The last time I penned a blog for MFW, my son Isaac and I had not long been to see City’s thrilling FA Cup 5th Round penalty shoot-out win against Spurs at the magnificent Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in March of last year.
Twelve days after that unforgettable match, the country was suddenly plunged into a full lockdown, in response to a contagious virus that was sweeping the globe.
Ten months on and Norwich are about to kick-off their FA Cup campaign for this season against Coventry City, and almost as coincidence would have it, we’re back into another full Coronavirus lockdown.
It’s as if we’ve been playing the longest game of ‘Snakes and Ladders’ ever. Just as you think you’re making progress at last towards the conclusion of the game, you roll the dice towards certain victory, only to land on the head of the biggest snake on the board.
You have that sinking, dis-spirited feeling as you realise you’re very much back to square one. What’s that cliche Paul Lambert so often used after a City defeat? “We go again…”
On we go again indeed. For now. It surprises me somewhat that all elite sport has been given the green light to continue currently, against the backdrop of the rocketing infection rates of the new strain of virus.
I remember having a conversation with my son after our hard-fought victory (haven’t they all been lately) against Cardiff before Christmas, regarding whether football could be suspended again in light of the rising Coronavirus numbers and the newly discovered strain that was more transmissible.
It seemed like a day didn’t go by over the festive period with many Premier League and EFL teams reporting players and staff had tested positive for COVID. On Tuesday of this week, the Premier League reported a season-high 40 positive coronavirus cases. We have seen quite a number of postponements to games over recent match days as a result, there will doubtless be more to follow.
So I’ve felt compelled to write another blog against the current backdrop because suddenly the same old questions I was pondering last April have been bubbling to the surface again.
Before putting pen-to-paper (OK.. OK.. fingers to keyboard), I felt it best to refresh my memory on previous arguments nine months ago. With Norwich rooted firmly to the bottom of the Premier League, I was adamant that football couldn’t possibly restart amidst a global health emergency.
Bearing in mind there was still huge uncertainty surrounding the effects and impacts of the pandemic, how on earth could the European leagues recommence competitions safely and fairly? Albeit with nine top-flight games for City left to play back then, the only fair conclusion I felt would be to null-and-void the season.
Even despite the furious outrage from Leeds supporters, as far as I was concerned, they’d have to suck up yet another season outside football’s elite whilst we enjoy a fairer crack at our return to the top-flight.
The irony now of course is, with my team sitting proudly at the summit of the Championship once more, I don’t want them to curtail this season. They can’t. We may have only played half the games so far, but the Championship has to play to a conclusion, to maintain the ‘integrity of the competition’.
However, I do recognise the seriousness of the situation we’re battling against once more. Who can predict whether football, and indeed elite sport, will be brought to a grinding juddering halt again in the coming days or weeks?
As we’ve seen with the schools, what is safe today could be deemed unsafe tomorrow. The huge challenge some clubs already face is rearranging postponed fixtures into an already over-crowded, compacted season.
When, not if, we have a number of other postponements in the weeks to come, it’s going to place enormous pressure on all clubs. It’s not like the cut and thrust of your bread and butter doesn’t bring its own pressures in normal times.
We are now at a crossroads I feel. On the face of it, (and unlike last April) I welcome the continuation and distraction of sport in the current situation. If we really are facing lockdown into March, goodness knows we’re going to need to see plenty more of Daniel Farke’s boys.
I need Emi (don’t @ me Arsenal fans), Teemu, Max, Todd, Gibbo, Skippy, Hugill, Super Mario, Lungi, Tetts… the whole blooming lot of them in my life. They will provide us the hope and escapism from these difficult months and the promise of better times to come.
However, I realise that flying in the face of the great Bill Shankley, there is something more important than football… health and well-being.
Not just us as individuals, but our friends, our loved ones, our wider community, and absolutely our sporting heroes.
Please stay safe everyone, and a Happy New Year.
This covid situation feels endless…In Finland it does not effect to league games right now, because league is not played during winter time. However it still affected to 2020 season and scheduled 27 games league had to cut to 22 games thanks to covid. Covid restrictions do affect right now especially to junior training sessions, very much thanks to winds which has blown Siberian weather to here. Unprofessional sports is not possible indoors because of covid, so training sessions are now outside. Even the artificial pitch is heated it does affect negatively, its like softened time machine to time how we trained,
Because of tv money games must be played, bigger picture is of course larger. Its something what gives people hope, something what takes their mind off covid. Professional footballers especially in countries where they get huge amounts of money by playing are very privileged. Majority of them is not that special as players, its just way easier to clubs to take players who already knows living culture and language.
Interesting stuff. Thanks as ever, 1×2.
Your contributions to MFW are always very welcome, and if you ever fancy penning me a guest blog, I’ll happily post it.
Best
Gary
Thanks Gary, I keep that in mind if something comes in my mind which could be interesting and informative. To me this is good english writing practice, but of course main reason is myfootballwriter columns which are overall different and interesting.
Schools never were safe, they are full of germ breeders lol, but bumbling Boris said they were and suddenly now they’re not! Surprise surprise. The bloke is a complete idiot … I actually liked him to start with but he lost me when he didn’t sack his mate Cummings, and so now I think Keir Starmer speaks more sense.
Football was ruined by the Premier League and Sky. It became all about money and played all through the week instead of Saturdays. Bring back the old Division 1 – so much better, proper football 😉
There were always midweek matches before the advent of Sky, BT Sport and the Premier League itself, and not just the FA Cup replays – think about all the postponed matches that had to be fitted in before the days of undersoil pitch heating.
I remember many a game under the Carrow Road floodlights in the 80s and early 90s.
Sure the exaggerated tinkering with kick off times to suit TV isn’t something I like but it’s something we’ve all had to come to terms with.
Wasn’t the Ipswich Milk Cup semi second leg played under the candles in 1985? It know it was because I was there – maybe you were too, I dunno.
Sky and their like are to blame for a lot, but not for creating midweek fixtures.
Yes, Martin, you’re right, we did have mid-week games before Sky, but they were mainly cup replays, or matches to catch up after a cup run or bad weather postponements. They were almost always on a Wednesday. I think Canaryjim’s point is that now we have games on just about every weekday, and four games consecutively on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s got to the point where in the past I would have watched just about every televised game, I now frequently prefer to watch a repeat of something like QI on Dave.
As in the last lockdown, I believe football should continue. Providing they can make it safe. And by and large, they have succeeded in that.
It is unquestionably a morale booster for many during these times. Footballers get a lot of grief but I have been impressed by the intensity at which they appear to be playing, in what must be a surreal atmosphere.
As Daniel said recently, if supermarket workers, among others, can go to work in a far less safe environment, then football must carry on.
Hi dp3, it’s definitely a morale booster and as I outlined in my blog, my mind has shifted from the start of lockdown. Agree, IF it’s safe to play then they should continue. Interesting though that Covid positive outbreaks have been reported at Middlesbrough and Aston Villa today. The trick is to isolate quickly, but with this more transmissible variant, that may be easier said than done!
Martin, I didn’t say midweek – I meant early Saturday late Saturday early Sunday late Sunday midday evening Tuesday evening and Friday evenings, and, listen, I was a Barclay boy from 1980 until about 1993 when it was terracing and no-mans land was full. It was a right buzz and a laugh – now I’m afraid it’s quite boring, thanks very much. You can stick your Sky and your money up ya… lol. Old School
Fair enough mate
As Jim D says [above] I probably got your sentiments a little bit wrong tbh.
Many of us who contribute in one way or another to MFW will remember standing in “no mans land” and it was just the same in the River End, believe me – if you had to drive up from London it was far easier to get in there than the Barclay if you were a bit on the late side, although obviously I’ve stood in both.
I assure you I’ve no love for the concept of Sky and all its filthy lucre. Few of us have.