With key players in world football getting together on a video conference later today (tomorrow as I write) there appears to be several options open to the professional game.
Despite the fact it’s been discussed at length I believe that there’s real value in gaining a consensus. Perhaps a survey could be compiled on this very site to give an indication of popular opinion. With that in mind I wanted to float some of the current ideas, that are kicking around, past you wise and knowledgeable lot.
It looks like it could be some time before games can begin again. There are all manner of contracts to satisfy, honours, qualifying and relegation all to be decided and knock on effects on other competitions to be put to bed by Premier and Champion’s league fixture completion. So what to do?
Personally I would like to see the current season completed when possible. There is the option to scrap it and start again however my heartfelt opinion is that it would be grossly unfair, and litigiously questionable, to do so. The only positive that I could draw would be the potential for Bury to be re-instated if they could prove they were capable of completing their fixtures under the league’s stipulations.
So what to do if the current season is to be completed? To add to the difficulty in achieving the closing out of the various campaigns you have the uncertainty of when it might be safe to begin playing games again. This article won’t list every conceivable option and, no doubt, many alternative solutions will be put forward. I certainly hope that’s the case anyway.
To outline some of the options I’ve numbered them as follows: -
1. Increase the frequency of fixtures, played behind closed doors, or in open stadia, when safely possible, to bring the season to a conclusion on time (target final game Sunday 17th May).
2. Complete this season at the normal game frequency and make next season shorter or less time pressed by
a. Cancelling 2020-21 season cup competitions
b. Reducing 2020-21 season cup competitions to one round only
c. Each team playing each other team only once during 2020-21
d. Cancelling International football (including all tournaments and European Nations League qualifying matches)
e. Postponing International football (eg. Euros to be moved to Jan 2021 – which may have the added benefit of being a dry run for the Qatar World Cup)
f. A combination, or all, of the above
3. Restart the season in 2020-21 with all league leaders on zero points and those behind starting on minus points in line with current league status (eg. Man City on -22 or -25, Leicester on -29, Chelsea on -34 etc) once all teams reach 29 games completion this season.
4. Begin the immediate playing of domestic matches again, without team personnel who have contracted Covid-19, within the current fixture schedule with a catch up schedule for games already postponed (unfair on Arsenal and Chelsea for sure). Europa and Champions League matches to be re-scheduled when possible.
5. Some kind of ‘Duckworth-Lewis’ style, variable stipulated, calculation to predict the outcomes of the remaining games of the season and points awarded accordingly.
6. Mini-tournament, played as soon and as safely as possible, for the top eight and bottom eight teams to decide final league positions.
7. Other forms of mini-leagues to shorten next season.
As fee paying customers, or fans if you, like I, prefer, the prospect of the leagues being completed by matches being played behind closed doors provides other challenges. For those who have paid TV subscription fees, and those who have paid for Season Tickets, could be joined by others on a pay per view basis with the Season Ticket holders catered for by their respective clubs for all their remaining games to be aired live. It will certainly be weird. Those who remember the ‘Ghost’ match played at Upton Park, against Castilla, in the Cup Winner’s Cup on 1st October 1980, might have got a taste of the atmosphere of a match played in an empty stadium – albeit broadcasted on the radio and not on TV. Others might have watched U23 games played in the Bowl attended by much smaller numbers however the prospect of first class matches in empty stadia is another thing altogether.
Clearly far more important events are upon us. By comparison to how lives potentially could be, and are being, affected football really should be a lower priority. This being a football based blog, however, potential solutions to this season’s fixture pile ups are front and centre. I’d be very interested to hear what you lot think about the above and your opinions or ideas.
Stay safe and healthy and take care of each other all.