COVID-19 In Scottish Football 2020/2021

[Yflab 130]

Interview with cockwomble Doncaster.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9149501/Battle-survival-toughest-70-years-declares-embattled-SPFL-chief-Neil-Doncaster.html

Is it time now for a ban of curtailment of goal celebrations?

ND: I think it's important we keep everything under review. There is no evidence I am aware of existing of transmission between players on the field of play. The transmissions to date appear to have occurred in dressing rooms, on buses or at meal times.

It would seem he is now qualified as an epidemiologist. 

[Mr Positive, sometimes. 631]

Can anyone explain to me the motive behind the Stenny chairman meltdown?

Yes wasn't ideal that you didn't get notice but notice wouldn't have made a difference. Not being allowed to ask questions at the recent meeting I imagine was because he was going to just derail the whole agenda of the meeting - again not ideal but surely there's official channels to ask all the questions he wanted? 

Do they actually want to continue to play and test weekly and pay the astronomical sums for those tests? 🤦‍♂️ 

The fact he tried and failed to get voted onto the SPFL board suggests the majority of his peers think he's an idiot and do not take him seriously as well?

[Big Fifer 1,703]

The Stenny chairman's complaints are extremely confusing. I don't want to defend Doncaster but 42 teams + SPFL officials all speaking over each other on one zoom call would be completely pointless. 

[G51 1,890]

11 minutes ago, virginton said:

Football involves groups of people travelling up and down the country to kick a ball around every week while individuals can't meet more than one other person outdoors (within five miles of their LA area) without being collared by the police. 

The idea that their 'entertainment' value should grant part-time footballers a special exemption to play is ridiculous and it is not even commercially worthwhile to do either. Staff can be bunged on furlough and the pointless exercise scrapped while leagues that have the required infrastructure to continue playing provide entertainment on a daily basis. That may well include the Scottish Premiership but not the leagues below it where regular rounds of testing would be ruinous.

That sounds like your problem is with the existing government restrictions preventing people meeting outdoors, which are ridiculous and stupid. But two wrongs don't make a right - just because they've fucked up letting people meet outdoors, doesn't mean they should compound that f**k up by stopping another low-risk activity.

Regular rounds of testing are now mandatory for the Championship, and it appears as if those clubs will be able to absorb the costs okay or we'd have heard otherwise.

 

[Billy Jean King 1,940]

 
Aye, winning that league title and stopping Celtic from winning 10 in a row is far more important than anyone's health.

I along with thousands like me could not give a flying f*ck whether Celtic win 1000 in a row. We just quite like the simple pleasure of being at the very least be able to watch our teams play via live stream amidst all the doom and gloom of a monotonous week.

[Dunning1874 10,790]

Before the season started they should have been setting a minimum number of games required to call the season on PPG with null and void otherwise, ideally 22 for the Premiership and 18 for the leagues below. I still think in the event it was stopped and couldn't be restarted it would entirely justifiable to take those numbers as the basis for a decision, but does cause a bit of a headache in the plausible scenario that the Championship doesn't make it to 18 games while the Premiership is obviously going to have everyone at 22 by the end of this month.

If you've got the Premiership being called on PPG and the title being awarded, then there's really no argument against the bottom side being relegated as well. However if the Championship is called after 13 games or whatever you can't justify awarding the title on so few games, so Ross County or whoever ends up bottom would just have to get away with it in that scenario, which wouldn't at all cause months of meltdowns.

I doubt it'll come to this anyway, even in the event of the suspension of lower league football is extended to the Championship. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of football being allowed, you'd imagine if at some point in March cases have started to decline and wider restrictions are lifted as weather improves then lower league football will be allowed again as well, and if you just cut the lower league season to 18 games rather than 27 it should be possible to finish on time.

[G51 1,890]

4 minutes ago, Dunning1874 said:

Before the season started they should have been setting a minimum number of games required to call the season on PPG with null and void otherwise, ideally 22 for the Premiership and 18 for the leagues below. I still think in the event it was stopped and couldn't be restarted it would entirely justifiable to take those numbers as the basis for a decision, but does cause a bit of a headache in the plausible scenario that the Championship doesn't make it to 18 games while the Premiership is obviously going to have everyone at 22 by the end of this month.

If you've got the Premiership being called on PPG and the title being awarded, then there's really no argument against the bottom side being relegated as well. However if the Championship is called after 13 games or whatever you can't justify awarding the title on so few games, so Ross County or whoever ends up bottom would just have to get away with it in that scenario, which wouldn't at all cause months of meltdowns.

I doubt it'll come to this anyway, even in the event of the suspension of lower league football is extended to the Championship. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of football being allowed, you'd imagine if at some point in March cases have started to decline and wider restrictions are lifted as weather improves then lower league football will be allowed again as well, and if you just cut the lower league season to 18 games rather than 27 it should be possible to finish on time.

You're right, the obvious thing to do was to set rules for what would happen before the season started. That way, there's no argument in the event of a stoppage about what would happen.

However, the major difference between this year and last year is the TV deal. We're in a much better position to simply restart and complete the season this year.

If for some reason, that's not possible (difficult to see that scenario) then my take on it would be the same as last year: there are no good options, they all suck, but it's marginally (and I mean marginally) more fair not to award titles and relegations that haven't been clinched than it is to award ones that haven't.

But it's just so unlikely that we ever reach that scenario. It's especially really difficult to see why we couldn't complete the season at a later date before playing an abridged one later.

[Mr Positive, sometimes. 631]

Big Duncs makes a good point as well.

If clubs really wanted reform, they'll all get together, put a motion foward a motion and back it. 

Logic would suggest the majority don't as nothing ever gets put forward. 

[billyg 331]

12 minutes ago, G51 said:

 

However, the major difference between this year and last year is the TV deal. We're in a much better position to simply restart and complete the season this year.

 

Yes , having seen how the English managed to conclude last season's Premier and Championship , if the worst was to happen up here again I think they would wait it out and complete it this time !

[Mr Positive, sometimes. 631]

4 minutes ago, billyg said:

Yes , having seen how the English managed to conclude last season's Premier and Championship , if the worst was to happen up here again I think they would wait it out and complete it this time !

Broadcaster likely to be much more understanding as well as they're still getting what they paid for. Just a bit later in the calendar. 

Edited January 15 by Mr Positive, sometimes.

[craigkillie 13,704]

The Euros won't be postponed again this summer to allow that to happen - I'm expecting UEFA to require leagues to finish by 31st May at the latest.

[kingjoey 3,378]

3 hours ago, Coventry Saint said:

In my very humble opinion it's been most unfair to Hearts fans that they've not actually been able to experience the novelty of a few different away days this season. So voiding certainly has its merits.

Given the shite that Hearts fans were spouting at the start of the season, it’s unfair on them that they have not been able to carry out their boycott of all of the grounds in the Championship.

[Coventry Saint 8,709]

19 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

Given the shite that Hearts fans were spouting at the start of the season, it’s unfair on them that they have not been able to carry out their boycott of all of the grounds in the Championship.

The fuckers will probably claim they've been doing it.

[bennett 3,446]

1 hour ago, Big Fifer said:

The Stenny chairman's complaints are extremely confusing. I don't want to defend Doncaster but 42 teams + SPFL officials all speaking over each other on one zoom call would be completely pointless. 

 

I'm sure that they could have allowed individual chairmen to be unmuted and have their say and question the organisation which is supposed to represent the clubs. 

[accies1874 5,064]

The Euros won't be postponed again this summer to allow that to happen - I'm expecting UEFA to require leagues to finish by 31st May at the latest.

I'd be happy to play through the summer if it means the Euros gets moved to winter and fans can go. I would say all three of these things have a 1% chance of happening though.

[Big Fifer 1,703]

1 hour ago, bennett said:

 

I'm sure that they could have allowed individual chairmen to be unmuted and have their say and question the organisation which is supposed to represent the clubs. 

I'm not convinced Rangers, Hibs and Kilmarnock would be that fussed for listening to each club as far down as League 2 get their 15 minutes of open air time on the call to express their views. There are better ways of doing it. 

[ulysses 205]

Looks like there will be some good news coming out shortly...

[buddie06smfc 1,537]

Spare a thought for Motherwell FC this afternoon.

[Lex 2,546]

Dougie a good value ITK usually... overturn!

[accies1874 5,064]

Bragging about flouting COVID restrictions is just disgusting and I hope Nicola Sturgeon doesn't read this forum.