Ending the season early? (+++ALL GAMES CANCELLED TILL 4 APRIL+++)

The non league sides can now furlough their players and claim assistance from government to pay wages ?

What a great example. Well done Juventus players.

Exactly, Killer.

The League Cup is a separate competition and has already concluded.
Man City have won it.

The various Leagues and FA Cup have not been played to completion.

Should those competitions be subsequently voided, it does not have any bearing on the League Cup, an already completed and separate competition.

I'm beginning to wonder if there is any point even starting next season, will be in this exact same position In the winter when wave 2 hits. 

iainment said:

There won’t be any football until at least next April or May.

Not true. The Belarusian Premier League is alive and well..

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52084121

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

killerandflash said:

Man City have won the League Cup already, surely that wouldn't be expunged seeing that it was for a completed competition?

Not sure how it works but surely if the season was cancelled then yes it would be expunged, as technically that season never existed.

There are non league teams who had already won promotion but will not be promoted because their seasons have been cancelled.

As an aside though, if there's a chance that the premier league and EFL will complete their seasons whenever we resume, be it June/July or even September/October, then why have non league sides jumped the gun and cancelled their seasons already?

It doesn't apply to the National, National South or National North Leagues who are still in the same boat as the top four tiers of football. So, basically, it is only the non full time clubs where most players aren't contracted anyway that are affected. It's not the clubs, however, that made that decision in any event but the F A and many of them are far from happy about it. 

iaitch said:

Say things are ok by November then teams can play their remaining 9/10 and the play offs by the end of January. Scrap the 20/21 season.

Then have a break or play friendlies, pencil in the Euros for April/May. Teams can then start their preseason for 21/22.

Main problem with that is we don't have any idea when things will return normal.

If the goal is to bankrupt every team below the Premier League, that would be a great strategy.

Interesting that the clubs keep circling back to the idea and that the main focus is to complete the league. Also some sense in the “psychological boost to the nation”

not sure how other leagues would be able to follow suit. That’s when the Premier League being separate from the football league comes into play. But if the top flight does get finished in July does that create a deadline for the remaining leagues in England?

next season would have to start in unison. 

They’re deluded. If the earliest date for the beginnings of getting back to normal is 6 months then football can’t start until another 2 months or so after to allow for training and the logistics to get put in place.
so in my opinion, if everything goes without any hitch, football’s earliest return is December.
This season is irrelevant as is next. We might see a return to normality season 21/22 and some sort of truncated season or mini leagues up to then. That’s if we’re lucky and this crisis ends as soon as 6 months away.

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

Given that Premier clubs will apparently owe a combined 762m back to sky if the season isn't completed, it's no surprise they want to finish the season.

They'll try to play games behind closed doors at club training grounds if they have to.

If it’s not safe to open football grounds it’s not safe to play in groups of 22. I don’t think the PFA would let that happen. 

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

iainment said:

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

Given that Premier clubs will apparently owe a combined 762m back to sky if the season isn't completed, it's no surprise they want to finish the season.

They'll try to play games behind closed doors at club training grounds if they have to.

If it’s not safe to open football grounds it’s not safe to play in groups of 22. I don’t think the PFA would let that happen. 

The article mentions that the proposed plan is for players to stay in special isolated team bases, with regular testing taking place. 

There's so many issues though, like who would staff these bases, who cooks, cleans etc. Would these people not be allowed out of the bases either?

Is that just for the Premier League? - What about the Football League teams?

Rothko said:

Did people hear the Deputy CMO today? There’s at least 3 more months of these restrictions, so that takes you through to nearly July. And that’s if the peak isn’t too long. 

We all love football, but this sense of entitlement that the season needs to be finished, needs to stop, only when football isn’t a burden to the NHS or other public services should it begin again. 

She said 3 months lockdown but another 3 months of restrictions. If you then add another 3 months for getting back to normal, I can see Xmas games being the start of any new season. Below the Premier League, this season will effectively be void (hopefully).

I think it is fine football trying to complete the league but it needs to state the policy now with a cut off date if it can't. For example, if the season cannot safely commence by 1 June the season will be voided. Maybe that date could be made later if something could be done to extend contracts if that is legally possible. But Everybody knows the date and when it comes and if we haven;t been able to get it started, clubs and supporters will have had time to come to terms with it.

Rothko said:

Did people hear the Deputy CMO today? There’s at least 3 more months of these restrictions, so that takes you through to nearly July. And that’s if the peak isn’t too long. 

We all love football, but this sense of entitlement that the season needs to be finished, needs to stop, only when football isn’t a burden to the NHS or other public services should it begin again. 

yes, so when football isn't a burden on the NHS and other public services and when Boris says it's safe to do so the season can be finished.