Club Statement: Coronavirus

[blue1948]

Here in Finland we have 5.5 million population and the death toll is 64 , confirmed cases about 3,160 so about 2% fatality at the moment .I think that the figure is low and that our government reacted early enough to slow the influx of contaminated cases .
As the majority are in the more densely populated places it seems to rule against the general pop.density being low ,being the reason for the figures ,so I am thinking it was the prompt action has been proven to be the right action .
My life has changed very little as we live in the forest so it is hard to imagine what others are going through but reading the news from around we here are doing very well .
Nevertheless my wife and I are on the "critical list " so we go out twice a week to shop ,my wife goes in one shop and I go into the next .We wear a headscarf around our faces like the old cowboy bandits and throw away gloves ,we disinfect after every shop ,throw away the gloves each time and then wash our hands thoroughly when we get home ,yes it seems to be a little over the top but we feel this is not a game and the it is our lives at stake ,so nothing is too much .
Sadly when i went out today there were many with no masks and no gloves but that is their choice .
The problem is that as soon as it reduces the confirmed cases / deaths then we must be even more careful not torelax at all or it will be off again.

 

[MikeH72]

Poor old Sharpy with a fatwa on the way.

 

[D410]

From Italy:

However, the ISS – the leading technical-scientific body of the Italian health service – believes 2019-20 should be written off.

“Football’s a contact sport so there is risk of transmission. Someone proposed close monitoring of the players, with tests almost every day,” Giovanni Rezza, director of its infectious disease department, told reporters.

“It sincerely seems like a bit of a tight turnaround to me, plus we’re almost in May. I’m a Roma fan so I’d call the whole thing off!

“If I had to give a technical opinion, it wouldn’t be a favourable one and I think the Scientific and Technical Committee would agree.

“After that, politics will decide.”

An interesting aspect not many had thought about - A virus solution is many months off, throw in cases of reactivation or 2nd wave infection and you could be looking at 2021 before the new season starts. I read somewhere that other day that Rugby Union are prepared to shift there entire start and finish calender long term as an oppertunity.

 

[catcherintherye]

without being biased, he's right. Playing games behind closed doors won't help anything. The british public still don't seem to grasp how serious this is, in my town there's still loads going into shops to buy beer. You think liverpool fans will all stay at home and celebrate, will they heck, they're all too thick to do that. Sky and BT for example will insist that television cameras be let in to at least televise the events, then that has to include security, as well as players and staff, you're getting up into the 100's then already with the attendance. You can't have the government saying social distancing needs to be implemented and then have 22 footballers running around in close proximity, the virus would never go away then. We're going to have a massive break from football because of this, much longer than an end of season break, so you may as well start it all again when it resumes, none of the fans will really want it to continue from where it left off. You don't watch a TV series half way through and then come back to it in 4 or 5 months time. You do with a new series though.

Just a couple of points on this (that are really important).
1) Absolutely. Fans will go to the grounds. Thats a major risk. The government will consult with the police as well as the PL. You can imagine the police's advice will be very clear on this one.The last thing anyone wants currently is a major flash point between football supporters and police. Can you imagine how that is going to look internationally?

2) Re the new series. This is essentially true. Sides at the bottom end of the league are going to legitimately say this is now a size of gap that is far greater than most seasons have, never mind an inter season competition. Leagues aren't designed for such gaps. It is wholly unfair. It would be unfair to expect 3 teams to be relegated on that basis.

There's a lot of spoilt people involved with football, but common sense says, cancel the season and gain some clarity as to how we move forward.

 

[catcherintherye]

An interesting aspect not many had thought about - A virus solution is many months off, throw in cases of reactivation or 2nd wave infection and you could be looking at 2021 before the new season starts. I read somewhere that other day that Rugby Union are prepared to shift there entire start and finish calender long term as an oppertunity.

Rugby are doing that though, because essentially they are a challenger brand that can't compete with football. Nobody can. It makes sense for any sport to play as much of your sport outside of the standard football calendar as possible. If you are the brand who has established that as your calendar, it makes no sense to give that up. You don't change what has never been broken.

 

[BlueStevie35]

Poor old Sharpy with a fatwa on the way.

‘Eez a bitta bloo, corse eed sey day to stop uz winning der Leege, YNWA 6 timez’

 

[catcherintherye]

Good points around China and also extending isolation which is been discussed in Ireland here at present. The UK were weeks behind hence the huge number of deaths increasing daily. They need to be cautious with the example from China . I don't think we are anywhere near putting a time on a return

The concern one would have, and it's a broader concern about football is that we think coming out of isolation means we can just go back to normal. This clearly has to be quite phased as if we just go back tomorrow to doing what we did 4 weeks ago, we are going to get a huge spike, and given the number of infected people is much higher it will be much more dangerous. It sort of means the last 4-6 weeks is wasted.

From a football perspective, we risk jeopardising the whole of next season. If we lose next season, football as we know it goes bust. It's that simple. Thats the priority now. If you care about football, in any capacity, you have to place your focus on saving next season as a full season.

Sticking games on behind closed doors fails on both of the above tests.

 

[D410]

Rugby are doing that though, because essentially they are a challenger brand that can't compete with football. Nobody can. It makes sense for any sport to play as much of your sport outside of the standard football calendar as possible. If you are the brand who has established that as your calendar, it makes no sense to give that up. You don't change what has never been broken.

They may have no choice in order to keep everyone along for the ride - I sense the PL as we know it is in for a new evolution.

 

[catcherintherye]

They may have no choice in order to keep everyone along for the ride - I sense the PL as we know it is in for a new evolution.

How do you mean mate?

 

[f.t.r.s]

Just a couple of points on this (that are really important).
1) Absolutely. Fans will go to the grounds. Thats a major risk. The government will consult with the police as well as the PL. You can imagine the police's advice will be very clear on this one.The last thing anyone wants currently is a major flash point between football supporters and police. Can you imagine how that is going to look internationally?

2) Re the new series. This is essentially true. Sides at the bottom end of the league are going to legitimately say this is now a size of gap that is far greater than most seasons have, never mind an inter season competition. Leagues aren't designed for such gaps. It is wholly unfair. It would be unfair to expect 3 teams to be relegated on that basis.

There's a lot of spoilt people involved with football, but common sense says, cancel the season and gain some clarity as to how we move forward.

Tottenham are a prime example of why carrying on this season isn't fair.
Had the season gone as planned they were set to have kane, son and a few other first teamers out injured and not set to return till the league was done, if it restarts they'll likely have a fully fit squad, the chances of them finishing with higher points is suddenly much higher..

 

[catcherintherye]

Tottenham are a prime example of why carrying on this season isn't fair.
Had the season gone as planned they were set to have kane, son and a few other first teamers out injured and not set to return till the league was done, if it restarts they'll likely have a fully fit squad, the chances of them finishing with higher points is suddenly much higher..

Yes exactly. It's a bit of a joke. As it would be if lads like Ziyech can come and play for Chelsea.

I know Fifa were talking a couple of weeks back about having new transfer windows etc. I have seen no developments on this, and think we can safely assume clubs have completely discarded that utterly stupid suggestion.

 

[toffeejack]

Yes exactly. It's a bit of a joke. As it would be if lads like Ziyech can come and play for Chelsea.

I know Fifa were talking a couple of weeks back about having new transfer windows etc. I have seen no developments on this, and think we can safely assume clubs have completely discarded that utterly stupid suggestion.

It's a lot of hassle moving next season, moving transfer windows, temporarily extending contracts, re-scheduling games, cancelling trophies when they can just start next season in August without changing any of it. I don't think August resumption will be possible yet anyway.

 

[Minimeister]

Imagine football coming back in 2022 and Liberpewl wanting to delay the world cup to play 9 games from 2 years ago.

 

[jamieni]

At this point I think calling off the season is the only option.

 

[mccole]

Sharpy knows