Lowland League 2020/21 General Chat

[FairWeatherFan 3,764]

3 hours ago, the tin man said:

Looking like l1 n 2 will test until the end of march can the lowland teams afford that. Only way a see them gettin back

If the SPFL clubs try to stick to their original schedule. Then there's no way the Highland League will be able to get close to a finished season of any kind and will likely null & void.

That would give the LL any extra couple of weeks with no HL v. LL part of the SPFL Playoff. They then should be able to complete a season that crosses the 50% threshold to declare on PPG.

[oldandround 58]

19 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

If the SPFL clubs try to stick to their original schedule. Then there's no way the Highland League will be able to get close to a finished season of any kind and will likely null & void.

That would give the LL any extra couple of weeks with no HL v. LL part of the SPFL Playoff. They then should be able to complete a season that crosses the 50% threshold to declare on PPG.

Did the lowland league not already say that if they were unable to complete this season, then Kelty would be declared champions for the playoffs?

[Jerry Macguire 1,029]

23 minutes ago, oldandround said:

Did the lowland league not already say that if they were unable to complete this season, then Kelty would be declared champions for the playoffs?

No. That cannot be determined until they know when they can restart. My understanding is they have 4 possible scenarios and will make a decision once they know when they can resume.

[newcastle broon 2,229]

11 minutes ago, Jerry Macguire said:

No. That cannot be determined until they know when they can restart. My understanding is they have 4 possible scenarios and will make a decision once they know when they can resume.

What's the scenarios Jerry?

[Jerry Macguire 1,029]

41 minutes ago, newcastle broon said:

What's the scenarios Jerry?

I don’t know the full details but one is to complete the remaining fixtures over a 10 week period, one involves a split with reduced fixtures and the 3rd is to get to the 50% of games played to call the season on ppg. The final one being nul n void. Throw into the mix the possibilities of extending the season and the fact teams not competing for the title could play on, even if the champion club is involved with the play offs. They have put a fair bit of effort into planning however it looks as though that may all be in vain if the SFA do as some are predicting and only allowing teams who test to resume.

[oldandround 58]

4 hours ago, Jerry Macguire said:

I don’t know the full details but one is to complete the remaining fixtures over a 10 week period, one involves a split with reduced fixtures and the 3rd is to get to the 50% of games played to call the season on ppg. The final one being nul n void. Throw into the mix the possibilities of extending the season and the fact teams not competing for the title could play on, even if the champion club is involved with the play offs. They have put a fair bit of effort into planning however it looks as though that may all be in vain if the SFA do as some are predicting and only allowing teams who test to resume.

Assuming the SFA (gov) accept them, Antigen kits (aka lateral flow tests as proposed to be used by schools etc) are £7 each.  so for a playing squad incl backroom team of say 25, thats £200ish a week per team.  Not cheap, but not exactly club wrecking for teams that just got a nice grant.

Testing isn't the end of the world (as long as they dont wont those ruinously expensive PCR ones.)

just saying.......

[Jerry Macguire 1,029]

1 hour ago, oldandround said:

Assuming the SFA (gov) accept them, Antigen kits (aka lateral flow tests as proposed to be used by schools etc) are £7 each.  so for a playing squad incl backroom team of say 25, thats £200ish a week per team.  Not cheap, but not exactly club wrecking for teams that just got a nice grant.

Testing isn't the end of the world (as long as they dont wont those ruinously expensive PCR ones.)

just saying.......

As far as I’m aware the testing would be PCR tests which depending on who you talk to would be in the region of £5k per week. 

[Big Dougie 18]

Testing once a week would cost £2k per week based on 25 people being tested

[Jerry Macguire 1,029]

35 minutes ago, Big Dougie said:

Testing once a week would cost £2k per week based on 25 people being tested

Most squads have 25 players, your probably looking at a minimum of 32 to 33 players and staff for each club. Even at £2k a week that is likely to be beyond the majority of clubs in the LL.

[oldandround 58]

Wouldnt have to be PCR.

PCR was the rule in august etc.  Since then technology has moved on. If the government is advocating lateral flow as good enough for flights and schools, there must be a case for the SFA to argue that its good enough for tier 5 football.  Has anyone even checked considering at the moment they dont require any testing at all.  If the SFA offer the lateral flow testing as a compromise, who knows.   they might go for it even as a trial for the rest of the economy.

I agree if its to be PCR, thats a non starter as far too expensive.

Edited January 24 by oldandround
typos

[Jerry Macguire 1,029]

2 hours ago, oldandround said:

Wouldnt have to be PCR.

PCR was the rule in august etc.  Since then technology has moved on. If the government is advocating lateral flow as good enough for flights and schools, there must be a case for the SFA to argue that its good enough for tier 5 football.  Has anyone even checked considering at the moment they dont require any testing at all.  If the SFA offer the lateral flow testing as a compromise, who knows.   they might go for it even as a trial for the rest of the economy.

I agree if its to be PCR, thats a non starter as far too expensive.

It’s a good shout and hopefully an idea the clubs will try to push. I’m of the opinion this has little to do with testing and more to do with self preservation. Then again I do like wearing tin foil hats. 

[Dev 693]

20 hours ago, Jerry Macguire said:

I don’t know the full details but one is to complete the remaining fixtures over a 10 week period, one involves a split with reduced fixtures and the 3rd is to get to the 50% of games played to call the season on ppg. The final one being nul n void. Throw into the mix the possibilities of extending the season and the fact teams not competing for the title could play on, even if the champion club is involved with the play offs. They have put a fair bit of effort into planning however it looks as though that may all be in vain if the SFA do as some are predicting and only allowing teams who test to resume.

In effect closing the door for a second successive season/protecting the bottom SPFL club. Hm!

[Jerry Macguire 1,029]

22 minutes ago, Dev said:

In effect closing the door for a second successive season/protecting the bottom SPFL club. Hm!

That is my fear. I’m hoping I’m completely wrong though and we can file this alongside the Americans faking the  moon landings and the Beetles replacing Paul McCartney with a lookalike after his death.

[FairWeatherFan 3,764]

League One and Two clubs are more likely to be tied into contracts that end after the scheduled SPFL Playoffs, so probably don't want to extend the season beyond that. Which is why they're pushing for a solution that allows for the season to be completed on schedule. Otherwise they're facing the same possibility of having to null and void the season.

A good 15-16 of them aren't going to have anything to do with being Club 42 this year. So that's not going to be a primary motivator for them.

[selfassemblyshire 822]

The WOSL tweeted that they're hoping to have a scenario where everybody has played each other once and they've played at least 50% of their games. Theybhave scrapped the original fixture list to make this happen.

This would allow them to use PPG to determine places and crown a champon (who hopefully has a license) to get a crack at the LL.

My main question is, will we relegate VOL or expand to 18?

[Thom & Gerry 343]

All 20 have signed the agreement put to the SFA to get the season started.

[Brazilianlex 295]

On 24/01/2021 at 09:51, Dev said:

In effect closing the door for a second successive season/protecting the bottom SPFL club. Hm!

The 20 league 1 and 2 Clubs are trying to persuade the SFA to restart mid feb and are prepared to test to do that. 
That’s hardly protecting themselves.

Having said that, the pre season agreement was 27 games. Anything less than that then it should just be the same as last season and scrap all play offs.

[Big Dougie 18]

44 minutes ago, Brazilianlex said:

The 20 league 1 and 2 Clubs are trying to persuade the SFA to restart mid feb and are prepared to test to do that. 
That’s hardly protecting themselves.

Having said that, the pre season agreement was 27 games. Anything less than that then it should just be the same as last season and scrap all play offs.

Is it not? Considering the vast difference in what league 2 got in grants, and what the LL got, they probably know that LL couldn’t afford to test. 
Nothing surprises me anymore with the self preservation league.

[LongTimeLurker 1,752]

At that point though the SFA could still accept a PPG outcome for LL and HL entrants and tests could be done for the playoffs. May is a long way off in terms of what vaccines will do, so way too early to be throwing in the towel.

[Andy groundhopper 225]

Hopefully  the LL can get some sort of finish, and then win the playoffs too. (after the spfl clubs pay for testing)  Guessing a March restart, going until June if required ? Send kids back to school without testing, so let the game restart at the same time then. Have all leagues stated how they would finish the season yet ?