Match Day Thread Premier League, Cups & Euro Watch

We are unique (I think) in that our top division is separate, to a degree, from those below it and can make their own decisions except relegation which involves FA agreement (something else can't remember). The championship and below should therefore be able to take a different path in terms of how they promote and relegate. The FA will have a say in that and they very much want both promotion and relegation.

 

Indeed, but does that mean all 38 games have to be played even if it takes a decade? Obviously (?) not. So there must be some PRE-AGREED mechanism to terminate a programme. Or there should be, as in the French. And I'm coming more and more to the opinion that the FA's involved that terminate these leagues, and thus ultimately UEFA and FIFA, are primarily responsible for this mess, the French FA excepted. I'm not saying that all FA's need to have the same standardised procedure, or even that each league must have - but moving forward, they need to have a rule to have rule, as it were, for unprecedented situations.

I suppose that's motherhood and apple pie though. Though if this second spike is coming in the winter, and next season - whenever and in what format it starts, it needs to be agreed before a ball is kicked whether it can change half way through, whether it's agreed it can't, what happens, who ultimately decides what - and who doesn't.

 

Yeah it's a complete mess. I see league two clubs have also asked for no relegation this season? Be interesting to see how that develops.

 

Yeah, if a PPG is going to be used, the French method looks like the best (is it their one?), and **** what Martin Samuel says trying to save his West Ham. I say that on the basis as they seem to be the only ones who've planned ahead. I still feel uneasy about the promotion and relegation issues though if one league has played out its season and another hasn't - the Glen Murray argument.

 

I don't like the weighted ppg as, like everything else admittedly, it's just not practical really. If a lower club played all the big sides at home in the first half of the season, then it would be unfair to apply that PPG for their games against Saints, Watford and Bournemouth (for example).

I know normal ppg is flawed as well but just think you if you're going to use something flawed then it should be as simple possible. Especially if the simplest one doesn't result in any huge changes.

Of all the potential legal challenges that will arise from this, I think using a convoluted method to relegate a club who were 16th when the season was halted is one where the club would likely win.

 

League Two aren't using the weighted ppg.

 

Obviously that's what should happen but unless I missed it again on re-reading it doesn't state 38 games. I'm only focusing on the number of games because that's what everyone keeps focusing on.

 

I don't think people are focusing on the number personally. More the principle that every team plays each other twice (home and away) which has been the case for well over a hundred years.

 

There was talk of that 39th game being played abroad a few years ago (that would need to be rubber-stamped by the FA, presumably) . That would be lop-sided in a way too, I suppose, but it would be at a neutral venue.

 

The French didn't have a rule in place for early termination. Otherwise they wouldn't have said this - " Faced with the exceptional nature of the situation, the FFF organised a broad consultation with football players, their representative organisations, the Leagues and Districts to determine a harmonised solution with terms for stopping competitions throughout the territory. At the end of this phase of exercises and studies, the Executive Committee of the FFF has therefore taken the following decisions concerning the terms for stopping competitions in the Leagues and Districts......"

Then follows a list of rankings and relegations etc. There is no commonality in how the various leagues are run. Does there need to be?

 

That idea will probably make a comeback within a year or so to 'help make up the shortfall'.

 

The method (should it go this route) will be decided by the clubs. Who will West Ham for example, sue?

 

Oh. I'm er, reliably informed that there was...

And no, I specifically said there doesn't have to be a commonality - just that there is a procedure in place to deal with unforeseen events, regardless of whether the same one for each league and each country.

 

There's all sorts of routes they could take, go via CAS appeal or straight legal challenge to PL/FA. Must say I'm no expert on the specifics, perhaps they would go to FA and say they shouldn't have sanctioned it? **** knows tbh but they definitely wouldn't sit there and take it.

What I really meant though is that it's by far the least fair option. If Saints were to vote for the 16th placed team to go down on some batshit convoluted 'stats' method, jus cos we happened to be alright, then I'll likely never go and watch them again.

 

First sentence: "League Two clubs have voted to cancel the remainder of the season and settle the table via a weighted points-per-game system."

 

From the BBC:

"Although it is understood some League Two sides wanted to use a weighted points-per-game system to finalise the table, the EFL has confirmed an unweighted points-per-game system was agreed upon."

 

I've not disputed the facts. Obviously there's a system that has worked just fine for years. I was sort of laying out the case for how I don't see any scope for the legal challenges that have been suggested. As you agree yesterday, the PL is it's own entity, unlike every other European league and as such makes it's own decisions. How then and who will anyone sue when they themselves have been part of the decisions made?

 

What do you mean "if". The fixture list is known so there's no need for hypotheticals. If you think a team has had the fixtures stacked against them then give the actual example.

Why bother with a league at all if you think the first 75% of games are meaningless and it's all decided in the final 4 home games?

 

You see it as convoluted but others will say it's based on each team's actual performance. It's not arbitrary or altered to cater for individuals. It's one method used across the board equally. I'm neither for it nor against it.

What's your suggestion for how to end the season should the games not get played?

 

There's no such thing as 'stacked' fixtures mate, everyone plays each other twice. Can't say fairer than that.

Where did I say 75% were meaningless? They contribute towards the final result. The league table never lies once the fixtures are concluded, it can be misleading in some areas prior to that though.

If the floodlights had gone out at HT in Istanbul do you think it would have been fair to give Milan the trophy? Or would you argue, rightly as it turned out, that you still had an opportunity to save the match?