The season, the pandemic and the Euros

kirsikka

kirsikka

UTC Legend
No, not the less successful book released by C S Lewis but instead some thoughts on what may happen. It looks like things are getting really bad again with the pandemic and I wonder what the football authorities would do this time around if football gets stopped again.

Should the season get suspended then even if things calm down by summer there's no chance UEFA are going to move their tournament again. Fitting in half a season before the next one starts could create even more problems.

There are so many ifs and buts before it develops into a 'could the season be cancelled or finished on a ppg system' but they surely have to be a consideration at this point. With that in mind, we really need the players up for every single point. Take a situation where the table is frozen in a weeks time then it almost makes the Brentford match a promotion play off.

Hyperbole perhaps but we shouldn't lose sight of what could happen.

Yes, I know there are more important things related to the pandemic than blimmin football but this is a football message board so I think it's a fair point for discussion.
 
I’ve read the prospect of a 2 week circuit breaker on the season...which would throw the fa cup 3rd round and league games into a right mess. Not sure how many ‘free’ midweeks are left between now and May, possibly not for us but for PL clubs with Europe, fa cup etc. All a bit of a mess isn’t it. I guess you could potentially play the euros later than June. But then 21/22 needs to finish on time for the next World Cup but then again isn’t that in the winter?
 
I think the fa cup, League cup and champions League should be scrapped this year to give some breathing room for catching up missed league games. But too much money involved in the champions League in particular to do that
 
What I don’t understand is how all these players are catching it ? Most of them live in mansions, have people shop for them, drive to work in a luxury motor, have their entertainment at home, so no need to go out in public, so what’s happening ?
Are they not so good boys and girls ? Mixing with other households ?
If postponements carry on at this rate surely they’ll have to call the season off.
 
Probably only needs one or two not to keep to the rules then they go training and spread the virus.

I mean in theory the players shouldn't spit, cuddle or be near each other off the pitch but they are.

As for the Euros - well will we see a situation where only those who have had the vaccine are able to go as I cannot see UEFA cancelling it unless the situation is really bad across Europe.

But surely they cannot have it all over the continent - give it to one country and go back to this format in 2024?
 
Ivyhouse said:
What I don’t understand is how all these players are catching it ? Most of them live in mansions, have people shop for them, drive to work in a luxury motor, have their entertainment at home, so no need to go out in public, so what’s happening ?
Are they not so good boys and girls ? Mixing with other households ?
If postponements carry on at this rate surely they’ll have to call the season off.
Click to expand...

Regardless of their wealth a footballer is much more at risk than a decent chunk of the population. For the past 9 months I’ve been required to get myself from my bedroom to my study and back each day. It involves seeing no one. A footballer is interacting with physios, coaches, other players, managers etc etc. Just the fact they have to leave the house puts them more at risk. If anything I’m surprised the numbers of footballers testing positive has been so low.
 
james_AFCB said:
Regardless of their wealth a footballer is much more at risk than a decent chunk of the population. For the past 9 months I’ve been required to get myself from my bedroom to my study and back each day. It involves seeing no one. A footballer is interacting with physios, coaches, other players, managers etc etc. Just the fact they have to leave the house puts them more at risk. If anything I’m surprised the numbers of footballers testing positive has been so low.
Click to expand...
I get your point James but all these people, and the fact they’re highly paid is relevant, have a collective duty to their employer to look after themselves, not put themselves at risk and are better placed to do this than most.
 
Ivyhouse said:
What I don’t understand is how all these players are catching it ? Most of them live in mansions, have people shop for them, drive to work in a luxury motor, have their entertainment at home, so no need to go out in public, so what’s happening ?
Are they not so good boys and girls ? Mixing with other households ?
If postponements carry on at this rate surely they’ll have to call the season off.
Click to expand...


Their kids are still going to school and their wives are still meeting other mums for coffee after the school run.
 
Ivyhouse said:
I get your point James but all these people, and the fact they’re highly paid is relevant, have a collective duty to their employer to look after themselves, not put themselves at risk and are better placed to do this than most.
Click to expand...
Do you think the prem Covid cases have been too high then? What numbers would have been reasonable?
 
It was ridiculous to have the domestic cups this season. The FA should have just said to the PL we will scrap it if you pay xyz to support the teams that rely on it and the teams all would have paid to avoid more fixtures. Champions / Europa Leagues are just too valueable to scrap to everyone involved.

Regarding postponing leagues:

377 people under 60 have died in the UK with no underlying health conditions. 0.00014%
Of the 337, 39 people under the age of 40 have died in the UK with no underlying health conditions. 0.000017%

Even if all footballers in the top 4 divisions got it, you could expect 0.03 footballers to die which realistically would be lower due to the medical care available to them.

With those stats in mind I just can't see any professional leagues being postponed. They'll all continue and they'll just continue in bubbles. Quite frankly there's just too many jobs that rely on football all over the world.
 
How are you working out those figures?

How is an "underlying health condition" defined? There are a number of players with conditions such as asthma for example. How do they fit your model?

Why is the survival of players your only measure of impact? What about the impact on players households, the staff (coaches, managers, backroom), the further propagation of the virus throughout the "too many jobs" and the wider community, the transmission of the virus internationally to name a few off the top of my head?
 
What about footballers that are worried about the impact on their career of long covid if they get it? They might not die but they might not ever be the same again in their capacity as a professional sports person. I'd imagine some would have concerns in that direction as well.
 
Kudos said:
How are you working out those figures?

How is an "underlying health condition" defined? There are a number of players with conditions such as asthma for example. How do they fit your model?

Why is the survival of players your only measure of impact? What about the impact on players households, the staff (coaches, managers, backroom), the further propagation of the virus throughout the "too many jobs" and the wider community, the transmission of the virus internationally to name a few off the top of my head?
Click to expand...

The figures are all there in front of you. Asthma would be an underlying condition I'm assuming, but there won't be any top level footballers with undiagnosed conditions after Fabrice Muamba. Lower leagues more risky.

That was just some fag packet maths, I'm sure the PL and FA have proper drawn up models including families.

I don't think football will be halted again, regardless of lockdowns. Certainly not the top tier anyway.

kirsikka said:
What about footballers that are worried about the impact on their career of long covid if they get it? They might not die but they might not ever be the same again in their capacity as a professional sports person. I'd imagine some would have concerns in that direction as well.
Click to expand...

Clubs have a duty of care to their players. hopefully none of them would be forced to play if they didn't want to.
 
The other things is a 2 week circuit break will do nothing. In 2 weeks time we will be feeling the full effect of Christmas and cases still through the roof.
 
I've butchered your post a little

Silent AFCB said:
The figures are all there in front of you.
That was just some fag packet maths, I'm sure the PL and FA have proper drawn up models including families.
Click to expand...

I've actually found wildly different figures especially ones that have multiple factors layered on top of each other. There's every chance they're ballpark correct but I've developed some healthy scepticism after seeing how some of the "no more dangerous than flu" figures are calculated.

Asthma would be an underlying condition I'm assuming, but there won't be any top level footballers with undiagnosed conditions after Fabrice Muamba. Lower leagues more risky.
Click to expand...

Players with asthma are more common then you might think, for example I think Josh King has it.

I don't think football will be halted again, regardless of lockdowns. Certainly not the top tier anyway.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with you there, we'll have our doors and windows nailed shut before the Premier League suspends games again.

Clubs have a duty of care to their players. hopefully none of them would be forced to play if they didn't want to.
Click to expand...

I recall Troy Deeney coming out about this because his son has a condition that would make coronavirus fatal to him. Not sure how that panned out.[/QUOTE]
 
Agree with the sentiment regarding scrapping the cups. The Carabao ( league cup) is a pointless secondary cup and the FA Cup got totally devalued years back when the FA let Man Utd be excused from it for a PR exercise. Big mistake which totally undermined the competition.
 
In regards to how a football team catches it, I believe the Manchester City squad caught it from a stay at a London hotel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;