Sons' sorrow

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

9 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

The per 100k rate is irrelevant, below championship football was sacrificed on the altar of SPFL saving face after the Celtic/Dubai debacle.  They were trying to appease the Scottish Government in advance, and being too feart to take Celtic on, they pissed all over lower league football instead.

The per 100k rate was just a smokescreen.

Really? I thought the season was put on hold due to government advice? Were the SPFL solely to blame? It sounds to me like they are the ones trying to kick start things whilst government drag their heels.

I didn’t disagree with the suspension tbh. Having part-time jobbers travelling all over the country, untested, and partaking in a contact sport, shouldn’t have been happening whilst the rest of us were stuck at home and infection rates were rising. It was the correct call, regardless of Celtic’s jaunt to Dubai.

[BallochSonsFan]

All I've ever wanted is for decisions to be made on the basis of available evidence. The current available evidence is that infection rates are lower now than they were when the season started. They're lower now (not by much) than when play was suspended - which was also lower than when the season started.

There is no justification for lower league football still being suspended on the basis of the available evidence. We're a long way from getting fans in grounds, but if we can't get games played behind closed doors at this stage then cancel the season now and start planning for July 2021.

[super-son]

Agreed.

Cancel the season and forget that it happened. Start again in August.


We still have 18 games to play.


That simply isn't going to happen. If we started mid march (doubtful), we would need to play twice per week until mid may. That's with no postponements and no cup games.


That can't be healthy for the players and would be a total farce.


CANCEL IT

[Jan Vojáček]

13 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

All I've ever wanted is for decisions to be made on the basis of available evidence. The current available evidence is that infection rates are lower now than they were when the season started. They're lower now (not by much) than when play was suspended - which was also lower than when the season started.

There is no justification for lower league football still being suspended on the basis of the available evidence. We're a long way from getting fans in grounds, but if we can't get games played behind closed doors at this stage then cancel the season now and start planning for July 2021.

They're actually considerably lower now than they were when play was suspended. 115.9 compared to 269.1.

I totally agree on the evidence front. If they can present us with the evidence that shows rates are too high and that tested lower league players would spread the virus, then I'd fully support an extension of the shutdown. 

5 minutes ago, super-son said:

Agreed.

Cancel the season and forget that it happened. Start again in August.

We still have 18 games to play.

That simply isn't going to happen. If we started mid march (doubtful), we would need to play twice per week until mid may. That's with no postponements and no cup games.

That can't be healthy for the players and would be a total farce.

CANCEL IT

For having this attitude you can fill the Lennox sports pages for the next six months. Good luck  

Edited February 9, 2021 by Jan Vojáček

[pleslie99]

31 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

All I've ever wanted is for decisions to be made on the basis of available evidence. The current available evidence is that infection rates are lower now than they were when the season started. They're lower now (not by much) than when play was suspended - which was also lower than when the season started.

There is no justification for lower league football still being suspended on the basis of the available evidence. We're a long way from getting fans in grounds, but if we can't get games played behind closed doors at this stage then cancel the season now and start planning for July 2021.

Do you think its right that footballers who are PT and mixing with other members of the public in their other jobs etc should be allowed to play? They shouldn't have been allowed to start in the 1st place.  The rest of us are locked up so why should they be given the right to do what they love when the rest of us can't? There are businesses around the country struggling so why should football clubs be given special dispensation "in case they go under"? Noone is going to ever agree on the matter, the decisions are made for the safety of the country and we should all be accepting it and doing our bit to get out of this and back to 'normal'

[super-son]

For having this attitude you can fill the Lennox sports pages for the next six months. Good luck [emoji6] 

Easy...

Just do a virtual season. Stick our squad into Football Manager and Sim the games.

Then write a report on each game. It would be interesting to see if anyone noticed.

Only problem would be that it would result in almost certain virtual relegation.

[emoji6]

[BallochSonsFan]

4 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

Do you think its right that footballers who are PT and mixing with other members of the public in their other jobs etc should be allowed to play? They shouldn't have been allowed to start in the 1st place.  The rest of us are locked up so why should they be given the right to do what they love when the rest of us can't? There are businesses around the country struggling so why should football clubs be given special dispensation "in case they go under"? Noone is going to ever agree on the matter, the decisions are made for the safety of the country and we should all be accepting it and doing our bit to get out of this and back to 'normal'

They're not mixing. Gymns are closed.

[Jan Vojáček]

Just now, super-son said:

Easy...

Just do a virtual season. Stick our squad into Football Manager and Sim the games.

Then write a report on each game. It would be interesting to see if anyone noticed.

Only problem would be that it would result in almost certain virtual relegation.

I like the sound of that a lot. I'm sure my editor will be into it too. 

All the fun of relegation, but without having to leave home.

[super-son]

Do you think its right that footballers who are PT and mixing with other members of the public in their other jobs etc should be allowed to play? They shouldn't have been allowed to start in the 1st place.  The rest of us are locked up so why should they be given the right to do what they love when the rest of us can't? There are businesses around the country struggling so why should football clubs be given special dispensation "in case they go under"? Noone is going to ever agree on the matter, the decisions are made for the safety of the country and we should all be accepting it and doing our bit to get out of this and back to 'normal'

Honestly I think one of the deciding factors to start it was to stop everyone going demented with boredom.

It worked for a few weeks. I for one was delighted it started back as I was craving some meaningful football to watch.

[Boghead ranter]

1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

Really? I thought the season was put on hold due to government advice? Were the SPFL solely to blame? It sounds to me like they are the ones trying to kick start things whilst government drag their heels.

I didn’t disagree with the suspension tbh. Having part-time jobbers travelling all over the country, untested, and partaking in a contact sport, shouldn’t have been happening whilst the rest of us were stuck at home and infection rates were rising. It was the correct call, regardless of Celtic’s jaunt to Dubai.

1 - it was the SPFL that took the decision to stop all football below the Championship, not the SG. Though, seeing as Nicola Sturgeon had already issued her 'yellow card' to football at the time of the Bolingoli and Aberdeen incidents,  the SPFL would've been shit scared of the SG stepping in with a red in the wake of the Dubai shambles. So they did something to pre-empt that and demonstrate "look, we're in control here". If SG had made the call due to SPFL inaction, it might've been a worse result ie. ALL football suspended.

2 - I agree totally, it was the correct call, but it wasn't made under honest, clear reasoning. 

[Frank Quitely]

When is the UK furlough scheme due to finish ?  Is it the case that if it ends then it would be up to clubs to then find the player's wages ?

[The Moonster]

3 minutes ago, Frank Quitely said:

When is the UK furlough scheme due to finish ?  Is it the case that if it ends then it would be up to clubs to then find the player's wages ?

It stops at the end of April at the moment, so worst case we'd need to fund just over a month of wages ourselves.

[Frank Quitely]

It stops at the end of April at the moment, so worst case we'd need to fund just over a month of wages ourselves.

Thanks for that, but I was asking in case the season is extended maybe to June and that could create a number of problems - contracts, wages, etc.,

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, Boghead ranter said:

1 - it was the SPFL that took the decision to stop all football below the Championship, not the SG. Though, seeing as Nicola Sturgeon had already issued her 'yellow card' to football at the time of the Bolingoli and Aberdeen incidents,  the SPFL would've been shit scared of the SG stepping in with a red in the wake of the Dubai shambles. So they did something to pre-empt that and demonstrate "look, we're in control here". If SG had made the call due to SPFL inaction, it might've been a worse result ie. ALL football suspended.

No, it wasn't.

It was the SFA. It's unclear to what extent the SPFL had any input or advance notice of the decision at all, though as Neil Doncaster sits on the the JRG which made the decision I'm not going to be foolish enough to say it was a complete surprise to them or that they didn't have at least a voice in it. We need to be clear though. The SPFL didn't stop football below the Championship and the SPFl does not have the power to restart it either. That's a matter for the SFA, clearly in consultation with the Scottish Govt. The Scottish Govt is a far bigger player in this than the SPFL itself is and the notion that it can restart as soon as the football authorities decide for themselves it can is folly.

[Boghead ranter]

Just now, Skyline Drifter said:

No, it wasn't.

It was the SFA. It's unclear to what extent the SPFL had any input or advance notice of the decision at all, though as Neil Doncaster sits on the the JRG which made the decision I'm not going to be foolish enough to say it was a complete surprise to them or that they didn't have at least a voice in it. We need to be clear though. The SPFL didn't stop football below the Championship and the SPFl does not have the power to restart it either. That's a matter for the SFA, clearly in consultation with the Scottish Govt. The Scottish Govt is a far bigger player in this than the SPFL itself is and the notion that it can restart as soon as the football authorities decide for themselves it can is folly.

Thanks, I stand corrected.  It was still football that stopped (most of) itself, not the SG telling them to.

[Skyline Drifter]

19 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

Thanks, I stand corrected.  It was still football that stopped (most of) itself, not the SG telling them to.

Well that's factually accurate legally. The Govt were very much involved in the debate and also represented on the JRG though. It's perfectly possible it was made clear that was what was expected and would be decreed if football wasn't seen to do it for itself.

[The Moonster]

39 minutes ago, Frank Quitely said:

Thanks for that, but I was asking in case the season is extended maybe to June and that could create a number of problems - contracts, wages, etc.,

I can't see us extending the season for those reasons, too much of a nightmare. 

[Skyline Drifter]

38 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I can't see us extending the season for those reasons, too much of a nightmare. 

There's an argument you could extend the playing season as late as June 9th without any major headache, though it may require a bit of paperwork exercise as regards players out of contract before that. Any later than June 9th becomes pretty much unworkable in reality without a change in the transfer window (which FIFA refused to consider in January so they aren't likely to do so in June).

However, that then gives a separate issue with respect to playoffs upward from League 1 of course. As the Championship should be able to finish on time then League One will almost certainly have to provide playoff entrants on schedule for the start of May or very close to it or rescind the playoff promotion spot.

[Football Citizen]

Hi all, hope you're all managing to stay safe and sane in the current climate!

At the minute we're working on some new episodes for our project and we're currently putting together an episode about A Shot At Glory. Because Boghead was used as a filming location for a game and other scenes in the film, we're looking to speak to people about their experiences at the "games" that were filmed.

If anyone would be interested in chatting about going to the filming of Kilnockie v Dumbarton at the old ground and potentially being featured in the podcast, you can message this account here.

 

[Boghead ranter]

4 hours ago, Football Citizen said:

Hi all, hope you're all managing to stay safe and sane in the current climate!

At the minute we're working on some new episodes for our project and we're currently putting together an episode about A Shot At Glory. Because Boghead was used as a filming location for a game and other scenes in the film, we're looking to speak to people about their experiences at the "games" that were filmed.

If anyone would be interested in chatting about going to the filming of Kilnockie v Dumbarton at the old ground and potentially being featured in the podcast, you can message this account here.

 

I wasn't there as I got a Kilnock-back at the turnstile. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Boghead ranter