Coronavirus and the Scottish Championship

[RandomGuy.]

6 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Isn’t it a long running joke that nobody from st Johnstone ever gets called up? 

Shankland maybe a slim chance from United.   If anyone is calling up hearts players their competence is highly doubtful.  

Ali McCann is being talked about as getting a call up for NI, and David Wotherspoon is a regular selection for Canada. Presumably they both have games during the break.

Don't know about U21 games, but our new right back Dan McNamara players for Irelands U21s.

[parsforlife]

15 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Ali McCann is being talked about as getting a call up for NI, and David Wotherspoon is a regular selection for Canada. Presumably they both have games during the break.

Don't know about U21 games, but our new right back Dan McNamara players for Irelands U21s.

Wotherspoon has played twice for Canada, hardly a regular. They also have no competitive fixtures until November. 

Rumour that a player might get called up is fairly meaningless as are youth caps( I have no idea what benefit there is to football at this time take players out of a stretched competitive club environment for a kickabout)

Edited July 15, 2020 by parsforlife

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Wotherspoon has played twice for Canada, hardly a regular. They also have no competitive fixtures until November. 

Rumour that a player might get called up is fairly meaningless as are youth caps( I have no idea what benefit there is to football at this time take players out of a stretched competitive club environment for a kickabout)

Hes regularly called up to their squads, despite not getting much game time.

The "rumour" was NI's manager saying Ali McCann was likely to be called up.

I've no idea why you're being so defensive, I was simply stating what players at Saints could be on International duty. I've no idea what was even being discussed that brought it up.

[craigkillie]

21 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Isn’t it a long running joke that nobody from st Johnstone ever gets called up? 

Shankland maybe a slim chance from United.   If anyone is calling up hearts players their competence is highly doubtful.  

Shankland isn't a slim chance - he was in the last two squads and will almost certainly be in this one again. They'll also probably have Appere away with the U21s, and Glass could be a shout for that squad too.

Hearts will definitely have Michael Smith and Conor Washington away with NI, and Liam Boyce could easily also be in their squad. Naismith could be in the Scotland squad, and Irving, Moore and Hickey are likely call-ups for the U21s.

[parsforlife]

13 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

Shankland isn't a slim chance - he was in the last two squads and will almost certainly be in this one again. They'll also probably have Appere away with the U21s, and Glass could be a shout for that squad too.

Hearts will definitely have Michael Smith and Conor Washington away with NI, and Liam Boyce could easily also be in their squad. Naismith could be in the Scotland squad, and Irving, Moore and Hickey are likely call-ups for the U21s.

How can shankland be a near certainty?  He’s had hardly any game time and what he has played has been in has been against a pub team and once the match was over vs Russia.   You’ll have several players like dykes and nisbet who he’ll be competing with at the start of next season who he could easily lose his spot too.

The NI guys are an ok shout, for hearts, it seams possible hearts will either need to play without or postpone a game or two into the next couple of midweeks.  There should be space to fit those into the calendar. 

[craigkillie]

6 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

How can shankland be a near certainty?  He’s had hardly any game time and what he has played has been in has been against a pub team and once the match was over vs Russia.   You’ll have several players like dykes and nisbet who he’ll be competing with at the start of next season who he could easily lose his spot too.

The NI guys are an ok shout, for hearts, it seams possible hearts will either need to play without or postpone a game or two into the next couple of midweeks.  There should be space to fit those into the calendar. 

He's a near certainty because he's basically the only out and out goalscorer we have aside from Griffiths, he was in the last two squads, and he played well when he did get his chance, regardless of who the opposition were. If Dykes does choose to play for us then he'd be called up for a completely different role.

We have no idea whether clubs will have to play without international players or whether there will be space in the calendar - that's exactly what my original post was speculating about. My guess is that if we are using the current group stage system then there will be 3 League Cup matchdays during the October international break (6th/7th, 10th, 13th/14th), so if clubs are allowed to postpone games due to international call-ups then the competition is going to turn into a bit of a farce, with some clubs having played 3 games and some not having played at all.

[parsforlife]

21 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

He's a near certainty because he's basically the only out and out goalscorer we have aside from Griffiths, he was in the last two squads, and he played well when he did get his chance, regardless of who the opposition were. If Dykes does choose to play for us then he'd be called up for a completely different role.

We have no idea whether clubs will have to play without international players or whether there will be space in the calendar - that's exactly what my original post was speculating about. My guess is that if we are using the current group stage system then there will be 3 League Cup matchdays during the October international break (6th/7th, 10th, 13th/14th), so if clubs are allowed to postpone games due to international call-ups then the competition is going to turn into a bit of a farce, with some clubs having played 3 games and some not having played at all.

What if Nisbet our scores him at the start of the season?  Is he our only goal scorer then?  They aren’t that far apart ability wise, Clarke will select whose in better form.

Clubs are rightly entitled to ask for postponing games for international call ups if they have 3 players away, Given the current circumstances it should only apply to senior players playing competitive games.  If a player is called up but only the  Saturday fixture is competitive  then they should be available for the midweeks either side.  We are playing under difficult circumstances and it’s important we prioritize important club competitions. 

Edited July 15, 2020 by parsforlife

[craigkillie]

11 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

What if Nisbet our scores him at the start of the season?  Is he our only goal scorer then?  They aren’t that far apart ability wise, Clarke will select whose in better form.

Clubs are rightly entitled to ask for postponing games for international call ups if they have 3 players away, Given the current circumstances it should only apply to senior players playing competitive games.  If a player is called up but only the  Saturday fixture is competitive  then they should be available for the midweeks either side.  We are playing under difficult circumstances and it’s important we prioritize important club competitions. 

I think Nisbet would have to score double figures in the first two months of the season to force his way into the squad - Shankland has already been in there and shown what he can do.

The clubs can't choose which players go away and which ones don't. If they get called up at any level for any type of match during the specified international window then their country are entitled to have them under FIFA rules. It would then seem unfair to "punish" a club because their players happened to get called up for friendlies or U21 games rather than competitive senior internationals - either way they're without the players.

Edited July 15, 2020 by craigkillie

[parsforlife]

Scoring once against San Mirino isn’t ‘showing what he can do’. It’s basic competence.   If Clarke isn’t seriously watching both players and judging them on their performances over the next couple of months he might as well resign.  

It might not be easy but clubs together with SPFL, SFA and hopefully the bigger bodies they need to take a stand if they are expected to suffer to facilitate low level games that nobody watches. That’s a ridiculous situation.

Edited July 16, 2020 by parsforlife

[vikingTON]

Playing during an international break simply gives the 'big teams' an extra chance to play young players next season instead of ripping up the entire league structure to make room for their shan 'Colt' outfits instead. Problem solved.

International football is also utter fucking dogshite compared to the club game so we should proceed with the domestic campaign regardless of whoever Scotland, the Failed Statelet etc. want to call up to contest their rubbish and irrelevant matches.

Edited July 16, 2020 by vikingTON

[ATLIS]

We'll likely have Dykes, McCrorie, Lawson away on international duties, maybe a few more. 

Anyone have any idea what the official number of absentees required is to request postponement? 

[Skyline Drifter]

17 minutes ago, ATLIS said:

We'll likely have Dykes, McCrorie, Lawson away on international duties, maybe a few more. 

Anyone have any idea what the official number of absentees required is to request postponement? 

Its three.

Are u21 and youth games actually likely to go ahead in October? Surely they are only playing what absolutely has to be played at the moment? Will McCrorie not be too old for the 21s now too or is there a campaign still to finish?

[Jamie_M]

16 hours ago, parsforlife said:

Given the sides in Europe don’t take part in the group stage will there be players away on international duty?

Iain Blair said it's likely to be pretty much a standard format league cup, just shunted to a later start and finishing after Christmas.

He also said clubs with players on International duty would likely have to just suck it up and get on with it.

Most clubs treat the existing group stage as glorified pre-season anyway so what's the difference in being forced to be without a few first team regulars rather than resting and rotating anyway.

[craigkillie]

10 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Its three.

Are u21 and youth games actually likely to go ahead in October? Surely they are only playing what absolutely has to be played at the moment? Will McCrorie not be too old for the 21s now too or is there a campaign still to finish?

The remaining 2021 UEFA U21 qualifiers have been rescheduled for September, October and November.

[Ludo*1]

Really don't understand why Ross Morrison put himself forward for election after the actions of his CEO. Not a chance he was getting accepted.

[itzdrk]

50 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Really don't understand why Ross Morrison put himself forward for election after the actions of his CEO. Not a chance he was getting accepted.

He backed him mind, pretended they weren't at it. 

[weirdcal]

Now on Wednesday, premiership starts this weekend. Get the feeling the relegations and promotions are standing

[craigkillie]

11 minutes ago, weirdcal said:

Now on Wednesday, premiership starts this weekend. Get the feeling the relegations and promotions are standing

The Premiership starts next weekend, not this weekend.

[weirdcal]

The Premiership starts next weekend, not this weekend.

Ah crap, thought I'd seen adverts for sportscene and start of league.
As i don't have BBC Scotland here I just assumed it was this week

[Skyline Drifter]

St Mirren Locked Down

Just to highlight what a knife edge this is while there is a general assumption we will be fine and near normal by October.

St Mirren locked down. Saturdays friendly cancelled. Opening League game is some doubt. Testing requirement for clubs in Scotland immediately returned to two a week. Thats the sort of thing that clubs have to build in to their budgets of course. We cant just assume testing will by once or not at all by the time the Championship restarts.