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Coronavirus and the Scottish Championship


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7 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

With the season now suspended until 10th June they now have no option but to call it. In what form remains to be seen but this season cannot now be finished for reasons I've stated before, but I'll note them again now:

- Players will be out of contract. You can't force them to re-sign. If transfers were not allowed during a certain period there's still absolutely nothing to stop some clubs from offering a PCA with a signing on bonus that would just happen to be the same amount of wages they would have collected had they signed right away. Some clubs might be able to afford to do this with the better players of other teams who are out of contract.

- Some clubs won't yet be in the position to extend contracts. It won't be in their budget.

- Clubs will struggle to pay everyone as they'll be getting no income from the remaining games but will have to pay everyone in full. Clubs usually (not all before some folk point out the exceptions) budget season to season. There will be no cash coming in to cover the resumption of the season, and the 19/20 budget will only have covered some costs until the originally stated end of the season. Some clubs don't sign players during June and leave it as late as they can so that they can save money by not having to pay out wages for a month and a bit.

- As per above, some clubs will struggle to assemble a squad. Out of contract players might be happy to sign a brief extension to finish the season but the clubs might not be able to match the same terms. The player can then sign for someone else. Clubs might have to assemble a total team of jobbers (Jobbers Assemble would be a great film!) and could then tumble down the table. That isn't any more fair than declaring current places as final.

- It affects next season. We need to try and get next season to run as much as possible, i.e. play as many games as possible. We can't prioritise 8 games if it means missing out on double that next season. Clubs need to be able to have as many home games on as possible to generate income. Having a truncated season will obviously massively hinder budgets.

I agree that it does need called asap and have been posting so for weeks, msinly due to your last paragraph, (not because my club benefits particularly, it would still be my opinion if they had proposed going to straight 2 up, 2 down). However some of those reasons dont really work in practice.

You cant force players to re-sign but if the authorities extend the season and FIFA moves the window as they said they would, then short of giving up football and going to work at Tesco they have little option but to take it rather than go unemployed.

I doubt there will be many PCA's floating about but even if so thats no different from what happens now. Ross Doherty has been playing for Ayr since early Jan whilst on a pre contract at Thistle.

Any club that hasnt furloughed their staff so far is mental and if they have then they are effectively costless on wages just now (though have to fund them up to end of April before that funding appears). Of course some players may have refused furlough but I would think most such players will end up being made redundant instead. That effectively cancels out the point about clubs not paying over the summer usually.

Finances for next season are likely to be difficult as sponsors will be struggling themselves but that will be the case whether we restart this season or not. Almost everybody's budget will likely drop.

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2 minutes ago, Distant Doonhamer said:

Spot on. It just needs an additional line thanking current Partick Thistle player Darren Brownlie for scoring the winner for QOS at Firhill earlier in the season thereby keeping us ahead in terms of points per game. 

Or the referee for mysteriously changing his mind about the penalty in the more recent 0-0 at Firhill.

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5 hours ago, 101 said:

I think you're missing my point if clubs furlough their entire staff it makes not a bit of difference if it can be done at home, you cannot work for your employer whilst the state pays 80% of your wages.

Very few companies, and that includes football clubs, will be furloughing every single member of staff, mainly for the exact reason described. There still needs to be someone to make basic decisions and deal with minor bits of admin - even stuff like paying bills on time.

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Could they not call the leagues as they stand now, pay out the dosh, then start back with play-offs? They would all be single ties with the higher ranked teams playing at home. To add a bit of fairness, Queens would play Thistle first to see who was automatically relegated, Falkirk would play Raith to see who was automatically promoted. After that, the winner of Queens v Thistle would play a maximum of 2 more games v the L1 teams and the teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the Championship would play a maximum of 3 games. All done just before the new season. Appreciate there are still player registration and budget issues, but might be a more sporting compromise.

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4 minutes ago, Zoomer Brown said:

club 12, voted to admit The Rangers (2012) to the Championship then replaced them with a tainted promotion to the SPL. the club is all about integrity*

 

*apart from the odd debt dodging admin,

GIFs images uploaded by Synesthésie on We Heart It

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If Dundee United are so certain of promotion at any outcome, why don't they vote against it?

If it’s a choice between promotion now or promotion at some point down the line then obviously you’d pick promotion now.

Nevertheless I don’t think it’ll go through now. I’ve a strange feeling ICT will vote against as well.
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More daft ideas for ending the season (that I haven't seen anyone suggest yet). When conditions allow:
  • Play the remaining games as fives over a period of a week or two. One game per day for each team. The smaller pitches/number of players needed/shorter duration should allow clubs to play a game per day and just rotate out as they get tired. Ought to take two weeks to complete the season. Stream the games online and charge us for additional income. I'd watch five short Championship games a day at the moment. Starting to actually like this idea.
  • Get the fans to play out the remaining games as walking football . Each club gets to choose a squad for each game from the pool of season ticket holders, to prevent Lionel Messi suddenly discovering a lifelong love of Cove Rangers. Play a game per day, again, as pretty much everyone will have enough season ticket holders to put a side together, especially if auld Shug gets to celebrate his 77th birthday by keeping goal for his team.


I’m sure everyone on here would sign-up to the fives idea if WeeToonLad could get honorary season ticket holder status to allow all teams to put the boot in.
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