Agree that fans wont be allowed in the grounds for a good while after
Point still is though, 46 games, 2 or 3 times a week, how many NHS staff is that away from where they are needed?
No way.. I mean no way is football back until we are a few weeks past the peak. Which is likely to be a good 2-3 months
If you green light football then the pressure from other sports, entertainments, concerts etc etc etc will come to return - which is then even more NHS staff
It wont be back in my opinion until at best July
Hey all. Back in the land of the living here. Glad to see the boards are going strong.
If you don't mind, I want to repost something I wrote a couple of weeks ago. I still think this is the best plan in terms of being responsible but also protecting the financial end of things (clubs still getting their TV money). I should add to all of this I am against playing games behind closed doors if it can be avoided. There should be nothing sacrosanct about finishing the season by Date X. These are extraordinary times. So here's what I suggested with a few added points in italics:
"Euro 2020 is postponed one year.
No football until July when preseason begins. As part of preseason the FA Cup quarterfinals, semis and final can be played in a one-week knockout tournament
(helps replace lost revenue from all the canceled preseason tours).
THIS season will be resumed when the next season ordinarily would have begun. This season the Charity Shield was August 4th with the first round of Premier League games August 9.
Beginning in early August then, everyone has 9 or 10 matches to play, and the 2019-20 Premier League champion will be crowned sometime around the end of September. This way there is nothing questionable about value of the title, the legitimacy of promotion, relegation or qualifying spots for Europe.
The 2020-21 season will then begin almost immediately afterward (beginning of October), and played as a single round robin rather than a double. A 20th match will be included in which teams that are away one extra game (10 away, 9 home) can host teams that are home one extra game (10 home, 9 away), so everyone gets 10 home matches and 20 total league games. A draw would determine who is played in that extra league game.
(you could also add an even number of additional games, whatever the calendar supports - so maybe 24 matches of 26 or something like that. It wouldn't be a balanced schedule but I'm sure all parties would go for additional revenue over sporting integrity on this point)If you combine the end of this season with the revamped next season, you are looking at about 8 fewer fixtures from early August to mid-May (2021). That would make Klopp happy. I know it is lost revenue, but what do you do?
Sounds like UEFA are going to complete this year's club competitions in July and August, similar to what I'm suggesting here with domestic league play.
One other issue with the above is that UEFA play begins before the current season is completed. On a one-time basis, it may be necessary to determine a few of the qualifying spots with play-in games in July. We wouldn't need to do that but determining some of the lower qualifying spots might require it.
This would work and would avoid some of the worst consequences of the issue. Setting July as a return date will help keep certainty for supporters instead of any regularly scheduled disappointing announcement scenario. None of this is perfect, but this would be as close to normal as I think we can get.
It seems more evident to me that we're looking at June 1 as an earliest possible return date. I think by then leagues and clubs would opt for starting preseason at the normal time rather than trying to shoehorn everything in immediately and then beginning 20-21 straightaway.