Okay I think I might be a bit bored, playing my 2015 football manager game in 2060/61 season having made a new manager as my character was getting too old to be realistic. Been managing Montrose since 2014/15 and my team is currently on track for another Scottish prem, Norwich are 3rd in the prem, but they have played a game more and Norwich are also in the knockout stage of the Europa league. I just spent time looking for where a player had gone... he was picked at right back, woops, played too much.
A-League in Australia is still going for now... Wessi's first start for Newcastle Jets. Blink and you'll miss him.
Interesting squad valuation, putting us 17th in the PL: https://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/canaries-max-aarons-transfer-prized-asset-swiss-survey-1-6566219 Aarons at £40-50m is a bit amazing.
Aarons in my opinion is our most valuable player followed by Cantwell,Godfrey,Buendia and Lewis. It will be interesting to see how valuations move when we eventually get back to normality,if we ever do.
The lockdown isn't going to effect the finances of every club in the same way, so the transfer market could get very interesting. There's going to be some clubs on their knees financially, selling key players for a song just to make ends meet. And some clubs will be positioned to take advantage of that. Depending on how long it goes on, I could see that going either way for us. In the short-term, we're in a good position financially, so any club experiencing financial issues by June when the window opens we could potentially take advantage of. But if this goes on until September (for example), that's more months of paying PL salaries to our first team, without any income. We could end up strugglig with that.
What to do with this season then? I am stunned that this is even still a debate to be honest given the circumstances. I get people want to finish the season but when you consider the likelihood of even being able to start the 20/21 season on time is slim I think common sense dictates we cancel 19/20. Very difficult as a Norwich fan to say this without being accused of bias given our league position. It seems to me we need to work backwards from the one definite date we have in place which is Euro 2021. The 20/21 season can be pushed back a bit but not a huge amount without creating the same headache we have now - (potentially still with the same social distancing / isolation constraints that we have now too). That's not to mention all the other logistical problems that will cause and knock-on effects of moving the dates. My fear is that the business side of football will dictate that this season and potentially some of next season must be played (and broadcast) so the loss in revenues is softened. That means games played behind closed doors! Sucks for the fans but when did that bother EPL / Broadcasters. The other issue is that these teams travel with massive entourages of staff. To claim that these environments would be reasonable for social distancing etc is laughable. Just look at team changing rooms for a start. The desperation for EPL to get the season going again mirrors the economic arguments for opening businesses again before the virus is really contained. I'd like to see things back to normal pronto but we're in real danger of giving this virus a new lease of life if we go too quickly.
It is hard to see how this season could be completed under the present restrictions, but it'll probably come down to money as it always does with the PL.
Without therapeutics or a vaccine, I can't see how football starts up again. After Covid-19, the highest hurdle to completing the season, IMHO, is the mandatory contract extensions, especially for those who are out of contract on July 1st. UEFA (or FIFA or one of those alphabet organisations) say they have the authority to do this. I don't believe that. In fact, it sounds far fetched. It's important that clubs not be allowed to bring in new players to compete in the 2019-20 season.