Football: What Football?

[Lightning Lord]

Sorry for the double post. I was unaware Ty and I had ended up in the footie thread. I don't allow myself to post here because my club hired a douchecanoe to be its manager.

Should I begin following Bundesliga instead? Or Championship? Momou will never stoop to that level, right? My friend is a big fan of Sheffield Wednesday... I could follow them.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

17 minutes ago, Lightning Lord said:

Your internet handle is an homage to one of Kirby Puckett's out-of-wedlock children? That's incredible. I'mma go get a beer and toast your honoring the Kirbv Kid.

Win, Ty win!

Wonder if he ever met my mom...

Are you a 5'8ish light skinned black man with huge arms?

Probably not. 

[Lightning Lord]

So close. 6'2" pale white dude with gigantic legs (marathon running) and virtually no upper body strength of any kind.

[BigFatCoward]

FA are really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Clubs are threatening to sue if the season is annulled, others will sue if it isnt.

Basically football clubs are twats. 

[AncalagonTheBlack]

football.london have reported that a conference call took place between the Premier League, Football Association and English Football League today.

It is claimed that a plan was reached to resume the season in July, with games played behind closed doors "over a period of four to six weeks unless the situation worsens in the UK."

Football.london also suggest that allowances will be made to try and help clubs and players cope following the delay and soften the impact on the 2020/21 campaign.

It is reported that possible measures could include "cancelling cup replays, or even potentially scrapping the League Cup and EFL Trophy."

https://www.football.london/premier-league/premier-league-coronavirus-closed-doors-18000224

[baxus]

1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

It is claimed that a plan was reached to resume the season in July

What happens with players whose contracts expire on June 30th?

[A Horse Named Stranger]

1 hour ago, baxus said:

What happens with players whose contracts expire on June 30th?

No idea, I asked that like two weeks or three pages ago.

My guess is, those who will be under contract elsewhere will have to get permission from their new clubs to play for their old/current clubs. If one of those gets injured, I have no idea which insurance will cover that (basically the same grey zone of players showing up at training camp for theri new clubs before July first), whether they'd be eligible to play if they have signed a contract in another contract, uff no idea. The ones who are about to retire, or have not found a new club yet, guess they can sign short term 2-3 month contracts.

But EPL is not on the really bad end of things. Italy's Serie A is an even bigger mess. They have more matchdays left, there's for obvious reasons no date on the horizon for when player could possibly resume there. I mean, Italy and Spain have obviously other priorities than getting their Football Leagues running again, but this will be a real mess if and when play resumes.

14 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

FA are really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Clubs are threatening to sue if the season is annulled, others will sue if it isnt. 

Basically football clubs are twats.  

They are businesses, too. With running costs and all. And no, not just the milionaires on the pitch. Youth Staff, ticketing, marketing and so on and so forth. And getting a bigger paycheck after a promotion (or smaller one after relegation) can make a huge difference, in terms of continuing operation, or basically going bust.

Having that said, I don't see how clubs can sue, if the season gets played out in some shape or form. Anullment, and just ending the season as is at this point are of course open for legal challenges.

[polishgenius]

Jack Grealish's potential transfer value just dropped rather sharply.

[l2 0 5 5]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

Jack Grealish's potential transfer value just dropped rather sharply.

Tweets to stay indoors, two days later leaves his friend's house and drunkenly crashes his Rover and flees (from what I read). 

[baxus]

14 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Jack Grealish's potential transfer value just dropped rather sharply.

Speaking of players' transfer values, how are they to be affected by the current situation? With all the financial difficulty clubs are having at the moment, I can't see them splashing all the money they did until now.

Does anyone think there's a club that would pay 100+M for Pogba this summer? Or 200M for Mbappe? The list goes on, obviously.

EDIT:

It just goes to show how slow the world of football is right now that THIS is something I'm interested in 

[Raja]

On a different note - that sunderland netflix documentary is coming out with it's second season tomorrow

[A Horse Named Stranger]

No club in their right mind (or out of it) will be spending 100m+ on the transfermarket this year.

Maybe in 2-3 years again. Clubs will go heavy after players whose contract is running out. But there won't be hardly any big transfers (outside the already agreed ones). Altho, it's possible there mgiht be a firesale or two.

FWIW German football league has tentatively agreed to try to start resuming play in May (closed door games obviously). Bayern boss Rummenigge is also pretty much on record, that they are trying to finish this season, even if hell froze over or if it takes till August. With the new season beginning in Winter then. Two reasons, one being the fairness and integrity of the competitions aspect. The other simply being money. I'll leave it to the cynical reader to say which reason offers the stronger motivation.

[Heartofice]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

On a different note - that sunderland netflix documentary is coming out with it's second season tomorrow

That first season was more horrific than the worst Saw movies I’d been forced to watch. I will watch the next season of course!

On transfers, I’m expecting next season the big clubs, ones with larger reserves of cash, to take advantage of smaller clubs who were struggling to make ends meet before all this. Fire sale is right, will be interesting to see which clubs will HAVE to sell their stars to survive. I suspect lots of clubs under the prem will be in serious trouble 

[Consigliere]

How much clubs can spend in the transfer window largely depends on whether or not the leagues are completed. If the leagues are completed then all of the domestic broadcast money gets paid out. If the leagues are getting completed then UEFA will want their competitions completed as well so all/most of the EL and CL money will also be paid out. Those clubs not particularly reliant on matchday revenue (i.e. the wealthiest clubs) will not be affected all that much - in 2016/2017 it was found that 11 out of 20 premier league clubs would have made a pre-tax profit even if their matchday revenue was £0. If the season can be completed then I see no reason why the rich clubs cannot continue paying large transfer fees. 

[baxus]

I'm not sure that domestic competitions finishing means European competitions will finish as well. One scenario is having Premier League matches all played in London, on Premiership clubs stadiums (stadia?), training pitches etc. with players, staff, refs etc. being quarantined for the duration.

As much as I'd love to see Champions League to the end, something like that is not likely to happen. Also, domestic competitions would need to be a priority because next season's European competitions rely on them to determine who gets to play in Europe and in which competition. And let's not forget that one of major reasons for Italy and Spain being in this situation is Atalanta - Valencia match in Italy. Attending crowd of 40k has been exposed and though not all were infected those that were carried the virus back home with them. Even playing it behind closed doors would carry some risks. I mean, what team would send their players to Italy or Spain and what steps would have to be taken to avoid infection?

Regarding transfer fees, though clubs ability to pay them is a factor as well, let's not forget that clubs. willingness to pay such high amounts for players' services is a factor as well. Are clubs more likely to play it a bit more cautious in the market and not let themselves get exposed to such high wages and other expenses in case of an epidemic like this happening again?

[Consigliere]

Uefa want their competitions completed as well and clubs in the EL and CL want that too. If it is possible to complete the leagues playing behind closed doors then UEFA will look at every possibility to complete their competitions as well. We might see games at neutral venues in lower risk countries/cities for example. 

Clubs may be more cautious on transfer spending this year but I doubt any of the wealthy clubs are going to tailor their spending in the medium to long term on the possibility of a global pandemic every few years. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Not just UEFA.

However, the big question mark remain Italy and Spain.

Like I said, Bundesliga hopes to resume play in May behind closed doors (and pray that no team gets quarantined then). And Bundesliga and EPL are roughly in the same situation with regards to games left to play.

What happens in Spain and Italy, that is a totally different question, as in I don't think they have any idea themselves, when they can (hope to) resume play.

UEFA has tentatively planned to finish their competitions in August I think. But it's a complete mess one way or another.

Let's assume play in Germany and England resumes at some point in May (I doubt it will be early May, mid May looks a bit more likely imho, but that's also just guessing), and in Spain and Italy maybe a month later (if at all). So either UEFA starts to resume their competitions in June, and give an edge towards Bayern and City and Leipzig. Who will be match fit by then (in contrast to Barca, Atletico or Juve who might still be lacking a rhythm), or they push the whole thing further back, with the play in Spain and Italy still ongoing, and with the German and English clubs already being halfway on the beach without other competitive games.

I know, this not really in UEFA's hands, nor the most important thing right now. But this really messed up.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Throw-ins have become very important to our success according to this analysis.In 2018 we had the 3rd worst ball retention in PL in throw-ins (45%). In 2019 our ball retention rate after throw-ins increased to 68% ,the 2nd best in Europe, which is an amazing feat!

In some sports like basketball i gather that throw-in tactics are very important, i'm curious why not in football?

 

[Soylent Brown]

On 3/30/2020 at 8:56 PM, polishgenius said:

Jack Grealish's potential transfer value just dropped rather sharply.

It's not a secret that the guy is a fucking idiot. This is why Southgate stays away from him. I'd be surprised if any big club went in for him - he's basically Ravel-lite, not worth it.

West Ham will probably give it a go.

[Raja]