Football and the Coronavirus

It's not confirmed yet but the reports are saying that they'll use PPG to finalise the table, including awarding PSG the title and relegating the bottom 2 sides and promoting 2. The 3rd relegation/promotion spot is usually decided by a play-off game between 18th place in Ligue 1 and the 3rd place team from Ligue 2 but this, reportedly, is being scrapped and there will only be 2 relegated/promoted sides.

With Toulouse 14 points behind 18th place and Amiens 4 points behind (and a further 3 behind 17th) it's a lot easier for the French to relegate them than it would be the PL to relegate sides. With Bournemouth in 18th, level on points with both West Ham and Watford, and then Villa 2 points behind but with a game in hand that could take them into 16th, the risk of legal challenges would be far too great for the PL to relegate either side imo. Norwich might be more straight forward but I can't see them relegating just one side. And **** knows what would happen with promotions. Hopefully we don't reach this stage though with more and more reports coming out that the PL are stepping up plans to resume training in the next couple of weeks and then if all goes to plan, start playing games sometime in June.
 
jonneymendoza said:
And CL spots. that is not as clear cut as you say it is
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One season out of the champions league for say Chelsea/manu isn’t going to be as damaging as relegation for Bournemouth, West Ham or Watford who are all on the same points and are established premier league teams with no certainty to come straight back up
 
If the main lockdown isn't over until past June, I don't see how they can play 400~ matches across the PL and EFL leagues in a timely and safe fashion.

I know finance is the driving force but at the moment I don't quite see how it'll work. Not awarding any titles/CL spots/etc would probably leave them open to less legal issues than other options, unless clubs agree to a method of calculation for the league standings.
 
Robbo said:
If the main lockdown isn't over until past June, I don't see how they can play 400~ matches across the PL and EFL leagues in a timely and safe fashion.

I know finance is the driving force but at the moment I don't quite see how it'll work. Not awarding any titles/CL spots/etc would probably leave them open to less legal issues than other options, unless clubs agree to a method of calculation for the league standings.
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I can't see the not awarding titles, relegation etc.

I'm starting to think it won't resume myself, if that's case only option I see them doing is awarding points based on what's been achieved so far.
 
woppy101 said:
It’s the relegation that’s the problem and the legal claims it will bring
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I was thinking that they could make the Premier League 24 teams like the rest of the leagues to avoid a lot of the complaints about promotion/relegation, no teams will get relegated it'll just be a case of sorting out promotions but even then you have cases of teams with games in hand who could have crept into the play-offs. Maybe they could just have a lottery for teams in those positions.
 
The leagues should either be taken as is, or using a PPG formula. TBH, UEFA should have come out and said this ages ago rather than leaving it to the individual leagues to panic about.

Then the choice is either to relegate/promote as normal, or just promote and have bigger leagues next season. That said, I think next season is also gonna be ****ed. It'll only take a spike in cases for it all to go behind closed doors (even if crowds are a good idea in the first places) which will mean for loads of clubs that don't get televised, essentially going bust.
 
mmj_uk said:
I was thinking that they could make the Premier League 24 teams like the rest of the leagues to avoid a lot of the complaints about promotion/relegation, no teams will get relegated it'll just be a case of sorting out promotions but even then you have cases of teams with games in hand who could have crept into the play-offs. Maybe they could just have a lottery for teams in those positions.
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The issue with that is that time will be limited to complete next season. Trying to fit in an extra 8 rounds of domestic fixtures probably won't be possible. I read something the other week that the PL don't want to expand the League if possible and were weighing up whether to risk the legal challenges from Leeds/WBA could be successfully defended by arguing that promoted clubs historically haven't made a profit (because they spend it of course).
Robbo said:
If the main lockdown isn't over until past June, I don't see how they can play 400~ matches across the PL and EFL leagues in a timely and safe fashion.

I know finance is the driving force but at the moment I don't quite see how it'll work. Not awarding any titles/CL spots/etc would probably leave them open to less legal issues than other options, unless clubs agree to a method of calculation for the league standings.
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The EFL won't finish, certainly not League 1 and 2. The costs of playing these games behind closed doors, with all the testing etc that will be needed, is likely to be greater than the cost of not completing the season. The Championship is more in the balance but the PL will do all that's possible to play their games.

As for not awarding titles and CL spots. The title is the easy part and I've no doubt that Liverpool would be named champions if the League isn't finished. Exactly how they award european spots would need to be decided (ppg being the most likely outcome) but UEFA have made it clear that they must be awarded based on this seasons results - there's no chance that they could void this season and use last seasons standings because there would be no PL sides in Europe if that happened. And the legal challenge from Leicester would have been far stronger than the case put forward by Spurs too. Further to this, it's been reported for weeks that another reason why the PL are not considering voiding the season is to protect themselves against claims from broadcasters if the season cannot be finished in full.
 
In the event the government decide games cannot be played, would that protect the PL against broadcasters? I mean, there's nothing they can do in that case. Are there act of god clauses?
 
Robbo said:
In the event the government decide games cannot be played, would that protect the PL against broadcasters? I mean, there's nothing they can do in that case. Are there act of god clauses?
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The devil is in the detail but given the PL's determination to press ahead and finish off the season, it would appear that they're worried about having to pay back broadcasters.

Given how likely it is that we'll be playing behind closed doors for most of next season (whenever that might be), it's easy to understand why clubs are desperate to keep every penny from this season's tv deal. Utd, Arsenal & Spurs will lose around £100m from matchday revenue if games are played behind closed doors next season, Liverpool around £80m, Chelsea around £70m and City around £60m. No doubt there will be clauses in commercial deals too (and a much tougher market to negotiate & renew existing deals), drops in merchandise sales and so on. Clubs face losing huge amounts next season, they don't want and can't afford to lose £50-100+m this season too.

One silver lining to this situation, it might encourage the PL to press ahead with the Premflix idea sooner than they were planning.

edit: it's being reported that one of the broadcasters from Ligue 1 have terminated it's contract and won't be paying the money owed for the remainder of this season.
 
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inogen said:
The leagues should either be taken as is, or using a PPG formula.
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The trouble with PPG is it will work against the teams who have played more games and lost their extra game(s)? for example Sheff Utd will jump Wolves in the table.
 
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I believe the situation in France has now been officially confirmed. PSG champs, the league table determined by PPG with the bottom 2 sides relegated. 18th place won't have the play a play-off vs 3rd place from Ligue 2 and only 2 sides will be promoted.

Now we will watch the fall out from that decision. Last place Toulouse, despite being nailed on to be relegated, are reportedly already threatening to sue the League. The League also will lose out on around £200m in TV money with Canal+ and beIN terminating their contract for this season and not paying the money they owed.
mmj_uk said:
The trouble with PPG is it will work against the teams who have played more games and lost their extra game(s)? for example Sheff Utd will jump Wolves in the table.
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Swings and roundabouts. You say it works against Wolves but Sheffield Utd fans will say it's worked against them too - they win their game in hand and they go above Utd. PPG isn't ideal but it's the fairest way of determining the final table if no more games can be played. If possible, I'd rather the 2 sets of fixtures that were postponed due to the League Cup final were played, bringing everybody onto an even playing field. Assuming the remaining games aren't played of course.
Ayahuasca said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52484530

Everton fan? :D
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A massive Everton fan. He reported Chelsea and Ross Barkley's agent to the police after they screwed Everton out of a massive transfer fee :p

Tbf, he does say to give Liverpool the title and he has a point. Whether it's Liverpool winning the League, a side staying up or somebody snatching the last CL spot, it's a very real possibility that supporters will gather at stadiums to celebrate.
 
dpbadger said:
I think if it can't be started again, PPG for european places then promote 2 and no relegations. Next season 5 teams get relegated.
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PPG seems terrible way to do things in my opinion as well. Spurs PPG is on the basis that they had Son and Kane. Both who were going to be out for the rest of the Season. Frank was on free fall with Chelsea and the squad threadbare. United had all their injuries in the beginning of the season and were very strong before this all happened and honestly thought we would have gotten top four.

It is going to be very difficult to whoever needs to make the decision because the money involved in this is massive.

There needs to be a think-tank coming up with something a lot better and scientific as PPG is just not good enough in my eyes.
 
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adam cool dude said:
PPG seems terrible way to do things in my opinion as well. Spurs PPG is on the basis that they had Son and Kane. Both who were going to be out for the rest of the Season. Frank was on free fall with Chelsea and the squad threadbare. United had all their injuries in the beginning of the season and were very strong before this all happened and honestly thought we would have gotten top four.

It is going to be very difficult to whoever needs to make the decision because the money involved in this is massive.

There needs to be a think-tank coming up with something a lot better and scientific as PPG is just not good enough in my eyes.
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Life is not fair TBF teams are going to get relegated without playing all of there games, manu are just going to spend another year out of the champions league so it’s no big deal for the biggest club in the world
 
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