Looks like the first Covid-19 football club casualty has fallen as Barnet have reportedly put all of their non-playing staff on immediate notice of redundancy. Sixty members of staff are set to lose their jobs because impact of Covid-19 and football being put on hold. The longer this break in the game goes on, it’s likely other lower league clubs will struggle to survive. I know Barnet are a National League club but I doubt there’s an awful lot of difference between the way they are run and a club in Division Two. Financially I mean.
Premier League clubs can afford to ride this postponement, they don’t need to worry about how they’re going to pay their employees because they are far better off financially. At least one would like to think they are. Same for the Championship clubs.
But I think a bit of hope was handed out to all clubs and fans yesterday when it was announced that Euros 2020 have been postponed for a year. Clearly in hope that this league season can yet be finished.
UEFA, after postponing the Euros are reported to have set a June 30th deadline day for all fixtures to be played which funny enough, coincides with the date players contracts expire for those who are in their final year. Loan deals too of which we have three. Ceballos, Mari and the yet to play Soares.
The resolution features a commitment to complete all domestic and European club competitions by the end of the current sporting season, i.e. 30 June 2020 at the latest, should the situation improve and resuming playing be appropriate and prudent enough.
A working group composed of representatives from UEFA, leagues and clubs will be immediately established to examine relevant calendar matters and devise solutions allowing for the resumption and/or conclusion of the current season in a coherent manner.
The Premier League still has nine fixtures to complete, ten for those with a game in hand which Arsenal have. So assuming the season begins again immediately after the current review date of April 3rd, finishing this season is a possibility. A probability even.
However… I thinks it’s a pie in the sky idea spewed out from an organisation who clearly aren’t living in the real world. This virus hasn’t even reached its peak yet, certainly not here in the UK. Expecting football to resume in around two weeks time is fantasy rather than a reality in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see football back in action but not until it’s 100% safe for all involved in the game and in sure the FA here in the UK will feel the same. Although if we’re to believe what The Sun newspaper has written this morning, all remaining PL fixtures could be played at neutral grounds in the midlands. Possibly more than one a day, all behind closed doors and all in front of television cameras so we the fans can watch them. Talks are ongoing they write.
If there is a positive to be had from this period of no football, it gives more time for injured players to recover. Not Callum Chambers as his season is over, nor Lucas Torreira I’d imagine, but Sead Kolasinac, Cedric Soares and Kieran Tierney will have benefitted. All three could be ready to play should this season kickstart again.
Until then though, Arsenal.com are doing their best to keep us entertained with reruns of old fixtures, great moments from history and social media activity from our players who are keeping fit at home. At least we don’t have to pay for the facility unlike with Sky Sports and BT Sports but Sky have offered all subscribers the chance to freeze our subscription. A nice gesture eh, but it’s not like they can’t afford it…
See you in the comments guys, stay safe, stay well and stay away from crowded areas. 😷😷
Good morning Rico, funny I could have sworn it was Wednesday today, but I’m reading Tuesday’s post. 😉
Sky regret that they cannot pause subscriptions on line. Try getting through on the phone lines, that’ll fill your day nicely.
Morning Cicero, all.
Yes, it’s Tuesday according to WordPress, weird..
Another fine read, Rico. So Sky should and I hope BT follow suit.. although by the time i get through on the phone, all of this will be over and everything will be back to normal 😂 The premier league darts is cancelled on Thursday (no surprise), so it’s official I have no sport to watch!! At least Eastenders is still going hahaha!!
So now the cinemas are shut.. McDonald’s have gone to drive-thru only… a local pub has shut (wonder how long before they all do!) Older children are off school until the end of the week, at least.. I won’t be phoning up for Leicester tickets today… jeez… what next? And don’t say a cough haha!
Thanks Sue, surely things aren’t that bad. Eastenders?? Lol
Thanks for post Rico.
Irony of the day is that the newly released film…The Invisible Man will be playing to invisible audiences!
Two self isolating at my residence for (minimum?) for 3 months……………….Wife because of being high risk from her Liver Transplant and daughter in law being pregnant…………………enough on Netflix and Amazon to keep them going as long as Kroenke`s wallet is from his hands!
😂😂 gotta have my Albert Square fix, Rico!
With all the doom and gloom going on right now, I should be used to it, watching that hey?! Haha!
I know!…………………..what about we all have a side bet on which soap will have the first Corona Virus death!……………………I mean in the story line!…………………….although in real life my monies on Dot Cotton!
Bloody hell, Le Coq… hope your wife will be ok… and your daughter in law and the baby obviously.
😂😂 I bet it’s being written in as we speak! I’m going with Emmerdale haha… Paddy the vet having just returned from China..
Eastenders has postponed filming until further notice!…………………………………Sue, do you want the Samaritans number ? 😆
Paddy opens his suit case and a load of bats fly off ! 😆
Crikey Lc, you must all be very concerned right now. I wish you all well.
Used to watch it too Sue but it’s became so depressing I stopped a while back. Emmerdale and Corrie are my guilty displeasure 😆
Rico. you know that piece of info you put up from another site about some Vitus info about drinking hot and cold stuff, well on This Morning it was classed as fake news!………………..so you can stop drinking the boiling water! 😆
The ‘soaps’ should all stay healthy…. lol
No it’s ok, Le Coq, there’s a bridge down the road 😄
It`s all precautionary for them Rico and to tell the truth my wife can watch TV for a living and if she wants to walk outside, we have 5 acres of land !
Just goes to show Lc, you don’t know who to believe. I think common sense is the best way forward, not that it seems many humans still possess such a thing.
Do we really need parliament to tell us to wash our hands and don’t leave the home unless we really have to? I certainly don’t.
Handy then Lc..
You mean you don’t watch Hollyoaks, Rico?! Haha can’t say I blame you – what a pile of pony!! Emmerdale and Corrie hey?! Eastenders is depressing, but I love it… maybe i should’ve worked at the Samaritans!
Well let’s hope they all stay healthy… otherwise they’ll just have to film those episodes where there’s just 2 characters in the whole episode!!
True Rico, I maybe nuttier than a Squirrell with diarrhea`s underpants, but I do possess extreme common sense!…………………yes, unbelievable I know! 😆
https://mobile.twitter.com/FootyHumour/status/1239580675843506187
😂
I couldn’t get through to Sky on the phone as they say they are only answering sales etc questions online . so cannot suspend my sub unless one of you guys know a way to do it ?
Casualty and Holby City have been cancalled too!!!……………………..wont that put a strain on the NHS? 😆
😂😂 you’re so bloody funny, Le Coq!!!
Suns out, lets get outside!…………………the horses are looking brilliant white!
😂 Lc.
Now retired , 70 years of sleep to catch up on.
Congratulations Potter, since retiring eleven years ago I can honestly say that I haven’t missed the daily grind one iota.
Two days after retiring we went away for two weeks, seven day Nile cruise and seven days at a Red Sea resort. That broke the chain of going to bed thinking about work and waking up still doing so. So long as you can keep both mind and body active retirement can be a wonderful thing.
Enjoy!
Keep trying is my suggestion Sohara..
Sohara, just phone your bank up and put a stop on your direct debit…
Sky
Grant Way,
Isleworth
Middlesex
TW7 5QD
Mon – Fri 8:30 am – 10:00 pm
If you’re not far I’d go down there.
Failing that write to them, special delivery if you can afford it or recorded delivery.
Tbh BT and Sky are a bunch of cnuts when it comes to cancelling.
Can’t do that Kev, there’s a contract to see out..
A grey day with fine rain here in Norfolk, almost as depressing as watching an Eastenders episode. Not that I have done that this century, but there are enough trailers on the BBC to convince me that I should never watch that particular soap again.
I’m going to dig out my Sky account number and write to the head office address to suspend my subscription to Sky Sports. There’s a bit more to life than spending time on the phone listening to dreary music and working the way through a maze of option numbers.
So my Sri Lanka holiday has gone down the toilet. Perhaps we’ll head for California instead. No not the one on the west coast of the U.S. of A, the one on the North Sea just outside Gt. Yarmouth.. 😕
We Brits really don’t like to queue. Put the phone on loudspeaker and carry on. As long as your phone company don’t charge for their number…
Bob at the California tavern is a Liverpool supporter but not a bad landlord apart from that. Best to avoid Yarmouth though especially if you haven’t been for a couple of years it’s like an Eastern European enclave with all the bed and breakfast places being taken up by the social services.
The hoilday camp at Hemsby was subject to a plannig application which got turned down , surprisingly it caught fire and the building application is being reappraised.
Most of the broadland pubs are still open but all trying to do food deliveries as very few people going out . Still C’est la vie as they in Peckham.
Really enjoyed watching that 4-3 against Leicester! That Giroud header 👌 Rambo… great memories!
Been down gym for a leg workout and got 10 reps of 280Kg on the leg press machine on the last of six seperate exercises then I had to go around my fields to check all the electric fencing so the horses can go on the fields after a winter in the stable and yard, then cleaned the stables and sand area so my legs now ache!…………………they are not even my horses, but the wife`s pets!…………what a catch as a hubby I am! hahahahaha……………..
Just been on the coverter………………………….that`s over 44 stone …….or 617 pounds……………….or the weight of Kev`s wallet!
Schools shut then…
New post up now
Good morning, Rico.. yes I know what’s good about it?! More doom and gloom.. 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide.. talk of London on lockdown from this weekend, wouldn’t surprise me if the whole country is! 40 london underground stations to close from today.. and do you know what else?They’re only cutting the episodes of soaps being shown each week!!! 😳 I watched Corrie last night for the first time in months.. Gemma has quads!!! 😱 wow!!
The premier league meeting is taking place today, so we’ll know at some point what the hell is going to happen…….
I don’t see it as doom and gloom Sue, more like protecting the people.