Current Season Void Or Continue

[tiger76]

Just play all the remaining games on Sensible Soccer. I'll volunteer.

We don't need you we'll just nominate Charlie & Dwight

[Paul Waine]

A Positive Scenario

The Oxford Vaccine Project in conjunction with AstraZenica have stated that there is around 80% chance of a vaccine by the fourth quarter of this year. If this happens, vaccinations should be starting October-Novemberish.

Assuming that all goes well with the vaccine, footballers and other staff could be given first priority for receiving the vaccine along with health care workers, carers etc. There are not very many football staff as a percentage of the whole population and it would be much less taxing on NHS resources than the resources (testing, masks etc.)that would be required for playing 'behind closed doors' without the vaccine. This could also be done for soap opera stars.

Once vaccinated, footballers could then start proper training. 'Behind closed doors football' would not be a problem apart from being rubbish.

So, you'd take 1,000 (20 clubs, say 50 per club) doses of vaccine and give them to young, healthy footballers rather than use them to vaccinate 1,000 people who's lives might depend on them?

And, soap opera stars?

There's some real hardships in the world. I wouldn't put footballers or tv soap actors anywhere near any sense of hardship.

[Paul Waine]

The Times, exclusive, 5pm today (online):

And, I'm surprised this hasn't been posted already on this thread.

Premier League and Championship set to return with nearly 200 individual live games

Football fans will be able to watch almost all of the remaining 200 matches in the Premier League and the Championship live as scheduling officials and broadcast partners aim to give as many fixtures as possible their own television slot.

The proposal is dependent on the government giving permission for football to resume next month and the Premier League clubs agreeing, in a pivotal shareholders’ meeting on Monday, to complete the season at between eight and ten neutral venues.

There is also the challenge of convincing the players that it is safe to return to training and playing amid continuing concerns about the health risks associated with Covid-19.

But if the Premier League’s Project Restart plan remains on track and football resumes from June 12, having been suspended since March 13, the intention is to stage between three and four Premier League and Championship games every day at different kick-off times until the end of July.

The proposal will be put to the clubs in both the Premier League, in their meeting on Monday, and the Championship. But The Times understands that the scheduling plan already has government support because it will help to keep people indoors and, perhaps more importantly, dissuade some fans from trying to gather at the neutral venues being used by their teams.

The government is certainly keen for football to come back, with Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, telling reporters on Tuesday that the resumption of a Premier League season that has been on hold since March 13 will “lift the spirits of a nation”.

While the Premier League has 92 games left to play, the Championship has 108. And it is likely that, in order to protect the integrity of the competition, the last day of both campaigns will still see all games kicking off at the same time.

But that eases the pressure on scheduling for the bulk of the matches, as does the agreement already in place to lift the 3pm blackout.

Discussions with broadcast partners are ongoing but there is a strong desire to make 45 of those 92 Premier League matches that are not scheduled to appear on Sky and BT Sport free-to-air. As The Times reported earlier this week, one of the options being considered is the use of their respective YouTube channels.The government is certainly keen for football to come back, with Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, telling reporters on Tuesday that the resumption of a Premier League season that has been on hold since March 13 will “lift the spirits of a nation”.

While the Premier League has 92 games left to play, the Championship has 108. And it is likely that, in order to protect the integrity of the competition, the last day of both campaigns will still see all games kicking off at the same time.

But that eases the pressure on scheduling for the bulk of the matches, as does the agreement already in place to lift the 3pm blackout.

Discussions with broadcast partners are ongoing but there is a strong desire to make 45 of those 92 Premier League matches that are not scheduled to appear on Sky and BT Sport free-to-air. As The Times reported earlier this week, one of the options being considered is the use of their respective YouTube channels.

There do, of course, remain other challenges, and today the cross-party sports group — which comprises officials and medical experts from football, cricket, rugby and racing — met with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and government medical experts about the safety protocols they intend to implement for professional sport. The government consultation is being led by deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam.

News of the imminent return of the Bundesliga in Germany certainly helps their cause. But the safety protocols that are agreed today still have to be presented to the Professional Footballers’ Association and the League Managers’ Association before the Premier League clubs are asked on Monday to sign off on them.

After that, however, a senior player from every club will be joined by their managers and club doctors on a teleconference call that will involve medical experts from the Premier League and the government presenting the protocols in an effort to allay any remaining fears about safety.

It is understood four doctors from Premier League clubs raised certain concerns in correspondence with the Premier League medical chief, Mark Gillett, earlier this week. It was, however, part of a wider consultation process with today’s cross-sports meeting designed to answer any questions club doctors may have.

[dsr]

So, you'd take 1,000 (20 clubs, say 50 per club) doses of vaccine and give them to young, healthy footballers rather than use them to vaccinate 1,000 people who's lives might depend on them?

And, soap opera stars?

There's some real hardships in the world. I wouldn't put footballers or tv soap actors anywhere near any sense of hardship.

It wouldn't make that much difference to anyone else, really. If it is planned to vaccinate the entire population of the UK within 1 year of the vaccine becomeing commercially available (I would hope it would be faster than that) then it's 200,000 per day, or (allowing for 20 hour days) 10,000 per hour. So letting 1,000 footballers head the queue delays everyone else by an average of 6 minutes. Not life and death, and public entertainment in these times is a good thing to have IMO.

[UnderSeige]

So, you'd take 1,000 (20 clubs, say 50 per club) doses of vaccine and give them to young, healthy footballers rather than use them to vaccinate 1,000 people who's lives might depend on them?

And, soap opera stars?

There's some real hardships in the world. I wouldn't put footballers or tv soap actors anywhere near any sense of hardship.

dsr : It wouldn't make that much difference to anyone else, really. If it is planned to vaccinate the entire population of the UK within 1 year of the vaccine becomeing commercially available (I would hope it would be faster than that) then it's 200,000 per day, or (allowing for 20 hour days) 10,000 per hour. So letting 1,000 footballers head the queue delays everyone else by an average of 6 minutes. Not life and death, and public entertainment in these times is a good thing to have IMO.

Dsr beat me to it in answering this question. There will be more than a thousand doses. Pharmaceutical companies are planning to manufacture hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine very rapidly. J&J are planning for one billion. The Oxford/AstraZenica effort are planning to manufacture doses even before the vaccine has ended the trials and been approved. If successful it will then be ready for immediate distribution.

In short the footballers vaccinations would be alongside the 'people who depend on them' rather than the footballers being 'first in the queue'. If it was a case of 'footballers first' or 'carers first', of course it would be 'carers first' every time. However, this is unlikely to be the case. Football also has it's own medical staff who could administer the doses.

TV soap operas are almost a national institution just as football is. Shortly they will go off screen. Millions of housebound, and other, people will miss them -just as we are missing football. When they are restored it will be a great boost for the people who watch them.

[Spijed]

Story in the Mail from last night regarding relegation:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... plans.html

[claretonthecoast1882]

Story in the Mail from last night regarding relegation:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... plans.html

If the bottom 3 clubs were saying no to games in the hope of avoiding being relegated this would certainly stop that. Likewise if they said to the current bottom 3 your Premier league money for next season is going to the top 3 in championship.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Bit harsh threatening to relegate the bottom 3 when it's the 3 clubs above them making the most noise.

Just relegate those 3 clubs instead

[UnderSeige]

What if Championship clubs do not finish the season and Premiership clubs do finish the season? I don't think any club should be awarded promotion unless they have played all of the games and won the points. In such a situation you could have no relegation or promotion.

Alternatively you could relegate the bottom three from the Premiership with no promotions from the Championship. This would leave a smaller Premiership to get through the season before the European International tournament next summer. The Championship would have a longer season but they have less internationals who will be competing in the Euros. The extra games should help them financially too.

The next three seasons could then involve just two going down from the Premiership each year until the Premiership is back to the twenty clubs.

[Spijed]

No fans at Dutch games until there is a vaccine:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... h-minister

[Spijed]

Good twitter feed in the Mail:

https://twitter.com/draper_rob/status/1 ... 5768658945

[Spijed]

And a round-up of the state of play in each country:

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-healt ... KKBN22J1WE

[Chester Perry]

A strong message from Mark Roberts, the police chief responsible for football in England, to Premier League clubs opposed to finishing the season at neutral venues:

"Get a grip...."

https://twitter.com/marcwebber/status/1 ... 5668441096

[tiger76]

What if Championship clubs do not finish the season and Premiership clubs do finish the season? I don't think any club should be awarded promotion unless they have played all of the games and won the points. In such a situation you could have no relegation or promotion.

Alternatively you could relegate the bottom three from the Premiership with no promotions from the Championship. This would leave a smaller Premiership to get through the season before the European International tournament next summer. The Championship would have a longer season but they have less internationals who will be competing in the Euros. The extra games should help them financially too.

The next three seasons could then involve just two going down from the Premiership each year until the Premiership is back to the twenty clubs.

You raise some good points US,on the 1st i agree all the leagues have to restart in unison,and play to a finish before any prizes can be handed out.

As for relegating the current bottom 3 from the PL,i can't see which clubs would vote for that,even in the event of only 2 clubs going down next season and beyond,that greatly increases the risk to a number of teams,BFC included of being sucked into the danger zone,arguably even more so if nobody comes up from the Champ,besides that the 3 relegated clubs would kick up a stink,along with the teams at the top of the Championship,there's already talk of legal actions,now in the event of the PL being unable to complete the fixture calendar,then the only viable solution is to null and void everything,so no title for Liverpool,and no promotion or relegation,then i guess it'd be up to the PL to follow the Dutch and French example,and submit teams to UEFA for European tournaments as they see fit.

[NewClaret]

A strong message from Mark Roberts, the police chief responsible for football in England, to Premier League clubs opposed to finishing the season at neutral venues:

"Get a grip...."

https://twitter.com/marcwebber/status/1 ... 5668441096

He has a point. Don’t personally see the link between neutral grounds and lower long the risk, but he’s right that if that’s what it takes to get football restarted, they need to get a grip.

[NewClaret]

The Times, exclusive, 5pm today (online):

And, I'm surprised this hasn't been posted already on this thread.

Premier League and Championship set to return with nearly 200 individual live games

Football fans will be able to watch almost all of the remaining 200 matches in the Premier League and the Championship live as scheduling officials and broadcast partners aim to give as many fixtures as possible their own television slot.

If that’s true it’s brilliant news. Get the games all on Sky / BT, free to view, advertising revenues to the clubs. Would be fantastic.

[UnderSeige]

You raise some good points US,on the 1st i agree all the leagues have to restart in unison,and play to a finish before any prizes can be handed out.

As for relegating the current bottom 3 from the PL,i can't see which clubs would vote for that,even in the event of only 2 clubs going down next season and beyond,that greatly increases the risk to a number of teams,BFC included of being sucked into the danger zone,arguably even more so if nobody comes up from the Champ,besides that the 3 relegated clubs would kick up a stink,along with the teams at the top of the Championship,there's already talk of legal actions,now in the event of the PL being unable to complete the fixture calendar,then the only viable solution is to null and void everything,so no title for Liverpool,and no promotion or relegation,then i guess it'd be up to the PL to follow the Dutch and French example,and submit teams to UEFA for European tournaments as they see fit.

I think that your right. The bottom six are not going to be the Turkeys that vote for Christmas.

[Spijed]

La Liga to restart?

Or not?
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/footba ... 35726.html

[Spijed]

Premier League to warn clubs over voting against neutral venues:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... ral-venues

[Chester Perry]

Premier League to warn clubs over voting against neutral venues:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... ral-venues

there is a suggestion that it is more than a warning and more of a specific threat

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... bel-clubs/

[Chester Perry]

Watford go public with no neutral venues stance

https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1 ... 5276960774

[dsr]

I think the likes of Watford and Brighton have made their position quite clear - if they go down it costs them £100m, if the league is abandoned it costs everyone £40m each, so the best thing in their fiduciary duty as a shareholder and representative of the Premier League is - stuff the rest, we're OK.

[NewClaret]

I think the likes of Watford and Brighton have made their position quite clear - if they go down it costs them £100m, if the league is abandoned it costs everyone £40m each, so the best thing in their fiduciary duty as a shareholder and representative of the Premier League is - stuff the rest, we're OK.

Agree. It’s worrying to think those clubs might cause the league to be cancelled. Think it would be better for the PL to take a harder line and tell them how the league will be restarted. If they don’t turn up for their fixtures, opposing team get 3 points.

[dsr]

Agree. It’s worrying to think those clubs might cause the league to be cancelled. Think it would be better for the PL to take a harder line and tell them how the league will be restarted. If they don’t turn up for their fixtures, opposing team get 3 points.

I think the point is that the PL wasn't set up with an administrator who will run the league, it was set up so that the 20 clubs get to vote on everything and can veto relatively small changes. I mean, it's blindingly obvious that if no-one can play at home, then you all have to play somewhere else, which has to be a better solution than not playing at all. But it only takes 7 teams who decide they can do without £40m to veto it. If the FA hadn't been both greedy and stupid they would have fixed it so that there is no way that self-interested clubs can avoid relegation by voting purely in their own interest with no regard for the good of football.

Why watford are playing that game, I have no idea. They are in Dickie's meadow already. The players are unhappy because they haven't received any bonus from last year yet, and the club are trying to weasel out of half of it anyway, and they are refusing to pay two African clubs because the banks are closed and they (presumably) don't know how BACS works. They've no cash and they owe a fortune. Watford have to play and collect the TV money or they might not have a club anyway.

[Jamesy]

Just end it, now. These are exceptional circumstances and the bottom six or seven clubs are bleating about neutral grounds, number of home fixtures they have remaining, testing blah blah blah. Who would want to watch behind closed doors football anyway if there was no relegation? It was interesting to hear Villa’s CEO on about their potential lost 200 million quid and then he said for the integrity of the game we should see the season through to conclusion so that the title could be rightfully decided. Not a mention of relegation! These clubs will stall things, threaten legal action and it will become farcical. Yes end it now and relegate the bottom three, who would be the bottom three anyway if you were to work out points per game over the games played to date.

[UnderSeige]

Just end it, now. These are exceptional circumstances and the bottom six or seven clubs are bleating about neutral grounds, number of home fixtures they have remaining, testing blah blah blah. Who would want to watch behind closed doors football anyway if there was no relegation? It was interesting to hear Villa’s CEO on about their potential lost 200 million quid and then he said for the integrity of the game we should see the season through to conclusion so that the title could be rightfully decided. Not a mention of relegation! These clubs will stall things, threaten legal action and it will become farcical. Yes end it now and relegate the bottom three, who would be the bottom three anyway if you were to work out points per game over the games played to date.

I'me sure that the three clubs above the bottom tree would be happy with that solution.

[Jamesy]

I'me sure that the three clubs above the bottom tree would be happy with that solution.

Yes of course they would, but this is all going to turn out to be one big protracted farcical mess. Players will soon be out of contract also which will add to the complications. All the time the clubs are stalling means next season would be a shambles also where we may see teams playing each other just once as there may not be sufficient time to play out a full season, even playing twice a week most weeks. Don’t forget we have got the Euros next year with the World Cup the following year. Time is ticking, time to grasp the nettle.

[Spijed]

If they don’t turn up for their fixtures, opposing team get 3 points.

You can't give the opposing team three points, but you can certainly dock teams points for failing to fulfill fixtures.

[Rileybobs]

Just end it, now. These are exceptional circumstances and the bottom six or seven clubs are bleating about neutral grounds, number of home fixtures they have remaining, testing blah blah blah. Who would want to watch behind closed doors football anyway if there was no relegation? It was interesting to hear Villa’s CEO on about their potential lost 200 million quid and then he said for the integrity of the game we should see the season through to conclusion so that the title could be rightfully decided. Not a mention of relegation! These clubs will stall things, threaten legal action and it will become farcical. Yes end it now and relegate the bottom three, who would be the bottom three anyway if you were to work out points per game over the games played to date.

There are absolutely no grounds whatsoever to relegate the bottom three sides without finishing the season. They haven’t even played the same amount of games for a start.

[tiger76]

You can't give the opposing team three points, but you can certainly dock teams points for failing to fulfill fixtures.

You can,there is of course a precedent,the famous Middlesbrough match,where they failed to show up at Blackburn,were docked 3 points,and that ultimately led to their relegation that season,whether the PL would be able to uphold that sanction in the present climate,i honestly don't know,if it got to that stage,you'd likely be looking at prolonged court cases,i do agree with a lot of the previous posters,the bottom 6,bottom 3 especially,are dragging their heels hoping that the season is finally voided,with no relegation,and no promotion i presume.

[Quicknick]

Void: Liverpool not the champions and Leeds stay down.

[tiger76]

B teams making a comeback?

Clubs may have to 'share resources' when game restarts after pandemic

The concept of B teams may be back on the agenda as football navigates its way through the coronavirus pandemic, says Brighton technical director Dan Ashworth.

It is anticipated Leagues One and Two will be brought to a premature end in the next two weeks and there is also concern about the financial state of the non-league game.

Ashworth, who joined Brighton after six years in a similar role at the Football Association, feels creative solutions may be needed.

“The sort of things we explored a number of years ago, during my time at the FA, were strategic loan clubs, B teams or partner clubs,” he said.

“Maybe, just maybe, things like that come back on the table.

"If there’s a shortage of money and everybody has to cut their cloth accordingly then maybe there’s ways we can share resources and help one another.

“Ground sharing is one that has been looked at before, artificial surfaces that can be used for concerts and training. You could have women’s and men’s games in the same venue.”

On Friday, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), football’s rule-making body, confirmed any competition due to finish before 31 December can allow clubs to make five substitutes during a game, rather than three.

Given the Premier League has nine games to fit in before the end of July, plus the FA Cup from the quarter-finals onwards and - for both Manchester clubs, Wolves and Chelsea - European matches after that, Ashworth feels it is a positive step.

“By default, you can change 50% of your outfield players now, which cuts down on the loading,” he said.

“We will have less than the optimal preparation time when the season gets going and will be squeezing a large number of games into a short period of time, so I can see the rationale. It might help reduce the number of injuries.”

I don't agree with everything he says,but he does raise some important points.

You do have to wonder how many clubs will come out the other side of this pandemic,especially those in league 1 and below.

[Jamesy]

There are absolutely no grounds whatsoever to relegate the bottom three sides without finishing the season. They haven’t even played the same amount of games for a start.

Read the post. I am basing it on points accumulated divided by number of games.

[UnderSeige]

There will likely be legal challenges whatever happens if teams are relegated and promoted without all of the games in the Premiership and Championship being completed. Relegated Premiership sides who have been replaced by Promoted Championship sides would likely make legal challenges if this happens happens.

If the Premiership is completed behind closed doors and the Championship is voided then there should be no promotion since no Championship sides will have won promotion.

If the remaining Championship games are behind closed doors, would they be televised? Who would do this? Would it be worthwhile to the TV companies to televise some of these games? What would season ticket holders of Championship sides think if their matches were held behind closed doors with no way of watching them?

[Devils_Advocate]

10 Simple Steps to Solve This

1 End this season now
2 Give all clubs that have played one less game 3 pts
3 Count the current standings as final
4 Top of league positions count for Europe etc (Liverpool Champions)
5 Nobody goes down
6 Leeds and WBA promoted
7 22 teams next year with 5 relegation spots
8 Aim for Aug/Sep return providing Covid cases go down sufficiently, lockdown restrictions eased and where possible social distancing measures in place
9 Play season behind closed doors and agree any rules around neutral venues to cover full season
10 Aim to have football back to how it was for 21/22 season

[Dyched]

10 Simple Steps to Solve This

1 End this season now
2 Give all clubs that have played one less game 3 pts
3 Count the current standings as final
4 Top of league positions count for Europe etc (Liverpool Champions)
5 Nobody goes down
6 Leeds and WBA promoted
7 22 teams next year with 5 relegation spots
8 Aim for Aug/Sep return providing Covid cases go down sufficiently, lockdown restrictions eased and where possible social distancing measures in place
9 Play season behind closed doors and agree any rules around neutral venues to cover full season
10 Aim to have football back to how it was for 21/22 season

We’ll have the World Cup in 2022 season to add to the problems

[Devils_Advocate]

We’ll have the World Cup in 2022 season to add to the problems

Thats one for FIFA to sort out. The international weeks will still be in the calendar but the question of international football is too complex and unknown even for my brilliant 10 step programme

[Dyched]

Thats one for FIFA to sort out. The international weeks will still be in the calendar but the question of international football is too complex and unknown even for my brilliant 10 step programme

Haha. Was it supposed to be in December? Haven’t read/seen owt about it for a while tbh.

[Rileybobs]

Read the post. I am basing it on points accumulated divided by number of games.

I read your post. It’s ludicrous to relegate a team without completing the fixtures. It doesn’t take into account the relative difficulty of the remaining fixtures or whether the teams at the bottom play each other. It’s even more ridiculous to relegate a team that has played a game less when they could quite conceivably win that game and be out of the relegation zone.

[Rileybobs]

10 Simple Steps to Solve This

1 End this season now
2 Give all clubs that have played one less game 3 pts
3 Count the current standings as final
4 Top of league positions count for Europe etc (Liverpool Champions)
5 Nobody goes down
6 Leeds and WBA promoted
7 22 teams next year with 5 relegation spots
8 Aim for Aug/Sep return providing Covid cases go down sufficiently, lockdown restrictions eased and where possible social distancing measures in place
9 Play season behind closed doors and agree any rules around neutral venues to cover full season
10 Aim to have football back to how it was for 21/22 season

I don’t get this idea that Leeds and WBA should be promoted though. It would be really tough luck on them should they not get to finish the season but that’s life.

Clearly it’s not as big an issue as relegating teams as technically there are no losers, but I find the idea that they deserve to be promoted wrong.

I also think that having 5 relegation spaces next season is putting a number of teams at an unfair disadvantage.

[Devils_Advocate]

I don’t get this idea that Leeds and WBA should be promoted though. It would be really tough luck on them should they not get to finish the season but that’s life.

Clearly it’s not as big an issue as relegating teams as technically there are no losers, but I find the idea that they deserve to be promoted wrong.

I also think that having 5 relegation spaces next season is putting a number of teams at an unfair disadvantage.

Dont see the disadvantage, its the same for everyone and you still just need to come 17th.

Plus its by far the best plan put forward and laid out in easy steps to implement

[Rileybobs]

Dont see the disadvantage, its the same for everyone and you still just need to come 17th.

Plus its by far the best plan put forward and laid out in easy steps to implement

That’s a fair point. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with their being 5 relegation spaces and an additional 4 games to play. I am probably looking at that from a selfish Burnley perspective, as a club with very modest resources, but that’s how I feel. I also think the idea of promoting 2 teams who haven’t earned promotion just a bit of a cop out to avoid a backlash from those clubs.

I think the fixtures need to be completed, in whatever way and at whatever time this is possible. It is the only way to maintain the integrity of the league.

[dsr]

The only sensible options IMO are at the extremes.

1. Start as soon as humanly possible and get on with the job.
2. Shut the game down, no matches, no pay for the players, contracts suspended in limbo, until coronavirus is no longer a threat. Presumably post-vaccine.

I don't see any point in giving up now only to restart and risk the same problem happening again. Better to play this one to a finish and have the same mess next year, than to give up this one incomplete and still have the same mess next year.

[Dyched]

The only sensible options IMO are at the extremes.

1. Start as soon as humanly possible and get on with the job.
2. Shut the game down, no matches, no pay for the players, contracts suspended in limbo, until coronavirus is no longer a threat. Presumably post-vaccine.

I don't see any point in giving up now only to restart and risk the same problem happening again. Better to play this one to a finish and have the same mess next year, than to give up this one incomplete and still have the same mess next year.

You can’t not pay players that is madness

[Devils_Advocate]

That’s a fair point. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with their being 5 relegation spaces and an additional 4 games to play. I am probably looking at that from a selfish Burnley perspective, as a club with very modest resources, but that’s how I feel.

I can understand that view on here with this being a Burnley forum full of Burnley fans. My unrivaled plan looks to address it without bias otherwise universal agreement and support will never be achieved

[Devils_Advocate]

The only sensible options IMO are at the extremes.

1. Start as soon as humanly possible and get on with the job.
2. Shut the game down, no matches, no pay for the players, contracts suspended in limbo, until coronavirus is no longer a threat. Presumably post-vaccine.

I don't see any point in giving up now only to restart and risk the same problem happening again. Better to play this one to a finish and have the same mess next year, than to give up this one incomplete and still have the same mess next year.

3/10 with marks awarded mainly for effort rather than output

[Rileybobs]

I can understand that view on here with this being a Burnley forum full of Burnley fans. My unrivaled plan looks to address it without bias otherwise universal agreement and support will never be achieved

I would suggest that you have given bias towards the two clubs currently at the top of the Championship though. They haven’t earned promotion and I don’t see why the Premier League should alter its structure to accommodate them.

[Devils_Advocate]

I would suggest that you have given bias towards the two clubs currently at the top of the Championship though. They haven’t earned promotion and I don’t see why the Premier League should alter its structure to accommodate them.

No bias at all, it just clearly stands out as the correct and practical thing to do. Both clubs will also be a credit to the Premier League although this is not necessarily an influencing factor in the decision

Remember the end goal is to get football back to normal as best we can and you have to agree my 10 step plan will deliver this objective brilliantly

[Rileybobs]

No bias at all, it just clearly stands out as the correct and practical thing to do. Both clubs will also be a credit to the Premier League although this is not necessarily an influencing factor in the decision

Remember the end goal is to get football back to normal as best we can and you have to agree my 10 step plan will deliver this objective brilliantly

Brilliant as your 10 step plan is, let’s call it the Devil’s Manifesto, I don’t see why the measures you put in place couldn’t be exactly the same but with the current season concluding in August/Sept followed by the next season starting after a short break.

[Devils_Advocate]

Brilliant as your 10 step plan is, let’s call it the Devil’s Manifesto, I don’t see why the measures you put in place couldn’t be exactly the same but with the current season concluding in August/Sept followed by the next season starting after a short break.

Devil's Manifesto - I like it

Your suggestion would disrupt next season too much and would create uncertainty throughout the summer (we would naturally push for it to start asap and would get sidetracked on repetitive decisions and problems) that would be counter productive. We need a clear plan that we can focus on which I provide

I do like your thinking and input though and it is far more advanced than some of the other people on this thread. You would be just the kind of person I would like onboard to help drive the Devil's Manifesto forward