Project Restart - Hoping for 8th June

[Alf Tuppers Shorts]

If the season ends with home and away games but behind closed doors (supposedly PL in discussions with police, stadium safety managers and Govt)

Would we be 'bigger blades' if thousands of us congregated outside the ground to show our support for our team - or stayed the fuck away and showed our support for common sense?

Sure most of us would stay away. But not sure about Liverpool fans doing the same if and when they clinch the title. Waiting 30 years , temptation too much. And as for common sense this country does not have a great deal of that left I'm affraid.

 

[Varkanoid]

Glenn Murray again..

Glenn Murray urges Premier League to slam brakes on Project Restart

Brighton striker Glenn Murray has questioned the motives behind rushing the Premier League back into action. He is the latest footballer to urge caution in the bid to see football return.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The headline again does not represent the actual chat. Here are quotes from Glen Murray

'It’s a game and it’s a sport. I can’t understand why after just loosening the lockdown why we’re in such a rush to get it back.
'Can’t we wait a month and see what happens. Why can’t we wait to see what happens, rather than start an unnecessary sport when people are dying.'

Announcement to slight easing 10th May. League proposed to start 12th June. Thats nearly 5 weeks so clearly footballers have no sense of time or the fact it could be called off before 12th June even if they proposed to go ahead.

ref Player Conference chat Wednesday -
'It was a long chat, in-depth and we mainly spoke about the first phase, not phase two or three. Phase one is returning to training grounds on social distancing levels, two is stepping into contact. Most of the players are pretty happy with phrase one,' he said.

Change of tact quite happy to return to training yet he just said its too soon ?

'You know what it’s like to get 25 lads on board and they’ve not all got the same mentality. We’ve got people from across the world.

'When I say some players may be reluctant to return I don’t want that to be perceived as the snowflake mentality. That’s not the case at all. It’s more the people we’re going home to that we’re worried about.

Glen Murray doesnt want to be a snowflake and if he doesnt want the people at home get the virus then he will have to make his own tea for a change. (that last bit is a lie or maybe not.)

 

[Varkanoid]

LOL this made me laugh.

Borussia Monchengladbach are going to have cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands, with supporters of any team able to have one of themselves for a €19 (£16.60) fee.

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

In a thread full of rumour, counter rumour, conjecture, speculation and wishful thinking, here is a little something direct from the mouth of someone truly in the know.

Talking to a friend high up at the FA and at the heart of Project Restart, I gleaned the following little tidbits...

- They rate the chance of it happening as 50/50 (so no sitting on the fence, then)

- The FA are very keen (i.e. desperate) for the FA Cup to finish as it is currently their only source of income, having already lost the many, many, many millions from Euro 2020

Nothing too surprising there. The most interesting point however was this...

Using all of the GPS player data they have ascertained that, on average, players are in close contact with other players for . . . wait for it . . . just NINETY seconds per match. Personally I find that ‘surprising’ (just thinking about all the time at corners where everyone is packed into the box and tussling for position (there are an average of 11 corners per game)) but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. If that’s what the data says, then that’s what the data says.

So they see the biggest issue as being not what goes on during the 90 minutes on the pitch, but what happens before and after the games. In other words in the changing room. That’s where it’s hard/impossible to socially distance.

So, to minimise/eradicate the time spent in that environment, I wouldn’t be surprised if players were told to arrive at the ground (in their own cars) already changed into full kit.

And obviously they could all just leave straight afterwards, jump into the car in muddy kit (ooh, all that mud, sweat and tears over their white, hand-stitched, Napa leather interiors), and change when they got home. But what about all that post-match sports science physio stuff like ice baths?

And how are they going to do team talks? Everyone on a pre match Zoom call on their phones in their cars in the car park?

And the pre-match huddle? It’d have to be in a circle 7m across to maintain 2m social distancing (I knew that c=2(Pi)r formula we learnt at school would come in useful once in my lifetime).

And they’d surely have to emerge from the tunnel one at a time rather than en masse.

And the ‘bench’ wouldn’t be sat on the bench (dug out), they’d be sat in the stands with a seat or three between everyone.

And everyone would have to have their own “technical area”.

What else could they do pre and post match to help get this on?

Also, on a separate point, regarding how to stop fans congregating round grounds during BCD matches. Couldn’t the police caution anyone stupid, selfish and reckless enough to do it, get their names and addresses, feed the details back to the clubs, who then issue banning orders? I’d have thought it highly likely that anyone keen enough to want to go to the ground to NOT watch a match would probably have a season ticket, so to lose the ability to actually watch a match when they resume properly might be an effective deterrent. Or worse, and more drastically and controversially, strip them of all their loyalty points. That’ll stop it dead.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the inside info. I'm surprised your contact at the FA didn't mention anything about football though. Just this "new thing". Seriously, how far away from RealBall does it have to go to become FakeBall?

 

[Varkanoid]

Not really anything thats already been said or suggested so not sure why the big post. GPS bit was interesting thats about all.

eg they already arrive to training in their kit, have discussions and team talks apart in their cars via Zoom or whatever etc so no change there.

 

[YES Blade]

Not really anything thats already been said or suggested so not sure why the big post. GPS bit was interesting thats about all.

eg they already arrive to training in their kit, have discussions apart in their cars via Zoom or whatever etc so no change there.

The thing is, the stadium is going to be empty, so pre/post match shouldn't be an issue. E.g. we can give the away team a whole suite in the John Street to use so the team and staff can easily spread out.

 

[Eddiecolquhounsleg]

LOL this made me laugh.

Chansiri has ordered 25k to be put on permanent display at Hillsborough, all with his face on them.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Friday Night Football set to kick off TV bonanza on opening weekend

EXCLUSIVE BY DOMINIC KING AND MATT HUGHES: The Premier League are planning to restart the season with a bumper weekend of televised matches.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I foresee problems with fixture congestion if they play Friday and Monday nights. If they only play at weekends, it will take at least 9 weeks to complete the season. That’s well into August if they start mid-June.

So they will need to squeeze in a few full sets of midweek matches on Tuesdays and Wednesday nights. Do they not think that West Ham, Brighton and Norwich will complain if asked to play on Monday night and again on Wednesday? As would most clubs to be fair.

They should just stick to Saturday/Sunday and Tuesday/Wednesday for 5 weeks and get it finished as quickly as possible. There will be plenty of highlights to fill the TV schedules with on the other nights.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

LOL this made me laugh.

Nothing new in this, it's been going on for years at Swine cottage.

 

[Varkanoid]

Friday Night Football set to kick off TV bonanza on opening weekend

EXCLUSIVE BY DOMINIC KING AND MATT HUGHES: The Premier League are planning to restart the season with a bumper weekend of televised matches.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I foresee problems with fixture congestion if they play Friday and Monday nights. If they only play at weekends, it will take at least 9 weeks to complete the season. That’s well into August if they start mid-June.

9th August would be the last weekend so not well into August. They could stick a month in between and restart mid September which would work.

 

[Maidenhead]

Friday Night Football set to kick off TV bonanza on opening weekend

EXCLUSIVE BY DOMINIC KING AND MATT HUGHES: The Premier League are planning to restart the season with a bumper weekend of televised matches.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I foresee problems with fixture congestion if they play Friday and Monday nights. If they only play at weekends, it will take at least 9 weeks to complete the season. That’s well into August if they start mid-June.

So they will need to squeeze in a few full sets of midweek matches on Tuesdays and Wednesday nights. Do they not think that West Ham, Brighton and Norwich will complain if asked to play on Monday night and again on Wednesday? As would most clubs to be fair.

They should just stick to Saturday/Sunday and Tuesday/Wednesday for 5 weeks and get it finished as quickly as possible. There will be plenty of highlights to fill the TV schedules with on the other nights.

I think that Villa are more likely to complain that they have one more fixture than all their relegation rivals and they have to fit it into the same timescale giving them less average recovery time.

 

[WORKSOPBLADE]

Those mighty blades !!

 

[Silent Blade]

I think that Villa are more likely to complain that they have one more fixture than all their relegation rivals and they have to fit it into the same timescale giving them less average recovery time.

Potential number of games left for PL clubs (League, FA Cup games)

13 Blades, Man City, Arsenal

12 Norwich, Man U, Leicester, Chelsea, Newcastle

10 Villa

9 The rest of PL clubs

Chelsea are unlikely to play more than 1 CL game, Man City potentially could play 6 more CL games. Wolves and Man U potentially could play 6 more EL games.

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

Chansiri has ordered 25k to be put on permanent display at Hillsborough, all with his face on them.

If Chansiri wants to approximate his usual approach to fans with cardboard cuts-outs, 25k with his arse on them would get closer.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

9th August would be the last weekend so not well into August. They could stick a month in between and restart mid September which would work.

Except that the Premier League have reportedly committed to finishing the season by the end of July as requested by UEFA. So they can play the European competitions in August.

Plus they’re already talking about pushing the restart back by a week which would mean finishing on the 16th August if they only play at weekends.

Plus there are two extra rearranged fixtures to squeeze in, so they will definitely have to played midweek. We or others could be forced to play Monday, Wednesday and Friday under the current proposals.

There Is no logical football reason for playing Friday and Monday nights. Only a TV ratings reason. The league and clubs should stand firm on this.

 

[MobileBlade]

Except that the Premier League have reportedly committed to finishing the season by the end of July as requested by UEFA. So they can play the European competitions in August.

Plus they’re already talking about pushing the restart back by a week which would mean finishing on the 16th August if they only play at weekends.

Plus there are two extra rearranged fixtures to squeeze in, so they will definitely have to played midweek. We or others could be forced to play Monday, Wednesday and Friday under the current proposals.

There Is no logical football reason for playing Friday and Monday nights. Only a TV ratings reason. The league and clubs should stand firm on this.

I think you will find the only games that will run concurrently will be the last games of the season. They will be games on every evening with 3 games each Saturday and Sunday.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Except that the Premier League have reportedly committed to finishing the season by the end of July as requested by UEFA. So they can play the European competitions in August.

Plus they’re already talking about pushing the restart back by a week which would mean finishing on the 16th August if they only play at weekends.

Plus there are two extra rearranged fixtures to squeeze in, so they will definitely have to played midweek. We or others could be forced to play Monday, Wednesday and Friday under the current proposals.

There Is no logical football reason for playing Friday and Monday nights. Only a TV ratings reason. The league and clubs should stand firm on this.

I made bold the TV ratings reason. Which is THE reason we are talking of playing in june. TV money. Nothing else.

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Harrisblade]

I think that Villa are more likely to complain that they have one more fixture than all their relegation rivals and they have to fit it into the same timescale giving them less average recovery time.

That happens to all teams that get into a cup final or have a good European run.

 

[Maidenhead]

That happens to all teams that get into a cup final or have a good European run.

Tell that to Villa if they end up with four games in 10 days and get relegated

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Football in England: Government 'opens door for safe return in June'

Government 'opens door' for football return

The government says it is "opening the door" for professional football in England in June, after a meeting with the FA, Premier League and EFL.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[8lade]

Interesting that neither of the top 2 are in the 6 wanting to finish the season! I'm guessing it's a case of every man for himself again, however for footballing integrity I'd go with the 6, as long as it doesn't cause any team to go bust. (Ipswich are the real surprise and must be absolutely desperate, 4 defeats on the bounce, 7 pts outside the play offs 10 outside of the top 2).

 

[YES Blade]

Interesting that neither of the top 2 are in the 6 wanting to finish the season! I'm guessing it's a case of every man for himself again, however for footballing integrity I'd go with the 6, as long as it doesn't cause any team to go bust. (Ipswich are the real surprise and must be absolutely desperate, 4 defeats on the bounce, 7 pts outside the play offs 10 outside of the top 2).

That's the problem in League One and Two, money (or lack of)! How do they fund all the testing the Premier League has in place? How do they pay the wages for the contract extensions? All with no gate money coming in and no TV money of note.

 

[Davalon]

Apologies if this is already posted (not read the thread) but was told yesterday that the restart plan is to play games from 12 June (1 game on a Friday, 4 sat, 4 sun, 1 Monday) with final fixtures 1/2 August. Some midweek games thrown in to get it all done. Cup quarters and semis played during this period too, with cup final August 8th

Having an FA Cup at Wembley with no fans is ludicrous.

Therefore I predict this will be our first final since 1936

 

[Davalon]

In a thread full of rumour, counter rumour, conjecture, speculation and wishful thinking, here is a little something direct from the mouth of someone truly in the know.

Talking to a friend high up at the FA and at the heart of Project Restart, I gleaned the following little tidbits...

- They rate the chance of it happening as 50/50 (so no sitting on the fence, then)

- The FA are very keen (i.e. desperate) for the FA Cup to finish as it is currently their only source of income, having already lost the many, many, many millions from Euro 2020

Nothing too surprising there. The most interesting point however was this...

Using all of the GPS player data they have ascertained that, on average, players are in close contact with other players for . . . wait for it . . . just NINETY seconds per match. Personally I find that ‘surprising’ (just thinking about all the time at corners where everyone is packed into the box and tussling for position (there are an average of 11 corners per game)) but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. If that’s what the data says, then that’s what the data says.

So they see the biggest issue as being not what goes on during the 90 minutes on the pitch, but what happens before and after the games. In other words in the changing room. That’s where it’s hard/impossible to socially distance.

So, to minimise/eradicate the time spent in that environment, I wouldn’t be surprised if players were told to arrive at the ground (in their own cars) already changed into full kit.

And obviously they could all just leave straight afterwards, jump into the car in muddy kit (ooh, all that mud, sweat and tears over their white, hand-stitched, Napa leather interiors), and change when they got home. But what about all that post-match sports science physio stuff like ice baths?

And how are they going to do team talks? Everyone on a pre match Zoom call on their phones in their cars in the car park?

And the pre-match huddle? It’d have to be in a circle 7m across to maintain 2m social distancing (I knew that c=2(Pi)r formula we learnt at school would come in useful once in my lifetime).

And they’d surely have to emerge from the tunnel one at a time rather than en masse.

And the ‘bench’ wouldn’t be sat on the bench (dug out), they’d be sat in the stands with a seat or three between everyone.

And everyone would have to have their own “technical area”.

What else could they do pre and post match to help get this on?

Also, on a separate point, regarding how to stop fans congregating round grounds during BCD matches. Couldn’t the police caution anyone stupid, selfish and reckless enough to do it, get their names and addresses, feed the details back to the clubs, who then issue banning orders? I’d have thought it highly likely that anyone keen enough to want to go to the ground to NOT watch a match would probably have a season ticket, so to lose the ability to actually watch a match when they resume properly might be an effective deterrent. Or worse, and more drastically and controversially, strip them of all their loyalty points. That’ll stop it dead.

Clubs promising banning orders for fans trying to congregate at grounds is the biggest thing they can do imho

 

[Working Class Hero]

Having an FA Cup at Wembley with no fans is ludicrous.

Therefore I predict this will be our first final since 1936

The FA Cup needs to be picked up again next year from where it left off. No teams want the fixture congestion now, and no teams will want the congestion of a full FA Cup next season if the season starts late. So it makes perfect sense.

If it was to be completed this summer, I'd genuinely want us to lose against Arsenal. It would break my heart to see us in an FA Cup Final and not be there.

 

[The Crab]

It is absolutely abhorrent that footballers are moaning about having to go to ‘work’ while people earning a minuscule of what they’ll ever earn are currently out working.

It has previously been implied to me that if I didnt want to do what I'm doing then my replacement would, thanks to the wonderful world of outsourcing.

Footballers, at least at top level, well it's easier for them to take that stance I'd say.

I'm just glad the whole thing isnt my decision to take. Whichever way it gets sorted it is going to piss certain teams off.