Football League Suspended

[Leonard Venkhater]

2 hours ago, K-Hod said:

The reason for bringing football back for ‘sporting integrity’ (money) seems to be the only thing I can think of. Football behind closed doors without fans is just inferior whatever way you look at it, but some football is better than none I suppose! 
The thing is, the clubs that need the money the most (leagues 1 & 2 especially) don’t get anywhere near the same TV money, so without PL subsidy, they will continue to struggle without fans in the ground. 
I can already hear the cries ‘why should the PL subsidise the lower league’. Well, with some poor decisions, that could easily be them in league one as well! 
A tough situation, but the incredibly cash rich PL could, and easily should in my view help to provide for the other clubs out of solidarity, if nothing else. Unless of course, it’s only the #footballfamily when it suits....

I think " the football family" is indeed sentimental nonsense. It is all about dog- eat- dog Darwinism and greed. 

Any help would only be forthcoming, if it were in the interests of the "giver".

[Crimpshrine]

Do football stadia have doors ?

[chaddyrovers]

5 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

the additional headache of testing costs which are huge.

which why the PFA and FA could step in and help league 1 and 2 clubs with the cost of testing for those clubs who need it next season but why don't we get through this season 1st. 

 

5 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Ultimately you can naively and ignorantly dismiss the ongoing doubt as moaning @chaddyrovers but ultimately you yourself havent offered any proper solutions either. The reason being that whilst BCD is the only option time may run out on clubs and there is no way of stopping that really. We just have to hope fans can attend as soon as possible. You are so desperate to see some football that you arent looking at the bigger picture.

Did I not mention weeks ago about helping and protecting lower league clubs? I think I did whilst if I remember you weren't that bothered. 

Yes I think most football fans are hoping we can attend as soon as possible but I think we need a vaccine and treatment before we are going to be allowed back into stadiums according the Government's last comment on this. 

I desperate to see some football is abit rich coming from yourself who has been watching all the German Football at home. I haven't. 

Football is coming back and fans wont have to pay for some of the coverage. Sky has been good in putting games on for free on the Pick channel. 

 

[bazza]

3 hours ago, Crimpshrine said:

Do football stadia have doors ?

Don't know but they've always had gates.

[Crimpshrine]

40 minutes ago, bazza said:

Don't know but they've always had gates.

So behind closed doors is the same as having no gate ?

[roversfan99]

37 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

which why the PFA and FA could step in and help league 1 and 2 clubs with the cost of testing for those clubs who need it next season but why don't we get through this season 1st. 

 

Did I not mention weeks ago about helping and protecting lower league clubs? I think I did whilst if I remember you weren't that bothered. 

Yes I think most football fans are hoping we can attend as soon as possible but I think we need a vaccine and treatment before we are going to be allowed back into stadiums according the Government's last comment on this. 

I desperate to see some football is abit rich coming from yourself who has been watching all the German Football at home. I haven't. 

Football is coming back and fans wont have to pay for some of the coverage. Sky has been good in putting games on for free on the Pick channel. 

 

Do you really believe that will happen? Even if they were willing, where is this big pot of surplus money coming from in this economic climate to kindly donate millions and millions to do all of this testing?!

Id love you to find when I said that. Ive always been skeptical and dismissive of your fantasy world notion that the money solely from a TV deal that itself has presumably been affect will suffice in trickling down and keeping every club financially stable.

I am a big football fan like yourself and months into lockdown I am yes watching some Bundesliga football. As you would if had the channel to do so. What you seem to be unable to realise (or just solely are using to try and get a reaction) is that it doesnt mean that I am not brimming full of excitement, or aware enough to realise how serious a situation we are in, obviously overall but in this instance in terms of the going concern of many football clubs. I am aware of why BCD is the only alternative to nothing at all but I can understand that and indeed watch BCD football without trying to make out as if the world is rosy, rubbing my hands together embracing the new "TV sport" claiming that I often dont notice fans anyway and without realising how precarious things are the longer it goes on.

[Stuart]

22 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I don't understand where you're coming from on this at all Stuart.

Completing the season behind closed doors and hypothetically playing the next and the next BCD as well if it was necessary isn't about "throwing more money" at the Premier League, those sums would all have been agreed some time ago in the last round of TV rights.

It's about those Clubs delivering what they have contractually agreed to do and not having to pay money which will already have been spent or committed back It's not as though we are starting from scratch from now and the TV Companies are chucking money about willy nilly at Premier League Clubs. Quite the reverse,  I suspect the likes of Sky and BT are mortified by the current situation and that if there was any way they could wriggle out of the current deals they would do, because until things return to normal they are tied into paying the Clubs top dollar for an inferior product.

You do also realise the Premier League and the EFL are two completely separate entities? If the EFL aren't satisfied with the deal that they negotiated with TV Companies and/or the PL then that is partly the fault of the Clubs themselves and their representatives and should have been sorted over the years with each successive round of TV deals.

Who exactly are they going to walk away from, themselves? Who would give them a better deal? Would you subscribe to a Channel showing a lot of live League 1 and League 2 games?

I wouldn't although I probably would if I supported one of the Clubs concerned. Overall though I suspect the demand from the neutral isn't there and that the potential numbers do not make it something broadcasters would be prepared to pay over the odds for unlike PL football.

If the only football is PL football then football is dead.

You talk about contractual obligations during a global pandemic. This is force majeure. Clubs cannot be compelled to play.

The reason they are is because they are addicted like crack addicts to TV-money-heroin (to “pay (ridiculous) wages and (obscene) transfer fees”) and going cold turkey is going to hurt.

I’ve no sympathy for them.

BCD is not football.

[Mattyblue]

29 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Do you really believe that will happen? Even if they were willing, where is this big pot of surplus money coming from in this economic climate to kindly donate millions and millions to do all of this testing?!

Id love you to find when I said that. Ive always been skeptical and dismissive of your fantasy world notion that the money solely from a TV deal that itself has presumably been affect will suffice in trickling down and keeping every club financially stable.

 

Course he doesn’t really believe it (well I bloody well hope he doesn’t for his sake), but I assume it puts his mind at ease as he watches BCD game number 46, the mouthwatering clash between Crystal Palace and Southampton or whoever, that these greedy and/or inept organisations are going to ride to the rescue of the wider game.

’Yeah, but we could all be vaccinated in September ’,

‘but the PL could pay loads of extra cash to the EFL’

‘ the FA could pay for all the EFL tests’ (the FA! That well known interventionist organisation that did so much for Bury).

None of this will happen, of course.

Edited June 4, 2020 by Mattyblue

[roversfan99]

7 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Course he doesn’t really believe it (well I bloody well hope he doesn’t for his sake), but I assume it puts his mind at ease as he watches BCD game number 46, the mouthwatering clash between Crystal Palace and Southampton or whoever, that these greedy and/or inept organisations are going to ride to the rescue of the wider game.

’Yeah, but we could all be vaccinated in September ’,

‘but the PL could pay loads of extra cash to the EFL’

‘ the FA could pay for all the EFL tests’ (the FA! That well known interventionist organisation that did so much for Bury).

None of this will happen, of course.

All very true. To be fair, even if the governing bodies were willing and had the integrity they repeatedly mention, if most of next season is BCD then even they would struggle to maintain of all its clubs. Never mind what we have now!

[chaddyrovers]

27 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Do you really believe that will happen? Even if they were willing, where is this big pot of surplus money coming from in this economic climate to kindly donate millions and millions to do all of this testing?!

Who knows. Both could find a way if all Football authorities came together come up with a plan. But That's next season but need to decide this season and the plan for league 1 which look like ending the season on PPG system and just have the Playoffs according to Rotherham Owner comments that's I've seen online

The Government has asked the Premier League and its clubs to provide money for lower league clubs via the huge TV deals they have had over the past few years. 

27 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I am a big football fan like yourself and months into lockdown I am yes watching some Bundesliga football. As you would if had the channel to do so.

TBH, I not sure I would as I have no interest or even been a big interest in the league. Where as I grow up watching Premier league and English football with plus Spanish football where I have more of a connection with by watching it. 

28 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

or aware enough to realise how serious a situation we are in

The situation is serious as you can get but you have to find a situation around the current problem

28 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I am aware of why BCD is the only alternative to nothing at all but I can understand that and indeed watch BCD football without trying to make out as if the world is rosy, rubbing my hands together embracing the new "TV sport" claiming that I often dont notice fans anyway and without realising how precarious things are the longer it goes on.

How is the world rosy with this coronavirus going on at the minute, People jobs under threat or been made redundant, People having hours cut or shift changes, Mortgages problems. Plus a load of others things going on whether Children education, etc

Football has to become a TV Sport until we get a vaccine and treatment. Would you be happy going to stadium right now? 

When watching a game on TV you don't focus on the crowd or the noise from the crowd do you the majority of the time that's was my point but focus on watching the game. Is watching Football and Rovers on TV/ifollow ideal? no it isn't. I would rather be at Ewood Park but Im not allowed to and I highlighted a number of issues before like Toilet and catering facilities plus parking spaces for fans, Social distancing on the concourse or outside the Blackburn End pre game which would cause a concern to me in attending the game. 

[chaddyrovers]

on the Bury situation, their owner had offers on the table to buy the club and he didn't do a deal.

[Mattyblue]

Massive revolt by Sunderland fans. Not only would there be no refund for ST holders if games re-started this season, they’d been told to just watch ifollow. Though L1 will probably be curtailed next week, so it won’t be tested.

But what’s really getting their goat is those that had already renewed for next season have been told that they won’t get that refunded either, told to watch ifollow for the foreseeable. A full price ST (or 2,3 STs for a family) is obviously much more expensive than just buying an internet match pass for the house. And many older fans don’t do streaming and the like.

Only 14% in a poll say they will now renew...

 

 

[arbitro]

The word integrity has been banded about a lot recently by many but how is changing the rules part way through a season fair? Clubs can now make five substitutions during a game which is half of the outfield players. It can't be right in my view to offer such an advantage that hasn't been afforded during the rest of the season. 

I wonder if they have thought about games going into extra time when the recent law change allowed for a extra substitution. Will that still be allowed so clubs will then be allowed six substitutes?

Farcical.

[HowieFive0]

36 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Massive revolt by Sunderland fans. Not only would there be no refund for ST holders if games re-started this season, they’d been told to just watch ifollow. Though L1 will probably be curtailed next week, so it won’t be tested.

But what’s really getting their goat is those that had already renewed for next season have been told that they won’t get that refunded either, told to watch ifollow for the foreseeable. A full price ST (or 2,3 STs for a family) is obviously much more expensive than just buying an internet match pass for the house. And many older fans don’t do streaming and the like.

Only 14% in a poll say they will now renew...

 

 

Lets be grateful that Rovers are one of the very few clubs that release their Season Tickets at the last minute !   #silverlining

[Mattyblue]

Ha Waggott will be kicking himself, they’ll be out in January in future...

[MarkBRFC]

As has been said by a few before if this was 30 years ago the whole thing would have been void by now.

This desperation of chasing this TV money and to hell with any sporting integrity is a massive turn off to me, the future of so many clubs in the balance and then I read last night that Chelsea have agreed a deal for Timo Werner for a rediculous fee, and that Spurs have just secured a £160m loan.

Curiosity will probably see me watch a bit at the start but I can't see myself watching too much premier league when it comes back on and genuinely can't understand any excitement of 92 games back to back on tv behind closed doors, it'll get boring very quickly I think.

[Parsonblue]

35 minutes ago, arbitro said:

The word integrity has been banded about a lot recently by many but how is changing the rules part way through a season fair? Clubs can now make five substitutions during a game which is half of the outfield players. It can't be right in my view to offer such an advantage that hasn't been afforded during the rest of the season. 

I wonder if they have thought about games going into extra time when the recent law change allowed for a extra substitution. Will that still be allowed so clubs will then be allowed six substitutes?

Farcical.

I think the last three months have proved beyond doubt that the words 'football' and 'integrity' should never be used in the same sentence - they are complete strangers to one another.  The fact that Tottenham can contemplate such a loan, that Chelsea talk about spending fifty-odd million on a player and that Sunderland show such little respect for long suffering supporters shows the only priority with regard to football - money.  

After almost sixty years as a season ticket holder, my Dad getting me one as a kid and been renewing ever since - even the years I was away from Blackburn as a student - I'm actually giving serious thought as the whether I want to renew it.  I suspect blind loyalty will probably tip my hand in the end but watching matches being streamed on ifollow, or whatever it is, really holds little appeal. 

I notice the new guy at the head of the Premier League is talking about a small number of supporters being allowed back in grounds, perhaps as early as September.  Personally I wouldn't trust this government if they said it was safe to return to grounds - no doubt they, and the football authorities would be claiming that infamous 'ring of steel' around care homes was now in place around football stadiums.  When money is the driving force, safety is always a dim and distant second in terms of priorities.  I don't think I have ever been so disillusioned with the game that I've loved for so long.   

[Mattyblue]

Sobering post.

If fans with the passion and commitment of Parson and JH, dedication going back decades are considering knocking it on the head, then we really are staring down the barrel of the end to football as a mass spectator sport in this country.

The authorities, a bit like some on here, are completely in denial to what’s about to hit the game.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Mattyblue

[JHRover]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Massive revolt by Sunderland fans. Not only would there be no refund for ST holders if games re-started this season, they’d been told to just watch ifollow. Though L1 will probably be curtailed next week, so it won’t be tested.

But what’s really getting their goat is those that had already renewed for next season have been told that they won’t get that refunded either, told to watch ifollow for the foreseeable. A full price ST (or 2,3 STs for a family) is obviously much more expensive than just buying an internet match pass for the house. And many older fans don’t do streaming and the like.

Only 14% in a poll say they will now renew...

 

 

No surprises that Sunderland are ones potentially depriving their fans of refunds. I suspect they will be one of the hardest hit clubs with their owners, overheads and likely missing out on promotion again. 

I'd like to see the small print that allows the club to replace match tickets with access to Ifollow without the option of a refund. I'd also like to know how they are going to stop a season ticket holder from hooking his account up to a pub and broadcasting it to many others who don't pay for access.

What happens if you share a house and tv with 3-4 other season ticket holders. Why should they get less for their money than someone who lives alone?

What happens if you don't have a tv licence, satellite tv or internet? You might laugh but i know people who don't. 

Can of worms opening here.

No surprises there hasn't been a word from Waggott or Rovers as to what the options are going to be. Suspect he will be minded to at least encourage fans to accept Ifollow as the alternative.

I'd like him to explain why i should do that and not have a refund whilst the club has been paying Charlie Mulgrew to not play for 6 months.

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

I think the last three months have proved beyond doubt that the words 'football' and 'integrity' should never be used in the same sentence - they are complete strangers to one another.  The fact that Tottenham can contemplate such a loan, that Chelsea talk about spending fifty-odd million on a player and that Sunderland show such little respect for long suffering supporters shows the only priority with regard to football - money.  

After almost sixty years as a season ticket holder, my Dad getting me one as a kid and been renewing ever since - even the years I was away from Blackburn as a student - I'm actually giving serious thought as the whether I want to renew it.  I suspect blind loyalty will probably tip my hand in the end but watching matches being streamed on ifollow, or whatever it is, really holds little appeal. 

I notice the new guy at the head of the Premier League is talking about a small number of supporters being allowed back in grounds, perhaps as early as September.  Personally I wouldn't trust this government if they said it was safe to return to grounds - no doubt they, and the football authorities would be claiming that infamous 'ring of steel' around care homes was now in place around football stadiums.  When money is the driving force, safety is always a dim and distant second in terms of priorities.  I don't think I have ever been so disillusioned with the game that I've loved for so long.   

Your post pretty much sums up where I am at the moment Parson. I have thought for a long time that football is so shallow but every day there seems to be another story which for me puts another nail in the coffin. Like your blind loyalty I am the same I would probably go back to Ewood when I feel it is safe to do so but I don't feel right now that it will ever be the same. Cancelling my Sky subscription of over 25 years last weekend was a seminal moment in my footballing life and I genuinely felt a lot better once I'd done it. I will not be paying for and watching Rovers on a small laptop screen neither, I will listen on the radio if it's available. If not I'll probably do something else that I've found I enjoy doing for the last ten or so weeks.

[rigger]

8 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Your post pretty much sums up where I am at the moment Parson. I have thought for a long time that football is so shallow but every day there seems to be another story which for me puts another nail in the coffin. Like your blind loyalty I am the same I would probably go back to Ewood when I feel it is safe to do so but I don't feel right now that it will ever be the same. Cancelling my Sky subscription of over 25 years last weekend was a seminal moment in my footballing life and I genuinely felt a lot better once I'd done it. I will not be paying for and watching Rovers on a small laptop screen neither, I will listen on the radio if it's available. If not I'll probably do something else that I've found I enjoy doing for the last ten or so weeks.

Just Don’t get caught.

[Stuart]

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Sobering post.

If fans with the passion and commitment of Parson and JH, dedication going back decades are considering knocking it on the head, then we really are staring down the barrel of the end to football as a mass spectator sport in this country.

The authorities, a bit like some on here, are completely in denial to what’s about to hit the game.

Mirrors my thoughts.

What I want to understand is, why are Chelsea considering spending £50m on any player at this moment in time?

What is the measure of whether that signing is a success? (Not) Winning trophies in a soulless stadium has diminished the achievement but winning it in a body-less stadium?

Is Champions League income still such a major stream that such sums still need to be expended just to keep the wheels going?

The prestige of being a football club owner must surely be massively diminished with no supporters there to “fan the emperor”.

We are watching football die as a spectator sport and the rats are scrambling to survive by carrying on pandering to TV executives. Well, they’ve made their beds by allowing themselves to get into this state. I certainly don’t see why the exchequer should bail any of them out.

[Rogerb]

With around 60of the 92clubs viewed to be in serious danger it is not beyond the realms of possibilities of Chorley if they can manage to survive appearing in league 2 when the whole thing can restart if there are numerous casualties

[perthblue02]

EFL statement on Championship  re-start , tv schedule 

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/june/efl-statement-sky-bet-championship-returns-to-sky-sports/

Edited June 5, 2020 by perthblue02

[Athlete]

Nothing about refunds as yet