickman said:

And yet it’s Liverpool who get all the toxic shit over trying to get the title even though we haven’t uttered a word about it yet these are using pandemic to wriggle out of being shit for 80% of the season . But no doubt they’ll be up for neutral BCD venues  come a new season 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep. Will not accept neutral grounds except with the outrageous condition of no relegation. Players from West Ham and Brighton to go public and briefing with statements the league cannot continue in June or July without a vaccine but we'll play in August even if there still isnt one. Club doctors suggesting a player will die when statistically, they have more chance of dieing in a car accident in one of their blinged up vehicles than due to the virus even if they did catch it.

 

It just goes on and on and on.

 

Im more than ever convinced at fucking these clubs off and going with a breakaway European league. I know someone posted the other day about lower leagues or lesser clubs but we're talking PL clubs here attempting to and very likely will succeed in scuppering the re start.

 

But it's ok because it stops Liverpool. Leeds, West Brom, Rotherham, Barrow, Wealdestone, South Shields, lots of other lesser clubs and leagues are just the collateral damage that must be accepted in this push.

 

UEFA have imposed a deadline of 25 May for leagues to tell them whether they'll re start or not andtheir plans for doing so. They have also imposed a deadline that national leagues must be completed by 2 August.

 

These are deadlines not guidelines. The players will need to be quarantined, get fit and play 9 games in an already narrowing window. Make no mistake about this, time is now running out.

 

We've all been here before in our own lives where someone or something repeatedly frustrates any progress and resolution. Eventually everyone throws their arms in the air in desparation, says 'what the fuck?' and just walks away.

[dockers_strike]

48 minutes ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

Raphael Honingstein saying it's likely to be 15th May Bundesliga return.

I think that's wishful thinking on his part. Merckle's going to block that and insist on 14 days quarantine.

 

EDIT, I see latest reports suggest this will not now be the case and 15 May is a doable target.

[TheDrowningMan]

49 minutes ago, JohnnyH said:

Jesus that sounds awful x 2.  And pretty elitist too.

Not nearly as elitist as trying to get the league cancelled to avoid accountability for shit performances.

[Pete]

2 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Same reason why they need to finish this one, the money, whether they have to pay it out or receive it. Plus, UEFA seem to have this obsession with getting 'next' season up and running before end of September at the latest.

 

I guess FIFA and other sporting organisations are looking at the sporting calendar and thinking 'how do we sort this out?' and in some respects, I can see their problem.

 

It takes time, money and a fair bit of forward planning to get things like Olympics, World Championships etc up and running. One falling domino could bring the whole sporting calendar down and every sport will want to look after its own interests.

Cheers. 

[Harry Squatter]

2 hours ago, aws said:

Would be a terrible shame but if it saves one life. 

I can't believe that they are thinking of their club at a time like this. Peoples lives are more important than football.

[an tha]

PL is becoming a laughing stock with all these "ideas" that keep coming up.

 

It would be madness to keep on pushing this neutral lark if it is likely to mean league restart is scuppered...just play behind closed doors at the grounds were meant to.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52558225

[JohnnyH]

27 minutes ago, TheDrowningMan said:

Not nearly as elitist as trying to get the league cancelled to avoid accountability for shit performances.

I think that's more cunty than elitist.  But I know what you mean.

[dockers_strike]

They are all just excuses to try and run down the clock one way or another. If the PL doesnt agree to and commit to a return to training and league programme resumption on Monday, I will be very, very afraid about the season not being completed.