[Football] Premier League / Football League attempts to finish the season

Cowfold Seagull · Mar 29, 2020

Swansman said:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...yer-contracts-and-transfer-windows-be-changed

"Internal document says contracts should end when season does"

Guess it would work out if that came true, Sounds very illegal though, but havent stopped them before.

How can something be 'very illegal'? You don't speak proper English like l does.

I still think, though l know many will disagree, that in the long run, calling this season null and void, then starting again in August/September is the better option, possibly with a 22 team Premier League for one season only.

GT49er · Mar 29, 2020

Albion Dan said:
Unfortunately Sky and BT could withhold a huge amount of the television rights payment if the league isn’t completed which could ultimately bankrupt football.

So Sky and BT bankrupt football. Good idea. So Sky and BT will lose one of their major - if not the major - revenue streams then. Nose, cut off, Face, spite...........................

blockhseagull · Mar 29, 2020

Albion Dan said:
Unfortunately Sky and BT could withhold a huge amount of the television rights payment if the league isn’t completed which could ultimately bankrupt football. They will be desperate to find a way to finish and who we’ve played away won’t be considered at all.

I understand Sky and BT ‘could’ do that.

But ultimately why would they want to ? If they bankrupt football they would be effectively shooting themselves in the foot as they would have no product to sell.

An agreement of sorts will be found regarding the money and TV rights. It’s in everyone’s best interest for everyone to come out of this unscathed.

blockhseagull · Mar 29, 2020

Cowfold Seagull said:
How can something be 'very illegal'? You don't speak proper English like l does.

I still think, though l know many will disagree, that in the long run, calling this season null and void, then starting again in August/September is the better option, possibly with a 22 team Premier League for one season only.

This is the one scenario that guarantees legal action without a doubt.

If you just null and void then most cases would be thrown out of court because of the nature of the world. But to give teams promotion when they haven’t finished the season will create more issues. For example how can you protect the teams in the bottom 3 of the PL because they aren’t mathematically relegated but yet promote teams who aren’t actually promoted. Fulham and other teams would have a field day with legal teams enough to certainly stop any football starting until it is resolved.

The two options are a simple null and void or a wait until it can be completed.

herecomesaregular · Mar 29, 2020

I favour the idea of a year without football and restart the league on the weekend it ended but in 2021.

GT49er · Mar 29, 2020

herecomesaregular said:
I favour the idea of a year without football and restart the league on the weekend it ended but in 2021.

You edited that just in time! :lolol:

kevo · Mar 29, 2020

herecomesaregular said:
I favour the idea of a year without football and restart the league on the weekend it ended but in 2021.

That seems the most sensible option. Or maybe finish the season off in the autumn if possible, then fill the rest of the season with friendly tournaments. Start a new season proper August 2021.

maltaseagull · Mar 29, 2020

Dorset Seagull said:
Doesnt that break the social distancing rules the rest of the country have to adhere to? Is it considered an essential business?

This would really suit potterball as teams would not be able to press us due to the 2 metre rule!

kevo · Mar 29, 2020

herecomesaregular said:
I favour the idea of a year without football and restart the league on the weekend it ended but in 2021.

The only downside being we would be the answer to perennial trivia questions:

Which team went 15 months without winning a game in any competition?

And:

Which team went a full calendar year without winning a game but weren't relegated?

beorhthelm · Mar 29, 2020

Tom Hark said:
On the grounds that they'll have been robbed of the untold riches of the PL

"automatic" promotion is not a contractual obligation, it is a convention where the Premier League invite clubs to join them, transfering membership of the league from the relegated clubs.

Jimmy Grimble · Mar 29, 2020

herecomesaregular said:
I favour the idea of a year without football and restart the league on the weekend it ended but in 2021.

But the integrity of the competition is gone by then. As noted above, players could easily have left sides so you end up with different squads to when the season started. Players who are 34/35/36 will be a year older and at that age it can make a huge difference to their ability.

I think you can also already make a case to say that the momentum of the season is gone. Runs of form, results of teams around you, the feeling that things are ‘going your way’ are all variables that have been significantly impacted upon now. Momentum is huge in football as pundits reminds us every week.

herecomesaregular · Mar 29, 2020

Jimmy Grimble said:
But the integrity of the competition is gone by then. As noted above, players could easily have left sides so you end up with different squads to when the season started. Players who are 34/35/36 will be a year older and at that age it can make a huge difference to their ability.

I think you can also already make a case to say that the momentum of the season is gone. Runs of form, results of teams around you, the feeling that things are ‘going your way’ are all variables that have been significantly impacted upon now. Momentum is huge in football as pundits reminds us every week.

I kinda meant more so that it'll likely be around that time, 12 months away, that it'll be safer to get things back to normal, so why not restart to carry on. I don't think we'll get a full season in before August 2021.....

Guy Fawkes · Mar 29, 2020

Kalimantan Gull said:
No of course they can leave Chelsea on that day, my point is why would they want to? They can't be registered for another club until the transfer window has opened, which it won't do until the season has ended. So they would just be sitting around watching other people playing football, plus doing themselves out of a couple of months wages from Chelsea.

GT49er said:
Precisely what part of employment law would they be breaking? If the contract ends on 30th.June that's it, the club have no further responsibility to pay wages. The player is free to seek alternative employment; the contract has been fulfilled on both sides; there is no comeback. The player is unemployed, just like anybody else at the end of a fixed term contract,

If the club offer to extend the contract - whether one month, or three, or on a rolling month by month basis - that's a perfectly legal offer.The player can accept or they can refuse. No grounds for a law suit anywhere in sight.

herecomesaregular said:
I favour the idea of a year without football and restart the league on the weekend it ended but in 2021.

So what happens if players have already penned a pre-contract with another club which is due to go live 1st of July this year? What if they've agreed to join a club that is a promotion / title / relegation rival in their current season? would the new club want to give that advantage back to the old club? As they are now contracted in July at the new club, could they be eligible to play for them from July onwards? or do they have to sit around doing nothing (and what if part of their wage deal includes performance bonuses which they couldn't get if unable to play)

The new clubs they've joined would want them to settle and be up to speed with their own side, not playing for another, and what happens if they are made to return to their old clubs (say on loan) to see out the season and suffer a long term injury (say ruled out for a year) after the season was due to finish, affecting their new club?

It's not as simple as saying they stay on and play out this season at their old clubs or being unemployed.

GT49er · Mar 29, 2020

herecomesaregular said:
I kinda meant more so that it'll likely be around that time, 12 months away, that it'll be safer to get things back to normal, so why not restart to carry on. I don't think we'll get a full season in before August 2021.....

So just sit around waiting, not making any decision and prolonging the uncertainty. Yep...........................

If we've got to wait that long for football again (which is certainly a possibility), then this season needs to be wrapped up ASAP (voided) and then plans made for a new season, when to start it, whether to include the cups, etc, when we know we can start again afresh.

Guy Fawkes · Mar 29, 2020

Change at Barnham said:
If they started playing behind closed doors there would be plenty of brainless fans that would gather outside the stadiums requiring a police presence.

Can you really believe that Liverpool and Leeds fans would remain in self-isolation once their team are about to be crowned champions or get promoted?
The police and government won't allow it to happen.

By June society will be going stir crazy and the authorities would not want to encourage spontaneous and chaotic mass gatherings.

Plus Palace fans will be able to gather outside the ground as their fans will just claim they're going shopping at Sainsbury's

Who'd have thought their decision to build the supermarket at one end of their ground was due to their foresight for such a scenario as we find ourselves in today

GT49er · Mar 29, 2020

Guy Fawkes said:
It's not as simple as saying they stay on and play out this season at their old clubs or being unemployed.

It's as simple as when their contract ends they are unemployed, unless they get another contract whether it's with a different club or with a new offer from their current club. No grounds to sue anybody - their contract has ended, and nobody is under any obligation to offer them another one.

Guy Fawkes · Mar 29, 2020

GT49er said:
So just sit around waiting, not making any decision and prolonging the uncertainty. Yep...........................

If we've got to wait that long for football again (which is certainly a possibility), then this season needs to be wrapped up ASAP (voided) and then plans made for a new season, when to start it, whether to include the cups, etc, when we know we can start again afresh.

Even planning for next season would be hard as we don't know how long this would go on for.

What if this crisis went on until Christmas or beyond? We'd be in a similar situation as we are now about trying to fit the remaining fixtures into such a short time frame

Guy Fawkes · Mar 29, 2020

GT49er said:
It's as simple as when their contract ends they are unemployed, unless they get another contract whether it's with a different club or with a new offer from their current club. No grounds to sue anybody - their contract has ended, and nobody is under any obligation to offer them another one.

My post was entirely in regard to players who have already signed a pre-contract with a new club

how can they stay at their old club and see out fixtures when no longer employed by that club?

The point about it's not that simple as they stay at their current club or unemployed doesn't apply in that scenario as the post i quoted stated it would be one of those 2 options - hence why i said it's not that simple

GT49er · Mar 29, 2020

Guy Fawkes said:
Even planning for next season would be hard as we don't know

So we don't plan for next season until we know when we'll be able to start it. That's common sense. In the meantime we have stability - football is suspended indefinitely and because last season was voided, there are no outstanding uncertainties.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Mar 29, 2020

Tom Hark said:
This. They'll doubtless finish it SOMETIME. But anything more specific is just so much hot air

And....end of thread.

The only thing the powers that be have any power over right now is whether to declare:

'when we can play football again we will resume the domestic season for the relevant legues where they left off, then start a new season at a suitable date' or

'when we can play football again we will declare the current season null and void, then start a new domestic season at a suitable date'

In each case football won't restart till the pandemic is over and/or when vaccines are available (probably both). In the most optimistic mode, I would say that the next season won't start till Jan 2021 at the earliest. Jan 2021 would be good (if rolled out worldwide) because it fits with the (corruptly assembled and insane) 'agreed' plan to have a world cup in November December in a desert. We can then either finish off the present season in the Autumn, or bin it completely. Thus the only real issue is whether COVA will be sufficiently under control for the present season to resume in the Autumn, probably behind closed doors, or not.

Yes I have read the posts about civil unrest if Leeds and West Brom are playing a promotion clinching game, but I can see civil obedience being inforced by a mass of COVA resistant (because they have had the disease and recovered months ago) cops and soldiers bundling up congregating nobbers and transporting them to a few weeks' internment if people do decided to breach safe distancing laws (as they may be by then). I have no problem with that whatsoever. People will stay at home, I suspect. FFS.

That's enough musing. My point is that it is almost irrelevant, logistically, whether we bin the current season or not. Everything hinges around when the powers that be decide to start the next season. Restart in the top leagues will require global agreement, which means FIFA-lead, and we know how slow, corrupt and dim these clowns are. This will delay rather than hasten any restarts. The only thing up for grabs is whether we can wedge in a season finale for 19/20 or not, after the start date for 20/21 is decided. So, the start date for the 20/21 season must come first, via FIFA, then UEFA or local leagues can decide what to do with the current unfinished season. I really have no feeling either way about the latter right now, in terms of liklihood. I hope we can finish it, but I am caring less and less if I'm honest.

Separately there will be a mess WRT player contracts. That will probably have to be sorted out between individual clubs and their players. A chance for lawyers and agents to cash in, but if they try that there may well be a backlash.

Separately, but consequently, lots of smaller clubs are likely to go under, regardless of when the new season starts. No income, debts, unable to pay players.....It is not just a population of humans (a minority of humans) that is at high risk of the lethal effects of COVA, it is the majority of the football club population (the wider world outside the elite). That will be the real football tragedy, not Liverpool's possible loss of the PL title.

ps Reading posts above - binning the current season now solves nothing. Psychologically it would be like deciding to amputate someone's injured foot without taking the time and trouble to see if it can be saved, on the grounds of 'simplicity'. I'd call that simple-mindedness.

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[Football] Premier League / Football League attempts to finish the season

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