Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread

[DeathAngel]

Good news to see that we will almost certainly see PL football return in the near future. I’ve missed the games so much, I will warm up by watching the Bundesliga

[1714733405]

1714733405

[hilariousetc]

Personally, if they can get all the teams to agree to it except for the few straglers at the bottom they should just tell them tough shit. It's not a disadvantage when it's something all the teams have to deal with. Just seems like the relegation teams are looking for excuses to me.

Yup, and it's starting to get really annoying. They want the TV money because they will be bankrupt without it, they want protection regarding player salaries and contract expirations and when all they have to do is agree to games being played on neutral ground and they cannot even do that, it is really irritating to watch.

There is simply no scenario in which some of them will avoid relegation, it is not a charity event but one of the most competitive environments in sports in general. Somebody should tell them to stop crying, it's embarassing.

The PL is at risk of losing hundreds of millions if they don't get the games televised soon. It looks like the PL might have to issue refunds regardless of whether they games are shown soon:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52579299

The refund is anticipated as matches are not taking place as expected - both because they will be played without fans and at different times to originally scheduled.

Premier League clubs are due to earn a total of £9.2billion from broadcasters for the 2019-22 cycle.

If so, maybe they will scrap the neutral venues proposition. Maybe they don't have to play them like that now anyway. The gov seems to be relaxing the lock down shortly so I can't see why playing games in the correct grounds would be such an issue as that's not something the gov have said can't happen. If teams are complaining and they might lose the TV money if they go ahead with neutral grounds then they might just scrap that idea. I would be surprised if Sky tried to get a refund from the PL though (assuming the games go ahead and are televised on Sky). That would likely sour their relationship pretty bad which Sky probably can't afford to lose. Maybe the PL should offer Sky all the games for no extra cost as since they're being played behind closed doors fans are going to need some way to watch the games and letting Sky show them would be a good deal for them. There were talks about showing them free to air but giving them all to sky would make sense to me.

[DeathAngel]

I think the issue with playing at their own grounds is that some stadiums are in highly populated, residential areas.
Can the police keep for example Liverpool fans away from outside the stadium, singing & drinking in large numbers?

I think the neutral grounds would be ones just off the motorway or with little housing numbers in the vicinity.

[hilariousetc]

I think the issue with playing at their own grounds is that some stadiums are in highly populated, residential areas.
Can the police keep for example Liverpool fans away from outside the stadium, singing & drinking in large numbers?

I think the neutral grounds would be ones just off the motorway or with little housing numbers in the vicinity.

I'm not sure if that's the reasoning or not but fans will get to any ground if they want to. Obviously they should be told not to go and maybe even threatened with arrest if they do. I'm sure the majority of them will just watch it on TV rather than pointlessly loitering outside grounds though so I can't see this being a big problem, especially if fans are told not to to it. I was under the impression that neutral grounds were proposed just to keep the players confined to a limited space without them travelling backwards and forwards all over the country, thus risking contamination or whatever. If the lockdown is lifted for the majority of people and everybody else is going back to work then I can't see neutral stadiums being a necessity.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I agree hilarious & I think in the next meetings the PL reps will request that teams are allowed to play home & away as normal but obviously without fans.

The UK gov said that people can travel hours away from their homes to beauty spots to exercise or whatever so I don’t see why football teams can’t travel to various grounds to play. People are still getting on public transport like sardines in a can so I don’t see why teams can’t travel geographically across the UK.

[tokeweed]

Good news to see that we will almost certainly see PL football return in the near future. I’ve missed the games so much, I will warm up by watching the Bundesliga

Lol..  It's decent league tho if you get attached and know the players, the managers and the whole drama going on over there.  I watch it every now and then but if I had to reeaally follow another league...  It'd be the Championship.

[buwaytress]

Good news to see that we will almost certainly see PL football return in the near future. I’ve missed the games so much, I will warm up by watching the Bundesliga

Lol..  It's decent league tho if you get attached and know the players, the managers and the whole drama going on over there.  I watch it every now and then but if I had to reeaally follow another league...  It'd be the Championship.

Probably the same for me but only because of familiar faces and well, English. Every season I do try to identify one or two teams to follow anew from the big 4. This season it was Inter, and it's weird to see more familiar names than usual. I tried watching MLS before and I really couldn't get attached, it's just... somehow very different. They look like they run a lot but almost like watching a classic EPL match, you know what I mean?

Counting down the days, but trying not to expect too much.

[hilariousetc]

Players are to be told at a Premier League Project Restart briefing on Wednesday to turn their faces away after they have been tackled, according to reports.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8313191/Players-told-turn-faces-away-tackled-Project-Restart-briefing.html

Surely this isn't legit? If they seriously suggest things like this it's clear they shouldn't be playing games right now. I don't really think there should be any changes to the actual game. Neutral grounds and no crowds: fair enough, but suggesting people look away during tackles is ridiculous.

It seems there's going to be a big meeting today at 10AM between the PL, managers and medical staff. It will be interesting to see what comes out of that:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11987034/premier-league-to-hold-conference-calls-with-captains-all-20-managers-and-medical-experts

The Premier League will hold conference calls with club captains, managers and medical experts on Wednesday.

All 20 top-flight managers will attend the first-of-its kind meeting with Premier League officials to discuss the details of Project Restart.

I'm sure there'll still be the lower table teams complaining about neutral grounds.

[DeathAngel]

hilarious, there are rumours that neutral grounds won’t be necessary as long as the clubs are willing to pay for the police presence at home games they may be permitted to do normal home & away.

[hilariousetc]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/13/premier-league-football-project-restart-threat-coronavirus-safety

The Premier League is facing the possibility of having to delay its Project Restart after a pair of crucial meetings with players and managers provoked a series of robust exchanges and diverging views.

A planned resumption of play on 12 June is now looking less likely, and kick-off a week later is now a possibility after issues over protocols for a safe return to play and concerns over the need for more training came to the fore.

I'm really not optimistic about the league getting restarted. There just seems to be too many factors involved and whinging from players and teams about numerous things which you likely won't be able to make everyone happy. The only thing that might help is if the Bundelisga gets going without a hitch on Saturday.

hilarious, there are rumours that neutral grounds won’t be necessary as long as the clubs are willing to pay for the police presence at home games they may be permitted to do normal home & away.

I'm sure the lower-league teams will cry about having to fork out for that too. Fans would have to be pretty stupid to loiter around stadiums, especially if they've been told not to. Even more stupid if they actually try to get into grounds. Just watch the game at home.

[buwaytress]

OK yeah the news surrounding the concessions around Project Restart are bordering on the realm of nonsense now. Looking away from tackles. How do you condition your instinct? Diving took an entire generation to kick in =p

June 1 the earliest but yeah, for the first time since lockdown, I'm beginning to wonder now if we will see anything this summer.

[LTU_btc]

I'm not really sure what's wrong with EPL players and clubs. First they didn't accepted cut of payments, now some are complaining that they will have to play during pandemy, bottom table teams complaining about playing on neutral grounds. Why there is no such problrms in other major leagues?

[DeathAngel]

I'm not really sure what's wrong with EPL players and clubs. First they didn't accepted cut of payments, now some are complaining that they will have to play during pandemy, bottom table teams complaining about playing on neutral grounds. Why there is no such problrms in other major leagues?

The bottom clubs don’t want to get relegated so are trying their best to drag it out & I presume they hope the season will be cancelled. Sadly for them there is a lot of money at stake, big TV & sponsorship deals so the season will almost certainly be completed.

[cryptofrka]

It says in this article that they are aiming for a June 12th restart.

There has also been a meeting in which short-term contracts for players whose contracts expire on June 30th were discussed, they will be allowed but they have to be agreed by both sides - so the players need to accept them.
It might be tough for some clubs to force players to sign these extensions, they are out of contracts and it would be hard to blame them if they just say they will not play during the summer.
I thought it will be requested from the players but I guess it is not legally possible to do so.

[hilariousetc]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/may/14/premier-league-must-show-free-to-air-games-and-share-money-to-restart-government

The Premier League has been told by the government it must show some matches on free-to-air TV and put more money into the Football League and grassroots game as a condition for restarting this season.

The demands were made by the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, at a meeting on Thursday at which he gave the go-ahead for matches to resume provided it is safe to do so.
José Mourinho 'desperate' for Premier League to restart as soon as it is safe
Read more

“The government is opening the door for competitive football to return safely in June,” Dowden said. “This should include widening access for fans to view live coverage and ensure finances from the game’s resumption supports the wider football family.

I can't see the PL giving away the rights for the remaining games for free. If they want more money to be given to the lower leagues they should let them find a buyer and share some of the money, or even better let the PL stream them online and let fans pay for games individually or do a full Premier League pass for all the matches. If there's one thing that comes from this farce I hope it's a shake-up of how the PL games are shown in the UK. They're probably going to need to recoup money from somewhere as a lot of refunds are likely going to be given due to contracts not being kept.

It says in this article that they are aiming for a June 12th restart.

There has also been a meeting in which short-term contracts for players whose contracts expire on June 30th were discussed, they will be allowed but they have to be agreed by both sides - so the players need to accept them.
It might be tough for some clubs to force players to sign these extensions, they are out of contracts and it would be hard to blame them if they just say they will not play during the summer.
I thought it will be requested from the players but I guess it is not legally possible to do so.

Aiming for. I'd be surprised if they get things going within a month. It doesn't seem plausible. There's just far too many complications and complaints from teams and if/when they announce how the games will precede then you'll get teams complaining about whatever they've proposed. Even if the matches go ahead in the correct stadiums I'm sure some teams will complain about lack of fans or some other bullshit excuses as to why they're losing.

[Harkorede]

Aiming for. I'd be surprised if they get things going within a month. It doesn't seem plausible. There's just far too many complications and complaints from teams and if/when they announce how the games will precede then you'll get teams complaining about whatever they've proposed. Even if the matches go ahead in the correct stadiums I'm sure some teams will complain about lack of fans or some other bullshit excuses as to why they're losing.

I think the English FA just needs to look for the best possible way to get league resumed and the best locations for them to be played, And worry less about teams complaining, we've seen larger fractions of the teams complained about the Christmas to New Year crazy fixtures, nothing has changed about that either.

[hilariousetc]

Aiming for. I'd be surprised if they get things going within a month. It doesn't seem plausible. There's just far too many complications and complaints from teams and if/when they announce how the games will precede then you'll get teams complaining about whatever they've proposed. Even if the matches go ahead in the correct stadiums I'm sure some teams will complain about lack of fans or some other bullshit excuses as to why they're losing.

I think the English FA just needs to look for the best possible way to get league resumed and the best locations for them to be played, And worry less about teams complaining, we've seen larger fractions of the teams complained about the Christmas to New Year crazy fixtures, nothing has changed about that either.

But they have to have all the teams on board for the restart or there could be lawsuits. It's a little different between Christmas fixtures and what we have now as it's not something they agreed to or what was in place at the start of the season. It's like changing the deal half way though. Teams are allowed to complain/protest about the compacted Christmas fixtures but if they agree to it before the season starts then there's nothing they can do. Moving the goalposts as they say is much different. If games get the go-ahead and the only difference is there's no fans and no other changes to the rules I don't think teams will have any legal right to complain, and if relegated teams do complain or try take legal action it will be very petty and shameful of them.

[cryptofrka]

Aiming for. I'd be surprised if they get things going within a month. It doesn't seem plausible. There's just far too many complications and complaints from teams and if/when they announce how the games will precede then you'll get teams complaining about whatever they've proposed. Even if the matches go ahead in the correct stadiums I'm sure some teams will complain about lack of fans or some other bullshit excuses as to why they're losing.

They have to play and of course some of them will complain, but only if they get relegated. I'm quite sure Aston Villa won't complain about the fans if they win half of their games on neutral ground and stay up.
They won't though because they are horrible.

Regarding the time schedule, they will probably keep a really close eye on Bundesliga and how things are in Germany. It's a lot easier to do it 2nd than 1st and they will have a full month of data to go through.

That's why I hope everything will be OK in Germany, because if it won't, other countries will probably pause their leagues for a while longer.

[tokeweed]

Aiming for. I'd be surprised if they get things going within a month. It doesn't seem plausible. There's just far too many complications and complaints from teams and if/when they announce how the games will precede then you'll get teams complaining about whatever they've proposed. Even if the matches go ahead in the correct stadiums I'm sure some teams will complain about lack of fans or some other bullshit excuses as to why they're losing.

I think the English FA just needs to look for the best possible way to get league resumed and the best locations for them to be played, And worry less about teams complaining, we've seen larger fractions of the teams complained about the Christmas to New Year crazy fixtures, nothing has changed about that either.

But they have to have all the teams on board for the restart or there could be lawsuits. It's a little different between Christmas fixtures and what we have now as it's not something they agreed to or what was in place at the start of the season. It's like changing the deal half way though. Teams are allowed to complain/protest about the compacted Christmas fixtures but if they agree to it before the season starts then there's nothing they can do. Moving the goalposts as they say is much different. If games get the go-ahead and the only difference is there's no fans and no other changes to the rules I don't think teams will have any legal right to complain, and if relegated teams do complain or try take legal action it will be very petty and shameful of them.

Sooo with everyhing going on now and seeing how hard the restart is turning out to be, is it now more plausible that the EPL finishes as is, declare LFC the champions, relegate the bottom three?  What do you think?

[Harkorede]

But they have to have all the teams on board for the restart or there could be lawsuits. It's a little different between Christmas fixtures and what we have now as it's not something they agreed to or what was in place at the start of the season. It's like changing the deal half way though. Teams are allowed to complain/protest about the compacted Christmas fixtures but if they agree to it before the season starts then there's nothing they can do. Moving the goalposts as they say is much different. If games get the go-ahead and the only difference is there's no fans and no other changes to the rules I don't think teams will have any legal right to complain, and if relegated teams do complain or try take legal action it will be very petty and shameful of them.

I think getting all teams on board won't happen, perhaps a consensus would do. I don't see a team winning a legal suit in this situation though, since it's clear that no team is in an obvious advantage over another, but maybe I'm just naive or not getting the bigger picture. I mean during polictal unrest we've had teams play their away games in the opponent's stadium but don't even get to play their home games in their own country, that's worth an argument for a clear disadvantage.

Sooo with everyhing going on now and seeing how hard the restart is turning out to be, is it now more plausible that the EPL finishes as is, declare LFC the champions, relegate the bottom three?  What do you think?

I would love to see what every team would think (Including teams battling relegation) if they're faced with just two options 1. Finishing as it is with LFC as champions and bottom three relegated or 2. Complete all fixtures in a closed and neutral location.