Rival Watch

Why would curtailing it please any United fan if it means we won't have the chance to finish Top 4? I'd much rather it was completed. At least everyone gets what they deserve not just a select few... or one.

 

The way it is looking we are still looking at a lockdown lasting 3 months at least. Which means resumption in July if we are lucky. There won't be any European football club or international so in theory we could cram the remaining matches in 4-5 weeks in closed doors with all the matches being televised. I think that United could do well and get that 4th place.

The upshot of this is the RS will get their title but with no crowds and no celebration. And there wont be any bus parade either. Football cannot be more important than the health of the vulnerable and elderly or the survival of the NHS and its staff.

 

You think we'll still be in lockdown in August/September? Really?

 

I sincerely hope that we would be over the peak by then. But the strategy used by the government and its experts is too squash that sombrero which means that the peak is less but the return to normal is slower. The social distancing and isolation may well be relaxed but I can’t believe the government and councils would be so complacent as to allow large gatherings such as parades at that time.

 

Can't argue with that. Must cancel the whole programme then, as there seems to be no solution, such as having the parade when the peak is over. Oh, wait...

 

Er, this is going to hurt (me). It appears you could be right - government now talking 9 months to a year before social distancing is relaxed. Got to admit, 30 years or not - I doubt whether some of us will be arsed with football one way or another by then.

 

We'll see...…………….

 

Well in these difficult times football should be the least of our worries. When we are over the peak the harsh rules of staying at home will be relaxed. But we will be asked to maintain the 2 metre rule and avoid large gatherings. I honestly cannot believe that football would want to preempt the return to normality by seeming to jump the gun. How do you get so many players and managers and coaches to mix together even behind closed doors?

It may well be unfair to you lot and some clubs. I understand United are going to fight hard for the season not to be cancelled as they will suffer yet another year outside the CL. But cancellation will seem to be the most straightforward way out of the quagmire.

 

Hmm. Still not seen any logical reason at all that IF this season is terminated why null and void is somehow fairer than than giving teams one point for all games left to play and ending it that way. Both are legal minefields. Self interest ( and in fairness, United's as a club are different to that of its fans) drives us all: it always does in football. But some people wanted to end the league the first day a covid 19 case was confirmed in the country, citing then that they only had the best interests of the country at heart. Humbug.

Truth is, no decision one way or another needs to be made until the end of May . Illogical to call anything before then.

 

Agree with Donga, there should be a way to end it.
**** knows what that way is, especially one that everyone agrees with, but it would be very harsh on a number of clubs (not just Liverpool) to just terminate it.

What that is, I don't know. The idea of one point each is fine in principle I guess but those vying for promotion and trying to avoid relegation won't buy that.

 

Adding one point to every club's remaining games leaves everyone in the same position but gives Liverpool the 6 points it needs to win the league. Nice one Donga

 

I didnt originally suggest it - think it was a journalist on the Mail. It wasnt about liverpool though - it was to counter the argument that some teams in the relegation still had games in hand to play (Villa?). Just fairer than a musical chairs ending or null and void. And I think it would give us a 22 point margin, tbh. Not in the record- setting region we would have got...

Oh, and null and void means Liverpool don't win the league despite a 25 point lead three- quarters of the way through. Nice one Trebs!

See what I did there?

 

That's one way to do it. It is exactly the same as freezing the league at this point and awarding the prizes and outcomes like relegation and promotion.

As a matter of principle, stopping a competition in any sport because of a natural or environmental disaster and acting on the outcomes at that point make me and many people queasy. If a marathon or a tennis match is ended after 3/4 of the race or the match we wouldn't be happy to award the prize to the front runner.

If the top 4 were all challenging for the title would we have been happier to cancel the competition? Are we continuing the competition just because we have a team well ahead? Should it not be about the integrity of the competition to the very end? We all know that frequently one out the three bottom clubs goes into a run and get out.

In any sport is it ever right to award prizes and punishments when they are not finished. No one has come up with a fair way to complete the competition and satisfy the public health.

 

You haven't checked the table have you mate I'm all open to a fair resolution but if you add 1 point for every remaining league game, nobody's position changes, not even the teams with a game in hand (except for Sheffield United who would move up to 6th) Aston Villa would stay second from bottom. It achieves nothing except for the benefit of 1 team who accumulate the points they need without having to change position... guess who?

 

Talking about the integrity of the competition, liverpool were forced to play 9 games in 26 days in '89 because both the FA and the then Football League both insisted that their competitions had to finish to "Maintain their integrity ". At least this time everyone would be in the same boat.

 

The main difference is the reason. On this occasion it is the risk to lives in the country from playing matches even behind closed doors. I just cannot see how playing can happen when any group meetings would be discouraged for at least 6 months. May be allocating a point to each club might be an option but how is it fair to the likes of watford who were on a run of good form? May be the EPL might cancel the league with a special mention to the RS as the "honorary champions " of the interrupted season 19/20. If that's what their fans are so preoccupied about.

 

Wouldn't it be easier to finish the Cup competitions? Put the last 8 of the Europy and CL in a World Cup style tournament in ONE location. First two weeks are isolation. Last 2 weeks are the knockout games. Do the same with the FA Cup. At least that's do-able

 

Sounds complicated and subject to many factors. I would not expect any of the football authorities to do this. In the light of the severity of the pandemic with so many ill and dying it would indeed be wrong. I would expect football to start again only when the pandemic is over and the risk becomes negligible.

 

No I agree mate, I meant after the lockdowns are lifted. We will have so little time between then and the new season, this will be far easier to achieve than the league.

Of course there was an element of tongue firmly in cheek with the suggestion as it only caters for clubs in those competitions including United

 

Wouldn't it be easier to just cancel the cup competitions, three quarters of the way through, and pretend they never happened?