true fan Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 Strangely the people who are most quiet about this are the people running Scottish football. After the difficult end to last season they have had time to think about contingency plans. I think we would all get a surprise if we found out just how little time they have spent thinking about this. Most of their time is probably spent wondering where their next free sandwich and whisky are coming from 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 1 hour ago, true fan said: Strangely the people who are most quiet about this are the people running Scottish football. After the difficult end to last season they have had time to think about contingency plans. I think we would all get a surprise if we found out just how little time they have spent thinking about this. Most of their time is probably spent wondering where their next free sandwich and whisky are coming from The SPFL board asked the clubs to grant them executive powers to determine this sort of situation in the autumn and the clubs said 'nah you're alright, we'll sort it out ourselves'. Scottish league football literally gets the governance that its clubs choose for it. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Moonster Posted February 7, 2021 Share Posted February 7, 2021 "Those running the game" are the same people that run your clubs. The fact that so many fail to recognise that is why the governance continues as it is. Forever screaming at "leaders" on here then handing over £300 to their club without saying a peep. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 I see Chris McLaughlin Tweeting that the Scottish Government won't be giving football the green light until infection rates drop further. I took a wee look on the dashboard and this seems like a pathetic decision if it's true. When the league season started on October 15 (I think it was, it was certainly around there) the seven day infection rate was 153.1 per 100,000. At that stage nobody was vaccinated and there was no testing. Now here we are with an infection rate of 118 per 100k (that is dropping), the most vulnerable have had their first dose of the vaccine and clubs have offered to test players (you know...exactly like they do in the Premiership and Championship) but they are still told they won't be allowed to play. For reference the "three week shutdown" was introduced when rates were sitting at 269.1 per 100k... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 I'm out the loop on this, but I thought the original decision was taken by the SFA/SPFL rather than the government? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 1 minute ago, Ludo*1 said: I'm out the loop on this, but I thought the original decision was taken by the SFA/SPFL rather than the government? You are thinking correctly. It looks (certainly based on what I've heard and read prior to this) like the SFA were up for a March restart, but the Government have intervened. If that is the case then the Scottish Government need to come out and say what the rates would have to drop to for football to be allowed back. Clearly it would have to be lower than they were when the delayed season started in October. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Carrigan Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 Not a chance the season can be completed at this point. Promotions and relegations should not be entertained, obviously not including between the premier league and the championship. It's obviously been extremely tough but at least one high point of the whole situation is that we'll get to see Falkirk fans absolutely immolate themselves with rage at the thought of being stuck in the third tier again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said: You are thinking correctly. It looks (certainly based on what I've heard and read prior to this) like the SFA were up for a March restart, but the Government have intervened. If that is the case then the Scottish Government need to come out and say what the rates would have to drop to for football to be allowed back. Clearly it would have to be lower than they were when the delayed season started in October. There are about hundreds of other far more important sectors waiting on similar grounds for reopening. Semi-professional football should not restart while the entire country is under stay at home orders and even non-essential retail is closed. That's the fundamental difference between now and the start of October. Clownshoes Leitch has been talking about getting national case rates under 50, so that's the benchmark you should lightly pencil in right now. Edited February 9, 2021 by vikingTON 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bairn88 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 Seems like a pretty gigantic clanger by the gov this one. 2 main issues 1) rates are lower (and falling) across the country than when we were playing (untested). 2) clubs are willing to put in place the same testing and safety measures premiership and championship clubs have, who are still playing. Thats 2 fairly colossal f**k ups. Moreover, if that SFA statement is all we’re getting, this could get ugly. About 5 sentences, with zero reason or explanation why the decision has been made by gov. It’s like being told “you’re not allowed to do your job, just sit at home for another 3 weeks - don’t ask why”. Mental! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 The difference between the top two leagues and the rest is that the majority are fully professional football clubs whose employees get their sole living from competitive league football, whereas those in the seaside leagues are not. It is not 'being told not to do your job' then: and even if it were, the same applies to barbers, shop workers, waiters, bartenders and about 1500 other occupations right now. All of which are actually more important than whether East of Scotland teams can kick a ball about on a Saturday. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bairn88 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 9 minutes ago, virginton said: The difference between the top two leagues and the rest is that the majority are fully professional football clubs whose employees get their sole living from competitive league football, whereas those in the seaside leagues are not. It is not 'being told not to do your job' then: and even if it were, the same applies to barbers, shop workers, waiters, bartenders and about 1500 other occupations right now. All of which are actually more important than whether East of Scotland teams can kick a ball about on a Saturday. What barbers and bartenders are committing to organised weekly testing for their entire workforce? How many bartenders and barbers work outdoors, and only come into contact with an easily traceable group of individuals for an hour and a half once a week? Numerous studies done, mainly in America, about the safety of matches (Nfl, “soccer” etc) due to the fact that the outdoors is simply an atrocious place for the virus to be able to spread. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Vojáček Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 9 minutes ago, virginton said: There are about hundreds of other far more important sectors waiting on similar grounds for reopening. Semi-professional football should not restart while the entire country is under stay at home orders and even non-essential retail is closed. That's the fundamental difference between now and the start of October. Clownshoes Leitch has been talking about getting national case rates under 50, so that's the benchmark you should lightly pencil in right now. But if the green-light was given now, clubs would only return to training next week. Games wouldn't take place until March at the earliest and - I'd like to think - we might see some loosening of the restrictions by then. We're not talking about having fans in here. We're talking about games taking place with an entourage of about 25 people (players, coaches, physio etc) all of whom will have been tested during the week. As far as I know we won't be testing prior to people going into Hobbycraft for some model glue and a jigsaw, so the two aren't directly comparable. Especially when games have been continuing during the level four lockdowns that we had in the west prior to Christmas anyway. Looking at the stats, the last time we had rates of under 50 per 100k was in mid-September. Whilst we're going the right way towards that, it really won't be possible unless a full-scale lockdown remains in place until about April. And that includes the weans being kept off school. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Moonster Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 8 minutes ago, virginton said: The difference between the top two leagues and the rest is that the majority are fully professional football clubs whose employees get their sole living from competitive league football, whereas those in the seaside leagues are not. It is not 'being told not to do your job' then: and even if it were, the same applies to barbers, shop workers, waiters, bartenders and about 1500 other occupations right now. All of which are actually more important than whether East of Scotland teams can kick a ball about on a Saturday. The fact the top two leagues "get their sole living wage" from football is completely irrelevant. You could furlough them the same as we have done. If we're basing this on safety or importance then there is no real justification for professional or semi-professional football to continue. The top two leagues are being allowed to continue so that the the TV deals are upheld and we don't have a mass extinction event of Scottish football clubs. Which is fine. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latapythelegend Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 28 minutes ago, Brian Carrigan said: Not a chance the season can be completed at this point. Promotions and relegations should not be entertained, obviously not including between the premier league and the championship. It's obviously been extremely tough but at least one high point of the whole situation is that we'll get to see Falkirk fans absolutely immolate themselves with rage at the thought of being stuck in the third tier again. No reason not to reduce to an 18 game season, even number of home and away fixtures. On the basis of fixtures resuming say 1st weekend in April, 6 or 7 weeks is more than enough time to finish the season. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bairn88 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 Winter isn’t over as well. Might put a little *remind me*, and go with the early prediction that case rates may actually be higher come 1 March 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pride Of The Clyde Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 18 game season are you joking ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David W Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, latapythelegend said: No reason not to reduce to an 18 game season, even number of home and away fixtures. On the basis of fixtures resuming say 1st weekend in April, 6 or 7 weeks is more than enough time to finish the season. There's no reason if that had been put in place before the season began. Of course, SPFL football clubs were the only people who couldn't see a second wave coming. Forfar for one would surely kick up a fuss about suddenly having 9 less games to stay up. The negligence by club boards across the country in refusing to plan for this is criminal. My own opinion is that League 1 and 2 football is so far down the list of priorities that it is the right decision. The testing thing is irrelevant; if I offered to pay for my family to have weekly tests can I go round to theirs? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latapythelegend Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, Pride Of The Clyde said: 18 game season are you joking ? Why not? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latapythelegend Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 (edited) 7 minutes ago, David W said: There's no reason if that had been put in place before the season began. Of course, SPFL football clubs were the only people who couldn't see a second wave coming. Forfar for one would surely kick up a fuss about suddenly having 9 less games to stay up. The negligence by club boards across the country in refusing to plan for this is criminal. My own opinion is that League 1 and 2 football is so far down the list of priorities that it is the right decision. The testing thing is irrelevant; if I offered to pay for my family to have weekly tests can I go round to theirs? 9 games would still be 50% of the season. Hardly getting the rugged pulled from under them like Hearts, Partick and Stranraer had. Edited February 9, 2021 by latapythelegend 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthLanarkshireWhite Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 9 minutes ago, latapythelegend said: Why not? If you were currently bottom you would have a clear view of why not. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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