It’s hardly a surprise that Project Restart has divided opinion. Everything does that today. Literally everything.
Fuelled by social media’s raison d’etre of giving every Tom, Dick and Gary a voice on every conceivable talking point, the modern trend is to take a side, dig your trench deep and refuse to budge. Invariably the trenches are at polar opposites ends of the spectrum.
(And yes, before anyone reminds me, I’m a sucker for this when certain subjects rear their extremely ugly heads. Sorry.)
But, it seems Project Restart has a rather uneven split.
On one side, we have the Premier League, backed and steered by their very own billionaires and hedge-funders (Sky and BT), who have been joined by some ideologically driven splinter groups. Said groups have sided with the PL exclusively for their own gain – they’re known as (some) Liverpool, Leeds and West Brom fans.
On the other, we have almost everyone else; those who see football as something to be enjoyed when the time is right, as opposed to when people are dying.
But since when did logic, compassion and a sense of decency count for anything where the Premier League is concerned?
Answer: Never.
Buoyed by the government’s dubious claim that the nation will be buoyed and rejuvenated by the return of the Premier League (as though the EFL doesn’t exist) they have moved on from the outline planning stage and are apparently now looking at more concrete proposals for a restart.
These include (so far):
- Up to ten ‘neutral venues’ to be used to complete the 92 games
- Using CGI fans to replace empty seats
- Players to wear a mask or snood at all times
- Training in groups of no more than five
- All staff to wear full PPE equipment, with the disinfecting of balls, corner flags and goalposts
- Players to park their cars at least three spaces apart
- No injury treatment allowed unless approved by a club doctor
- Drinks left at specified pick-up points
- Players to be tested twice a week with around 350 needed a game, meaning 26,000 tests will be needed at a cost of £4million
- Including other staff that need to be tested, that number goes up to 40,000
Some of the stuff listed is obviously a must if they are to go ahead, but some it is just daft, with another curveball being thrown in late on Saturday night – play all of the 92 remaining games in Perth, Australia.
Imagine that.
In fact, why just leave it there. Why does it have to be another hemisphere? Why not consider another planet, or, at the very least, give some thought to converting the International Space Station into a temporary venue?
Stupid right, but any more so than considering CGI fans?
As a result of this lunacy, it’s already been reported that Premier League clubs have already begun a shopping spree of face masks. That’s how desperate they are to restart.
As one tweeter put it, I guess we should expect club branded face masks to be on the shelves of the club shops as soon as they are open.
Sod the consequences. Sod the risk to life. Sky and BT demand their pound of flesh, so we’d better deliver. Think of that bottom line.
Testing that’s been deemed precious and key to containing the virus will miraculously become available in huge quantities to the Premier League. Equally precious PPE will be redirected towards football while, as things stand, folk on the frontline in hospitals and care homes still complain of feeling insufficiently protected.
Okay, so by, say, mid-June that may (hopefully) be a situation that’s wholly rectified but the conversation has already started while this remains an issue.
In what universe is that even remotely close to being okay?
And the health and wellbeing of the players themselves… what about that? Fit and healthy they may be, but that doesn’t preclude them from catching the virus and spreading it. And how about those among the coaching staff and officialdom who are, or could be, vulnerable?
So, training sessions on defending set-pieces with no more than five players involved… how does that work?
In years to come, we’ll look back on this with disbelief.
Whether it comes to fruition or not, the PL appear so blinded by the sums of money they risk losing, they’re prepared to try and squeeze the game of football through the tiniest of minuscule hoops in order to try and bring season 2019/20 to a conclusion. Hoops so infinitesimally small it means morphing the game into something that’s almost unrecognisable.
Neutral grounds? CGI fans? Playing in facemasks?
What the hell.
Of course, most Liverpool fans have thrown their weight behind these proposals as it sees them winning their first title since 1990, but if it means that much, give them the trophy now. Let them have it. Get Hermes to deliver it.
I have no problem whatsoever with this brilliant Liverpool team being declared league winners.
As Terri Westgate and Andy Bowles so beautifully put it…
And while they’re at it, gives Leeds a freebie to the EPL – even though there is still ample opportunity for them to do their usual – and chuck West Brom a golden ticket while we’re at it. Good luck to them all.
It really doesn’t matter. Right now, football doesn’t matter.
And hell, if it bothers them that much, relegate us. I’m cool with that, ever more so as the Premier League reveals more of its true colours with every passing day.
Quite frankly, I’d rather be relegated on a points-per-game as things stand basis than feel shafted by having to concede the home advantage we’d have enjoyed in those winnable games against Burnley, Everton, Southampton, Brighton and West Ham.
Liverpool and Leeds fans have spent the week telling us we’re squealing because the cancellation of the league would mean survival for us, yet virtually every City voice I’ve heard would have no problem at all with us heading back to the Championship if it meant not risking one more life in pursuit of completing the season.
Alas, this whole sorry episode has laid bare everything that’s wrong with the Premier League and packaged it up neatly and succinctly for our edification.
And it’s about as unedifying as it gets.
There’s also this phrase the EPL like to bandy around: preserving the integrity of the game. I’ll say no more on this other than please please read Robin Sainty’s fine EDP piece on this matter, which was published yesterday. Suffice to say, integrity doesn’t really come into it.
Of course, part of the counter-argument, as explained eloquently on this site by Stewart Lewis, is that our club is the least well-equipped team in the Premier League to manage a massive hit in its income. I get that. Totally. It scares me too.
And then there’s the added complication of some players’ contracts expiring on June 30, and the ensuing fall-out of the current season extends beyond that date. I get all of that.
But this just feels like one of those moments where money, and financial black holes, have to play second fiddle to the saving of lives. Tim Gough called it earlier this week on MFW, even before the daft theories emanated from Premier League HQ.
One more death is one death too many.
And if there is one more death that occurs either directly, or indirectly, as a result of football returning while this vicious disease is still infecting people, then that too is one too many.
Financial black holes at least have a chance of being resolved, but not so the loss of loved ones.
Nothing should happen while folk around us are still dying. The implications for the game itself can be addressed when the time feels right. Now doesn’t feel like that time.
Unfortunately, I’ve long given up on the prevalence of common sense.
PS. If you’ve looked at header image and thought ‘what the hell?’. It’s HBF Park in Perth. Maybe we should familiarise ourselves.
I share your concerns Gary. Even if this “Project Restart ” got as far as a first game; how long before someone involved tests positive and the whole thing shuts down? Late August/September would seem to be a realistic target for getting football back in some form. France and Holland have done the sensible thing by ending the season, allowing a phased return to training and playing over the next few months.
6
Spot on Gary. I am not with Mr Shankly on this one, there are far more important things than football.
7
I don’t have any issues with football contingency planning for the restart. However, what I find objectionable is that it still seems hell bent on starting as soon as possible.
The exit strategy generally has been rightly focusing upon striking a balance between public health and the economy. Football’s latest suggestions seem to be completely focused on the latter, rather than the former, with undue haste.
Simply wrong in my opinion.
9
I agree there needs to be a plan in place, Gaz – there has to be. But in the current ever-changing climate, it just seems wrong to be even contemplating it.
7
Well said Gary. It is truly unbelievably and so unethical that money is put before everything else. I have pledged to cancel my Sky And BT Sports subscription if this does go ahead as a protest and think that others should follow suit. This money could be donated to the NHS.
8
Good rant Gary, it’s good to rant. Everything you say is spot on.
My tenpennerth: The unbelievable arrogance of the EPL manifests itself in thinking it can move to a virus-free location to finish the season. I suspect any country chosen will view the EPL’s offer with the contempt it deserves. Unless the country in question is so poor or so greedy that they can be bought off, regardless of the potential to re-introduce infection. Which, ironically, is why this world of ours has spiralled down into the noxious state it finds itself today.
5
Totally agree with you Gary on this one.
It’s embarrassing that the top six place income above decency.
City should treat it with the disdain these proposals require by suggesting it is resolved safely on line by playing scissors, rock, paper.
3
Putting wealth before health should never happen. Unnecessary and abhorrent greed. One of the fascinating things about lockdown is how useless money has become. As long as you have your health and basic living needs taken care of everything else is irrelevant, I briefly thought of buying a lottery ticket the other day but the thought quickly occurred, ‘What’s the point?’. If I won £100K or even £1M what would I do with it? One of the permanent consequences which could come out of this experience – when we’ve recovered from the health fallout – is the dismantling of the current monetary system for something that provides people with what they need rather than allowing some the option of pursuing what they want at the expense of others.
5
This rush to complete 19/20 seems based on the assumption that in August/September, the 20/21 season will be able to start as “normal”. There is currently no evidence for that. Maybe the idea touted by some, including Chris Goreham, is to defer playing out 18/20 until next year, if necessary,effectively abandoning an aim to play a 20/21 season at all, leaving room, hopefully to play the Euros. If you take away the pressure to start 20/21 in time to finish it, and the deadline set by UEFA, you don’t actually need to make a decision to restart or abandon 19/20 at all. Money of course remains the fly in the ointment!
2
I’d go along with mothballing the season, nothing decided until we know we can play again and all efforts going to deal with contracts of playing staff, other staff etc. We might not even be able to play until late 2021. If the lockdown is not eased within 12 weeks, I would not expect it to be eased within 12 months due to the Winter flu season and potential clash with any second wave. The Premier League is not an island, what is the point of finishing the season and finding that UEFA canned the Champions League ? Why finish and determine relegation spots if the EFL can not finish? OK Leeds and West Brom are in prime positions so maybe could be awarded promotion (If it was Brentford I’d guess there would be less enthusiasm) but the other Leagues are far closer. When we are in a position to restart maybe do what we did in 1946 and scrap the unfinished 1940 season. That is the precedent, those are the rules, it could be argued that they only played 3 matches that year but if a match is abandoned after 5 minutes or 68 minutes it still has to be replayed. If we had to call off last year’s match v Derby due to floodlight issues it would have been null and void not a 3-2 victory. We have gone past the equivalent of the “few minutes” break from that match and at the point where it is pointless to carry on
0
Good article, Gary.
Just two things to add. First, it would be wrong to assume that because players are young and fit, catching Covid-19 wouldn’t be serious for them. In most cases it wouldn’t, but there are no guarantees – as illustrated by the player on the Continent who’s now in hospital with his life in danger.
Second, my piece about finance was to highlight that stopping the season would have a nasty impact on Norwich City. No getting away from that. But was I therefore arguing for Project Restart? No. As you eloquently express, it feels at best misguided, at worst callous.
4
Cheers for clarifying that Stew … apologies if that’s how it read. I appreciate totally, that was not what you were inferring.
2
No problem with what you said, Gary – I just wanted my position to be crystal-clear.
I suspect part of the PL’s reluctance to abandon the season is the difficulty of finding an acceptable solution to promotion and relegation issues – in particular, a solution that won’t embroil them in legal challenges.
It’s always seemed to me the best way to minimise that problem is a 22-team PL next season, adding Leeds and West Brom to the current set. I believe that’s more than just wishful thinking from a Norwich fan!
4
Hi Stew.
To be honest I’d go for callous over misguided. Very much so.
Robin’s excellent article for Archant yesterday, Gary’s today and my take on this tomorrow were all written totally independently and in different styles but the theme remains the same – it’s all about Premier League greed and when Glen L [above] pledges to end his Sky/BT subscriptions he will not be alone. I’ve never subscribed to either but that has not been a financial decision.
I’ve never been one to adopt too much of a moral stance in life but Sky in particular has always been a no-go for me.
5
I concur Mr Gowers. But should we expect anything different from an organisation that is populated by idiots whose sole purpose is to offer money laundering services to some of the most despicable oligarchs and Middle Eastern despots.
The Mafia probably have better morals than this lot. Sky has a lot to answer for. I agree with one of the other contributors and my Sky subscription is beginning to look very precarious.
8
As always Delfie… you sir are spot on!
1
I totally agree at the moment. I don’t care what league we play in but I am repulsed by the Premier League’s rush to manufacture a pale imitation of the game in order to fulfill their financial obligations.
Frankly, it’s disgusting. As someone with a partner working on the front line, any face mask that finds its way to non-essential activities when supply is so short is disgraceful. The same people doing this will be our clapping on a Thursday night. If they do push this, I may end my love affair with a game I have adored since I was old enough to kick a ball.
13
Great summary Gary. I hadn’t heard the latest suggestion about playing the remaining 92 games in Perth. By the time they get half way through, that pitch is going to be reminiscent of the Baseball Ground years ago! A true groundsman’s nightmare. As for CGI crowds, will they allow them to chant ” £@%( VAR”?
I don’t want us to be relegated, but if that’s what it takes to end this season now, I’ll take it. We still had a mathematical chance of staying up, but I can’t see any realistic or moral method of completing this seas0n. Suspending the remaining games to this time next year and totally abandoning 20-21 would run into all the issues over player contracts.
As someone whose grand-daughter is just completing her final year of a nursing degree by starting work immediately as a nurse, I don’t want footballers or their ancillary staff having PPE that she needs. As I type this, she’s working on a ward with Cover-19 patients. Her safety is worth more to me than the transitory happiness of some Liverpool fan.
11
Jim: I wish your post could be circulated to the clubs and administrators making this decision.
Let’s trust they’re hearing similar views from other sources.
3
Thanks Stew. (I did type “she’s working on a ward with Covid-19 patients” but that bloody auto-correct got in without me noticing!)
1
Oops … sorry Jim… didn’t spot that. Posted yours and Ed’s fine comments on Twitter. Hope that’s OK
1
No problem with you posting it elsewhere, Gary, though I don’t do social media myself. Too many years working in the computer industry to trust where my data might end up! I really should proof read my posts before posting!
1
Cheers Jim.
1
Great article Gary, you’ve nailed it. Never has the word ‘integrity’ been so misused as it is right now by the Premier League.
Confirms what a greedy, self serving and callous bunch its administrators are at the highest level. Confirms it with all the subtlety of a hydrogen bomb.
Do we really want to clutch onto another season at that level by deathly default? Not for me. Confirm our relegation now if you want.
It sounds melodramatic to say, as I have recently, that I’m ‘done’ with football if they eke out the season and reach that all important bottom line by any of the nefarious reasons mooted. But football at the highest level is portraying its true colours right now and its not a philosophy I’m comfortable with alligning myself to.
I wish I wasn’t so emotionally committed and forever entangled with my club. That’s never something I can, or will, disconnect myself from. But, right here, right now, with people dying, still, by the hundred every day; with PPE still lacking for essential workers and every aspect of our lives changed forever, now, and for the forseeable, there are numerous, pressing, urgent priorities to be focused on. Premier League football is not one. For the Premier League, somehow, and insanely, to think it is, is an abhorrence of enormous and far reaching magnitude.
7
Hi Gary
An excellent read and some excellent replies to it.
Sky is now owned by some American conglomerate purchased for XXXbillions last year, so will want to start getting their money back any way possible no matter who they upset.
The so-called ex-LIVARPOOL and Man U pundits keep changing their opinions to suite the company’s point of view. Today they are on the players’ side, saying players are scared to play due to the risks – both really are out of touch with the real world of football supporters.
The government are getting blamed for many things – PPE is the main one – but in this global situation the companies supplying said items have all the power; Germany complaining they have been outpriced by the USA. It will be a similar thing with football – whichever league gets games on Sky, BT or any other broadcaster will be able to charge what they want and none will filter down to the EPL as no extra will go to the EPL.
As with others I have family working for the NHS and worry about their safety but after 50 football supporters came to Blackpool last week to have a BBQ on the beach can you imagine playing at neutral grounds people will congregate just to say they were there and safety will have been put on the back burn for 90mins of waste time that no sensible person wants.
Boris should make a decision stopping football till covid-19 is confirmed as non contagious or at least can be contained.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Keep safe and well
3
To be clear I want football back on, but selfishly I want to be able to enjoy the Pre match drink in the coach and horses with my mates, take our seats just as OTBC rings out enjoy the banter with the ST holders we’ve sat by for seasons and watch our heroes in yellow and green. What we seem to be being offered at the moment is of no interest to me in the slightest. On the flipside it’s a business and lots of people in the game are rightly worried their chosen source of income is disappearing before their own eyes, lower league players especially. This is a ridiculously tough call but getting the Premier league finished is only the tip of the iceberg.
6
Another good point Ady. So much talk of the Premier League… the EFL seems almost forgotten and a side issue when, in fact, it’s anything but.
Good post.
3
Ady, agree. Pre and post match socialising and just enjoying the company of friends is what makes the day the ‘event’ it is-all too often, the football (chillingly remember NCFC 0 Burton Albion 0 a few years ago) is an interruption to the main event.
The calls for it to start again from the ‘bottom’ upwards is much more workable if done properly-workable for the game and the clubs, if not the suits. And, sadly, they have all the power.
3
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
2
While I agree generally with most of the article and subsequent comments, I do have a couple of counter points.
If anybody is capable of playing a “contact” sport it is our “beloved” Premiership footballers. For Aguero to be quoted as being “scared” is ridiculous and I trust his club will remind him that he has been very handsomely rewarded these last 6 weeks and if his employer requires him to come to back to work, he should.
Also, PPE is the responsibility of the government, well the NHS actually, but that’s a different argument, not football’s. If the EPL can readily source it, then what on earth are the others doing.
I sincerely hope our club resist all attempts to end this season artificially. We worked very hard to get here and we deserve the opportunity to try and stay here.
Of course, football is not important at present, but it will be again. And I don’t want to be looking back having been shafted once again by the authorities. If it means we have to wait, then so be it.
1
Pretty sure they won’t let us play in Perth anyway… Those green seats would be seen to give us an unfair advantage!!
0
Ha!
Can you imagine the logistics of flying everybody to Perth?
Sure there might [I stress might] be airline availability but at a conservative estimate that would be around 10,000 football people from 20 different clubs flying into Aus at around the same time.
And God help the baggage handlers.
It might transpire but I doubt it.
2
Martin
What about all the TV crews and ancillary works it would be a nightmare to work.
1
I’d guess all the TV crews and radio guys could potentially be indigenous Aussies but the BBC, Sky, BT and others would want their own folks in situ. Plus there would be lots of supporters from a certain City trying their best to be there too. Hence my figure of 10,000.
It could never work mate – it’s like my old Austin 1100 back in the day.
A non-starter.
1
Like the comment from LIVARPOOL mayor saying that the supporters would want to be around the ground if and when they won a title saying they would have more commonsense than to do that who is he kidding
0
Another issue with playing in Perth is that, for the games to be at a normal viewing time here, they’d have to played in the middle of the night or crack of dawn local time.
Don’t think that would go down very well with players and coaches,..
1
This whole post complete with all comments should be Item 1 on every agenda where restarting football is discussed. If they cannot see the lack of morality they are displaying, then we need to show them. Unfortunately, money talks and will probably drown out our protests. They need to realise that health should outweigh wealth.
4
In not concentrating on the Prem League here but on the poor sods that play in one and two. What TV money to they get, cancelling a quarter of their home games will kill them off financially..now as to player safety, over in Germany clubs have got their players into training and woopdy do on day one some players at FC Koln test positive for the virus. That’s marmalades that pre season before it starts.
Daft ideas begetting dafter ideas .
5
Gary just a few thoughts
1 Cancel season now
2 Let players at the end of their contract go
3 Start the transfer window now till the end of January
4 Let Sky and BT have extra live games next season to compensate for lost games this season.
5 No relegation as all 3 clubs could escape
6 Promte Leeds and WBA with no playoff place
7 All clubs in relegation zone start with a minus points
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Keep safe and well
4
Hmm, I liked that until point 7 which effectively means the current bottom 3 would start with negative points and everyone else, including WBA and Leeds, would be on nil.
By the same argument Liverpool would have to start with lots of positive points reflecting their performance this season.
1
Hi Jeuth
Yeah item 7 was my let down should have stopped at 6
2
If Leeds can be promoted with 9 games to go, then surely that makes up FA Cup winners with 3 games to go?
1
Just a comment on above blog about aguero dosnt matter what money hes on shouldnt have to put himself and family in firng line just to please those daft enough to pay him that much .money means nothing to people with morals in this situation
2
What a load of nonsense this article it. Just admitted you’re hiding behind a virus as an excuse to try and get the season null and voided so you don’t get relegated. Pretending you care about lives when it’s actually about saving your own skin.
Honestly I’d just relegate all the bottom 6. Their behaviour over this has been nothing short of pathetic. They wouldn’t be missed either.
0
Pretty sure I said in there, we’d accept relegation if the choice was to resume football before its properly safe to do so, Neal.
I also said your beloved Liverpool (presumably) should be awarded the title.
3
I think Neal’s colours may be blue and white, rather than red, Gary, and he probably supports a team not too far away who are used to playing in an empty stadium.
2
Great article Gary.
As for Neal’s opinion, like a lot of Tory donors, “Mr Weatherspoon” etc its basically sod people dying just give me my football back. And what may that football like with masks and extreme reluctance to tackle. It would be worse than a testimonial
How many City supporters have stated quite clearly on here cancel the season and relegate us on points per game, the vast majority. All my friends, some die hard supporters have surprised me by their acceptance of and end to the season and relegation and I agree 100%.
What league we are in next season is irrelevant, what is important is peoples lives.
As for Liverpool they deserve the title they have been fantastic this season and I want them to get it, but the euphoria of winning it on the pitch has gone. With the games proposed inevitably behind closed doors it would still feel an anti-climax without the fans anyway.
Anything to stop Project Restart more like Project Madness.
0
If you’re waiting for it to be safe you could be waiting years. In which case there would be millions of job losses and there may not be any football to go back to. You claim to care about lives but show no regard for people losing their jobs. Hypocrisy of the highest order
1
What nonsense. We care about peoples’ lives – as I’m sure you do. But if we had to choose between a lost life or a redundancy…
0
And you don’t think lives will be lost as a result of redundancies? Don’t be ridiculous. The only fair solution is to finish the season. At some point you have to balance the risks involved.
0
Jeez … surely in the first instance, we have to stop losing more lives to Covid-19? I get, totally, that the industry has, when it’s safe, to get back on its feet for the reasons you say. I’ve also said, numerous times, that if all of this means City get relegated – which as things stand we deserve – I’d take it. You’re a Liverpool supporter, right?
0
Yes I am a Liverpool fan and I will freely admit my vested interests. It’s Norwich and the rest of the bottom 6 and their fans who are being cowards and refusing to admit they are using Coronavirus as an excuse to get out of the relegation mess they’ve deservedly landed themselves in.
And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but deaths are already on the way down. The nightingales aren’t even being used. Admissions are down. In a month’s time the situation will have improved even further. Schools will be open, as will many more shops and businesses. Why should football be an exception.
0
For the umpteenth time, we’re not hiding behind this as a reason to avoid relegation. What part of ‘we accept relegation if it means not risking the health of players/officials etc’ are you not getting?
And yes, the numbers indicate the lockdown is having some positive effect on numbers, but “the science tells us” that there is also the risk of a second spike if the release of the lockdown is not managed very carefully.
We seem to be going round in circles.
Have a good day.
2
Neal: please re-read the piece. It said nothing of the kind.
A while ago we heard one statement from a bottom six club which was naked self-interest. It came from Karren Brady at West Ham. I’d have been ashamed if it came from my club; pretty sure Gary would be too.
0
Your club is one of the six cowardly briefing the press about neutral venues when they don’t have the guts to say it in the meeting themselves.
And let’s not mention the furloughing shall we? Disgraceful behaviour.
Whilst Norwich might not be saying it explicitly, we all know what their motivation, and it involves the exact sort of greed being attacked in this article. Hypocrite
0
Neal: if our motivation was greed as you believe, we wouldn’t be saying we’d rather Norwich were relegated than go through with this awful re-starting scheme.
Happy to talk about furloughing. If you’re at all reasonable, you must recognise a difference between most of Premier League (inc Liverpool) for whom the potential cost of the Covid-19 disruption is less than 5% of their owners’ wealth, and Norwich for whom it’s 122%.
There’s no real choice for Norwich about furloughing staff for whom there’s literally no work to do. The choice we DID have was whether to top up their furlough payments to 100%, ensuring no-one lost a penny of income. Unlike other clubs, we did that.
1
Neal, people on here say stop the season now, give Liverpool the Premiership and relegate us, so we are of one mind.
I wanted the season to start again as soon as it could safely start and that isn’t now.
You say we are doing this out of self-interest to stay in the EPL, but Gary, among many others (me included), have already said relegate us, no problem.
But I feel you are looking at this, from the way you accuse us, to ensure Liverpool win the league, as I am sure they will, but you would risk people’s lives. The integrity of the competition is gone as soon as the neutral grounds come into the equation.
You are right to say there is going to be a problem with football and all contact sports for a long while.
However in the next few months, we will not have a vaccine – we will have better drugs and procedures to deal with the pandemic, the NHS won’t be so overwhelmed, so there may be a chance in September/October to start the new season afresh, admittedly behind closed doors.
Why is there this rush to start again while this dreadful virus is still so prevalent?
On average 50 people die a day from flu in the UK over a year – it must be brought down from 3-4 jumbo jets a day before we can start again.
0
The nhs is not overwhelmed now. What part of ‘past the peak’ do you not understand?
All I’m asking is for the bottom six to be honest and admit they don’t actually care about peoples’ lives and are just trying to save their own skins.
They bang on about integrity but where’s the integrity in cancelling a season and not relegating anyone.
I have no sympathy for Norwich or any of the bottom 6. They’re in the position their in because they’ve been crap for 30 games. They deserve everything they get regardless and relegation is included in that. Why should Norwich benefit from £120m by staying in a league by default that they don’t deserve to be in?
They’re using Coronavirus as an excuse to bail themselves out. It’s disgusting.
0
Not judging, everyone has a right to support who they want how they want but when you support a big club the vast majority of fans don’t get to see their team in the flesh so football at neutral grounds shown on tv is no biggie. By all means relegate us if that makes you happy. Any attempt to finish this season will only give a skewed result, it has to, teams are going to be in a completely different place, fitness and form wise. Who knows Liverpool could come back totally out sorts and lose a few. That’d be fun.
1
Can they play while maintaining Social Distancing?
It would stop a lot of the worst tackles!
0
Very true, Mary… and some would (and have) argue we’ve been practising social distancing when defending set-pieces all season!
1
Neal ! Wot a moron yes you haven’t won the league for 30 years but to adopt the attitude you have is despicable, yer prob a plastic loyal L’pool fans wouldn’t want to win the title like this and most would admire Norwich this season for playing some excellent football
1
Probably a plastic 😂. Only been a fan all my life. My dad is a season ticket holder. Go to games whenever I can (a struggle with our current ticket system).
The only despicable attitude here is from the shithouse six trying to use coronavirus as an excuse to save themselves from relegation, under the pretence that they care about lives. Shameful
0