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Coronavirus and the Scottish Championship


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Since it’s being discussed over multiple threads...

I do not want to speculate on what will happen with the league, but the suggestion in some quarters that games may resume in 5 or 6 weeks is highly unlikely IMO.

The various reports suggest the virus may peak in 10-12 weeks so I don’t see football being resumed before then.  One exception may be to play games behind closed doors but not sure what would happen if players at any club contract the virus.

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Ok, thankfully we aren't in Championship but its a very valid point to so many clubs...………….. its hard to give clarity when there is none, so i think this is very hand to mouth at the moment.

Closed doors would be the worst outcome for most clubs as they have overheads but no income...…………

I don't think we will hear anything until things looked to have peaked, and with greatest, this is far bigger than Sport , so what ever, whenever clubs will need to go with it

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3 minutes ago, Aladdin said:

Euro 2020 will be postponed for a year and domestic and european club competitions will finish up over the summer months.

Can you also tell me the lottery numbers for Sat oh Oracle one :lol:

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Even if the postponement was precautionary, it clearly was only a matter of time, especially with this news coming out.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/football/51876638?__twitter_impression=true
There isn't any other option. It was madness that they were still insisting the rugby was going ahead this morning.

Theres a UEFA meeting on tuesday when things may become clearer.

In the meantime we can all just agree it's a rangers led conspiracy to keep United down.
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2020 Euros being canned is quite possible I reckon.  If, say around April/May the feeling is things can get up and moving again, then as well as all the national leage games across the Europe + play-off matches and cup finals there are still outstanding fixtures for CL and the Europa.  Thats a lot of football games. 

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58 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

The same reason abandoned games after 88 minutes get replayed from the start.

They'll take no decision until it's clear how long we're stopped for. If we get back playing by mid April they might just about fit it in but I think that's a long shot. If it's into May then they'll have a choice of asking clubs to play 3 times a week to finish the season before the end of May or not.

Most clubs, certainly outside the Premiership, will have the vast majority of their players out of contract at the end of May or 9th June. There's a lot of talk down South about the postponement of Euro 20 allowing an extension to finish the season but the standard English contract runs to June 30th so they have a bit more time in hand. In Scotland that isn't typical. To extend the season is going to require clubs to extend playing contracts by a month or two and you can't force players to do that. Some will have pre-contracts to join other clubs on June 9th. Others will have holidays. Clubs are going to be chronically short of cash to pay staff as it is now never mind extending contracts. Players are unlikely to agree to play for nothing.

Personally I think if we're not back playing by early May they'll have the choice of declaring the season null and void or "finishing it" when we come back and accepting that will mean clubs having different players to finish the season with as the window will be open (FIFA could move the window to accommodate this better I suppose if football is off internationally). The problem with finishing this season at the start of next is it then means you will need to contract players without knowing if you are getting promoted, relegated or staying the same. Our budget for next season will be very different if we ultimately get relegated than if we stay up. It will also be different if we've got Hearts coming down twice rather than Hamilton!

They'll do anything they can to avoid that nonsense imo. They'll push an extension and maybe a return to closed door games if they think they are past a peak of new cases, as soon as they can. But ultimately they may have to abandon the season. Or perhaps extend it for the top division to let them sort out titles and Euro qualification. The likelihood is they'll be better able to afford an extension and it's where all the tv money is generated so more incentive to play it out.

It's a mess and we'll not really know what they can do until we have a better idea when we can resume.

I'll just put this here as well then...

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The financial impact will be huge for most if not all Championship clubs.

Morton may only have 4 home league games left but that's still a lot of money for us to lose.

If the season resumes in June/July then clubs will have to extend players contracts and pay them with no revenue from games between now and then.

I would also hope on a transfer freeze until these games have been played  - whenever that will be? 

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The main problem is we have no idea how long the league will be suspended for. Things look like they will get far worse before they get any better. i would expect the league to be shut down for a minimum of 4 weeks.

Lets say football resumes the weekend of the 11th of April. We would have 8 weekends to play all remaining matches before we get into June. Many players currently are not contracted beyond this point.  Contract extensions would be needed if it went beyond that.

In the Championship my team Arbroath have 10 matches to play to complete the season. and if Playoffs are required that can be another 2 to 6 games depending of what playoffs. The league would need to be extended into the summer which has a knock on effect to the start of the next season.

other clubs in Scotland find themselves in the same situation. 

Postponing Euro 2020 to next year looks very likely considering what is going on.

 

 

So....

 

is there any way we could resolve the leagues now?

Well relegating teams just now would seem a tad unfair. yes they are bottom but there are still a lot of games to be played and they could have still stayed up. same with teams fighting for promotion. Dundee United are well in front and deserve to go up. to deny them promotion would be an injustice and could well throw that club into further financial troubles. Raith and Falkirk and their finances are precarious aswell.

So we should do something radical for 1 season only. No relegation for any team. But promote teams.

Scot Premiership plus the top 4 from the  Championship. 16 team league for a 30 game season. end of season bottom 6 are relegated.

Bottom 6 of Championship merge with League 1 and the top 4 of the League 2. 20 team league and a simple 38 game season. End of the season top 2 go up, teams placed 3rd to 6th are safe. 7th to bottom are relegated.

Bottom 6 of League 2 are joined by the top 4 of the Highland and Lowland leagues. 14 team league. 26 games season. 6/8 split for a further 10/14 games.  The Bottom 8 are filtered into the Highland or Lowland Leagues. The top 6 merge with the 14 teams relegated from Championship ( another season where they play 20 team, 38 game season, bottom 10 form the new League 2. team at bottom also has to playoff against HL or LL champions). 

 

by the 22/23 season we will be back to the same setup.

it will take time but i can imagine quite a few clubs lodging legal challenges if they were to be relegated/denied promotion if the league was to end right now with everyone staying in the same leagues.

 

I know its a crazy idea. But who would have thought we would have got to this point 2 months ago.

 

 

 

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The main problem is we have no idea how long the league will be suspended for. Things look like they will get far worse before they get any better. i would expect the league to be shut down for a minimum of 4 weeks.

Lets say football resumes the weekend of the 11th of April. We would have 8 weekends to play all remaining matches before we get into June. Many players currently are not contracted beyond this point.  Contract extensions would be needed if it went beyond that.

In the Championship my team Arbroath have 10 matches to play to complete the season. and if Playoffs are required that can be another 2 to 6 games depending of what playoffs. The league would need to be extended into the summer which has a knock on effect to the start of the next season.

other clubs in Scotland find themselves in the same situation. 

Postponing Euro 2020 to next year looks very likely considering what is going on.

 

 

So....

 

is there any way we could resolve the leagues now?

Well relegating teams just now would seem a tad unfair. yes they are bottom but there are still a lot of games to be played and they could have still stayed up. same with teams fighting for promotion. Dundee United are well in front and deserve to go up. to deny them promotion would be an injustice and could well throw that club into further financial troubles. Raith and Falkirk and their finances are precarious aswell.

So we should do something radical for 1 season only. No relegation for any team. But promote teams.

Scot Premiership plus the top 4 from the  Championship. 16 team league for a 30 game season. end of season bottom 6 are relegated.

Bottom 6 of Championship merge with League 1 and the top 4 of the League 2. 20 team league and a simple 38 game season. End of the season top 2 go up, teams placed 3rd to 6th are safe. 7th to bottom are relegated.

Bottom 6 of League 2 are joined by the top 4 of the Highland and Lowland leagues. 14 team league. 26 games season. 6/8 split for a further 10/14 games.  The Bottom 8 are filtered into the Highland or Lowland Leagues. The top 6 merge with the 14 teams relegated from Championship ( another season where they play 20 team, 38 game season, bottom 10 form the new League 2. team at bottom also has to playoff against HL or LL champions). 

 

by the 22/23 season we will be back to the same setup.

it will take time but i can imagine quite a few clubs lodging legal challenges if they were to be relegated/denied promotion if the league was to end right now with everyone staying in the same leagues.

 

I know its a crazy idea. But who would have thought we would have got to this point 2 months ago.

 

 

 

All places should stand as now IMO no more games will take place this season

 

 

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Ok, thankfully we aren't in Championship but its a very valid point to so many clubs...………….. its hard to give clarity when there is none, so i think this is very hand to mouth at the moment.
Closed doors would be the worst outcome for most clubs as they have overheads but no income...…………
I don't think we will hear anything until things looked to have peaked, and with greatest, this is far bigger than Sport , so what ever, whenever clubs will need to go with it
Closed doors games can't be any worse for clubs than no games at all. At least they might be able to sell club TV subscriptions and the like.
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7 minutes ago, craigkillie said:
55 minutes ago, DougJamie said:
Ok, thankfully we aren't in Championship but its a very valid point to so many clubs...………….. its hard to give clarity when there is none, so i think this is very hand to mouth at the moment.
Closed doors would be the worst outcome for most clubs as they have overheads but no income...…………
I don't think we will hear anything until things looked to have peaked, and with greatest, this is far bigger than Sport , so what ever, whenever clubs will need to go with it

Closed doors games can't be any worse for clubs than no games at all. At least they might be able to sell club TV subscriptions and the like.

better than no games maybe. But going closed door means confirming the games will never happen with fans which commits to season ticket refunds(clubs would hope for very limited number of fans asking for one, but legally they would have to offer everyone up to 20% back. That’s a lot of money to gamble on fans good will.

Edited by parsforlife
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better than no games maybe. But going closed door means confirming the games will never happen with fans which commits to season ticket refunds(clubs would hope for very limited number of fans asking for one, but legally they would have to offer everyone up to 20% back. That’s a lot of money to gamble on fans good will.
It's still better than cancelling (or stopping early) the season, which also requires confirming that games will never happen.

I'm not saying they should do this now, I'm saying it should be the next option in a few weeks if they feel the players can play but it's not safe for fans to attend yet.
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7 minutes ago, The Ghost of B A R P said:

If the table has to stand as it currently is -- which looks more and more likely with each passing day -- that will be as close to a 'just' solution as we can possibly get in the circumstances.

Quick glance suggests that's true also for the Premiership, League 1, and League 2.

There no obvious solution where every club would be happy but unless every club in a certain league have played the same number of games can it be called a fair reflection of that league.

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