bairn88

That’s one long meeting

If Alloa etc have an issue with hanging around after their season has finished to play in playoffs, they have a bit of an argument there (unless it’s just a week or 2, we haven’t stepped foot on a training ground in 2 months ffs). If they’re trying to say that our season only being 18 games means teams can’t get promoted from that league? Get in the bin. That would go far far beyond anything that happened at the end of last season. As viking ton says though this is all just rumour. Should know more by tonight.

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/joint-response-group-update-23-february/?rid=13929 An “update” here. Quite what has changed from before nicola’s statement til now is not clear to me. We were playing football because of an exemption to restrictions before, and will be after. Nothing that she spoke of pertains in any way to league 1/league 2. Let’s see what happens in the coming days.

Probably the most crucial and most anticipated/watched announcement since March, and it was one of her shortest, with no details past you'll get tier 3 in April. She obviously felt like she had to do a big announcement the day after Boris, but I think she's seriously misjudged what people were expecting from it.

I'm somewhere between heads gone and "meh" about that. It all depends on what "level 3" will be when that comes about (2 months away...) - a reminder that level 3 before was no alcohol in hospitality in any form and everyone out by 6pm. If she thinks she can get away with anything even approaching that she has lost the fucking place. Outdoor pubs are open in almost every European country NOW. By end of April we'll have vaccinated people who are 50 with no underlying health conditions. Also, absolutely zero mention of covid being something that we'll have to live with, or a commitment that social distancing measures are basically unsustainable for more than another year at the very very most. Indoor places of worship open for 20 old biddies whilst I can meet 1 friend in a park? Pahahahah. Spare me.

In my opinion they've both handled it equally poorly. Major difference being the vaccination procurement and deployment by UK gov has possibly been the best or 2nd best in the world, which will save a huge amount of lives. It fucking pains me to say it but Tories have more in the bank than Sturgeon does for me.

I mean that's a nice sentence, it's just not true is it. They published a 60 page roadmap back to a place that would make life worth living again. They stated zero covid is a fantasy (something which a lot of people, including those regularly being seen on our TV's, are striving for in Scotland). They set out 4 clear criteria that would need to be met in order for steps to be undertaken on time. They indicated meeting these criteria would lead to a place where social distancing (a concept which kills about 4 industries stone dead) would no longer be needed. Meanwhile from Scotgov, the most recent commitments we've had have been "we might get a summer like last (bar the foreign holidays) if we're lucky", and "don't go off booking your staycations just yet!". I'm reserving further judgement until we hear the announcement later. If it is filled with childish quips about Boris, and not with material ways we can get back to normality, whilst people in Glasgow basically haven't been able to leave their house for half a year, don't be surprised if people get pissed off.

95% last estimate I'd heard

The number of grounds in Scotland that operate on around a 25% capacity in normal times would surprise you

10/10

That "there will be no zero covid" line almost brought a tear to my eye. Finally, sense. I basically despise everything the tories stand for but Boris seems to have gotten that spot on. Cautious reopening but an acknowledgement that life has to be worth living again. Also, 10k in stadiums from May.

Reminder that our leagues were stopped by this lot. This single act probably has more chance of endangering people than all the infringements they’ve tried to fine clubs for combined

If you’re waiting for 25 cases/100k and a test positivity of less than 1%, it’s quite possible that we’d literally never play football again in our lifetimes. That’s what vaccines are for.

When we were 1-0 up at hibs (I think) and Vaulksy loved it.

I mean, you do know the thread title is literally “null and void or an 18 game season”?

Yes, that’s why it’s so utterly depressing that they knocked back the testing proposal. Testing these guys once/twice per week actually HELPS efforts to curb the spread. Guys who’d be a asymptomatic or suffer very mild symptoms, who may go about their daily lives basically not knowing they had it, whereas if tested they’d be able to isolate, not spreading it in their other workplaces to guys who possibly aren’t as fit as them. It’s all about optics though, still. As Ton says you just can’t be seen to have part timers swanning around from Annan to Inverness when the message is “stay at home. About a year into this and it’s still optics over substance. Extremely frustrating.

“Working in factories, supermarkets and sites”. Ooft.

Tbf we’ve only had to pay our players/staff for about 5 months out of the last 12, with no end in sight to that. Can’t imagine our bank balance is too unhealthy at the moment.

Wouldn’t be that arsed about reconstruction. Don’t see many options that are any or significantly better than what we have atm. What must happen however is more financial support from Gov/SFA. Champ teams allowed to stream games for a further 4 months more than us and all the associated income/sponsor money that goes with that. All whilst receiving triple the amount of tax payer money any league 1 club got. Simply not on.

I'm convinced that in 5 years time I will have completely forgotten her name and existence. *Might be due to the roaring 20s style bedlam that will ensue once we're released

That statement is pretty much spot on. A relief that they're seeing sense, and really poor that SG hasn't said anything of the sort. Covid deaths (probably in their thousands) will happen for winters to come. Tens of thousands of flu deaths happen every year without an eyelid bat. This is an acceptable trade off for life to be worth living again.

Has any scientist or world leader said things would return to "normal" this summer. People got caught up in vaccine euphoria and assumed it was the magic bullet. I have yet to see a shred of information from anyone remotely qualified saying we would be returning to what we knew as normal this summer. Vaccines which stop upwards of 50% of transmission and are near 100% effective at stopping hospitalisations and deaths aren’t magic bullets? Has the world gone insane?

Indeed. I mean don't get me started on foreign travel bans because of tha variants dontcha know, which happen to be popping up here by themselves every 4 days. Laughable strategy. But anyway, yes, if you're going to sacrifice holidays when people haven't had a break in over a year, you'd think the payoff would be huge domestically. Her messaging is that it isn't. Depressing.

Do you react with such childishness to anyone who disagrees with your viewpoint? I cannot fathom current public messaging being "If we're lucky we will get a summer like last year". That is disgusting. If the roadmap is comprehensive and positive, I'll be happy, but still won't understand the tone of today's speech.

I haven't seen anyone on here with unrealistic expectations. Basically no one here is suggesting we open things next week, other than some education. There have been zero signals however that Sturgeon is working towards "normality" come Summer. It's been only stick and no carrot for months, despite vaccines which seem to reduce almost 100% of Covid deaths/hospitalisations. Her speech today was completely unacceptable.