Coronavirus and the Scottish Championship

[Ludo*1]

2 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

That committee is far too much to be honest. Looks far too big to be workable. Is Lachlan Cameron even in the country? I thought he was in the US currently. Is he joining online? 

 

Did you expect them to have a physical meeting like?

[Monkey Tennis]

6 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

 

The more you look at the Budge quote, the more sensationally bonkers it becomes.

She's equating the fact that Dundee United spent plenty and won loads of matches and points, to the fact that Hearts spent plenty and won very few.

She somehow sees the actual events on the field as incidental.  She's a dangerous nut-job and I hope her comments have done her the damage they ought to.

[Ludo*1]

Scot Gardiner deemed not important enough to make the working group? He'll be seething. No more messages to leak ya dick?

Things you love to see.

[Derry Alli]

I reckon it's the only reason ol' chubby chops from Ayr has went on the panel. To see if he can get in the WhatsApp group. 

[Monkey Tennis]

10 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

 

There are two issues here. Firstly at what stage can football actually be PLAYED safely. That means all levels, from internationals to five a side kick abouts with your mates. If you arent allowed within 2m of a non family member then you are not playing football. Its a contact sport and cant be played with social distancing in place. No vaccine or herd immunity = no football. Or we test players before each game I suppose but thats a long way from being achievable too.

Secondly, if you can play football can you have a crowd at it? I'm no doctor but presumably if social distancing is removed enough to play football then some sort of crowd may be possible too. If on the other hand football gets played by testing players, you might be looking at closed door games. 

That then gives issues about paying players. You might find a lot more clubs going amateur / part time if it is a long term thing. Fundamentally football clubs get money from about 5 sources: League funding, gate receipts, commercial revenues around games (hospitality, shirt sponsors, adverts, etc), non playing commercial money (property rents, gyms, etc) and donated income (mainly owner funding). The problem is that closed doors, esp in the lower leagues, decimate that. You maybe still get the League funding which is mostly tv money but you have zero gate receipts. You have zero hospitality. Advertising is vastly reduced in value especially where tv coverage is limited. Sponsors may also have their own problems commercially surviving and wont have spare cash to throw at football. That also likely applies to donated / ownership funding and possibly also to non football commercial stuff. Gyms will not reopen quickly probably either for instance. 

Depending how long it goes on with no vaccine the entire face of the professional game could change. Hopefully nowhere near as bad as that. Football is our national game. Its important for the economy. Its important for mental health, its important for physical health. The Govt wont want it shut down long term but it isnt a life or death thing and will need to wait till its safe to restart. That may be something measured in months not weeks and it might be even longer before it returns to what we perceived as 'normal' before.

This is undoubtedly a mind-numbingly stupid question, but I'm asking it anyway:

To what extent can an operation the size of Queens be mothballed?

Obviously, the uncertainty is a huge hurdle right now.  Say though for instance, that it was later confirmed that football couldn't happen until August 2021.  Would the company survive?  Can clubs hibernate for spells, or will outgoings continue in such a way as to render clubs no longer viable without income?

Asking for a clueless friend.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Do Budge and Donald Trump share the same hairdresser?

[Skinheed]

Conspiracy theorists are usually funny.

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with the persons in that group, have a drink and rid yerselves of the paranoia..  

[johnnydun]

9 minutes ago, Skinheed said:

Conspiracy theorists are usually funny.

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with the persons in that group, have a drink and rid yerselves of the paranoia..  

Aye ok baldy.

[D'Jaffo]

Conspiracy theorists are usually funny.
 
Absolutely nothing wrong with the persons in that group, have a drink and rid yerselves of the paranoia..  [emoji481]

Ok Ann.

[Bigmouth Strikes Again]

Get your stack of cash Budge, retire, and f**k off to your country cottage and concentrate on knitting.

Old boot.

Thank you.

[Sergeant Wilson]

34 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

Do Budge and Donald Trump share the same hairdresser?

Watch yourself, Budgey has teeth.

[Skinheed]

41 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Ok Ann.

You saw through my disguise??

Anyway, you know I'm right, right?

 

[Distant Doonhamer]

Do Budge and Donald Trump share the same hairdresser?

 

Same hairdresser certainly. Same ridiculous view of the world , almost certainly.

[Skyline Drifter]

4 hours ago, Speroni*1 said:

Did you expect them to have a physical meeting like?

It was badly phrased but it isnt impossible some of them will meet in the same place to discuss it. In the same way some tv shows with multiple guests are still happening with social distance spacing between the seats. 

[Skyline Drifter]

4 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

This is undoubtedly a mind-numbingly stupid question, but I'm asking it anyway:

To what extent can an operation the size of Queens be mothballed?

Obviously, the uncertainty is a huge hurdle right now.  Say though for instance, that it was later confirmed that football couldn't happen until August 2021.  Would the company survive?  Can clubs hibernate for spells, or will outgoings continue in such a way as to render clubs no longer viable without income?

Asking for a clueless friend.

Dangerous ground to start commented on Queens specifically so I will largely dodge that. Speaking in generalities though, football clubs at least have no grey about their position. Pretty much everything they do is shut down for now. But the Govt have stopped rates, given grants and are subsidising the payroll. Once o/s bills brought into the lockdown are paid there isnt a great deal of expense actually incurred for most I assume. There will be utility bills but as buildings are closed and we are heading into summer they will be fairly minimal. Insurance and other bits and pieces. I guess the main question is how long furloughing continues. If it ceased before business could restart there might be big problems especially for clubs with a lot of players already contracted for next season.

[ScottyG]

3 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Dangerous ground to start commented on Queens specifically so I will largely dodge that. Speaking in generalities though, football clubs at least have no grey about their position. Pretty much everything they do is shut down for now. But the Govt have stopped rates, given grants and are subsidising the payroll. Once o/s bills brought into the lockdown are paid there isnt a great deal of expense actually incurred for most I assume. There will be utility bills but as buildings are closed and we are heading into summer they will be fairly minimal. Insurance and other bits and pieces. I guess the main question is how long furloughing continues. If it ceased before business could restart there might be big problems especially for clubs with a lot of players already contracted for next season.

If it ends up there is a longer than hoped for shut down and a majority of SPFL clubs end up in hibernation, then to restart any kind of football league will need an equal distribution of funds among the clubs who haven't been able to continue operating. The SPFL has given out the remainder of this years cash reserves so once that is spent clubs will need to rely on the next TV deal for a cash injection to kick start their businesses. Reconstruction could take on a completely different meaning if the struggle is to find enough viable clus to have any sort of league.

[jagsfan57]

https://spfl.co.uk/news/reconstruction-group-announced
I'm pleased to say to Dundee fans that our very own Lachlan Cameron is on the reconstruction panel, lets fucking go!
18 Prem HWG

Hope they can make up their mind

[jagsfan57]

That committee is far too much to be honest. Looks far too big to be workable. Is Lachlan Cameron even in the country? I thought he was in the US currently. Is he joining online? 
Not too many without a vested interest either. Biggest surprise is neither ICT nor Stranraer involved. 
At least if they do come up with a workable proposal it will be off to a good start, half the League is on the committee! 

Think they will all be joining remotely, won’t they ?

[Highlandmagyar 2nd Tier]

12 hours ago, rb123! said:

https://spfl.co.uk/news/reconstruction-group-announced

I'm pleased to say to Dundee fans that our very own Lachlan Cameron is on the reconstruction panel, lets fucking go!

18 Prem HWG

He will no doubt be advised on what to do by his pal Donald J Trump.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

10 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

This is undoubtedly a mind-numbingly stupid question, but I'm asking it anyway:

To what extent can an operation the size of Queens be mothballed?

Obviously, the uncertainty is a huge hurdle right now.  Say though for instance, that it was later confirmed that football couldn't happen until August 2021.  Would the company survive?  Can clubs hibernate for spells, or will outgoings continue in such a way as to render clubs no longer viable without income?

Asking for a clueless friend.

A few junior sides have "gone into abeyance" over the years. Obviously far, far smaller operations though. Forfar West End, one of my local sides did so a few years back after running into severe financial difficulties, and were in abeyance for a season or so. At that level of course they lost all their players and management team. The massive difference I suppose will be that senior sides such as Queens etc will have a few employed members of staff, whereas West End and most Junior clubs are run by committee. I'd expect a senior side doing something similar would need a massive cash grant to start up again. Even in "Hibernation" any club in the senior would likely need a skeleton staff to to the admin such as deal with utility bills, groundsman to keep the pitch in some semblance of order and general maintenance of the ground and buildings.