- Aug 5, 2006
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Whatever happens, the Premier League does not exist in a bubble so a lot of the unfairnesses that we talk about a going to heavily dependent on other leagues here and in Europe.
Domestically there will be a number of clubs that go out of business, depending of course on how long the restrictions last and what sort of compensation may come from the FA/PL to help those clubs. If we tried to finish all domestic seasons with some clubs no longer existing it will affect fairness and relegation/promotion figures are going to have to be skewed.
With the CL and EL you would think that qualification for the 2020/21 season (if it happens) would need agreement between all the European federations which might not be possible. And when you try to factor in issues around player contracts and transfers it becomes even messier.
Something that might work (in my ignorant view) is to scrap the 20/21 CL and EL competitions and just pick up the usual knockout phase of the 19/20 competition based on where it got to this season. We can probably assume that CL and EL teams will not be those going out of business. The 20/21 season could be played as normal with teams competing to qualify for CL and EL 21/22.
That would remove financial complications about which teams from this season qualify which would have inevitably ended up with legal challenges. I think it would also allow the top tier leagues to be voided or concluded early more easily because it's one less faff to worry about.
Once the top tier leagues were "dealt with" I think it becomes easier to have all lower leagues concluded early with relegation/promotion frozen for this season. It would seem destructive to relegate/promote teams if they don't have a decent transfer window to prepare for their coming season, and the players at clubs going bust will need to be made available in some sort of fair manner. So I reckon starting 20/21 with the same teams in the same leagues (minus the bust teams) with no transfer restrictions would allow for fairness, scheduling and teams to sell/buy in order to stay afloat.
Only time will tell. We don't yet know if this virus is the shock of adding a new flu to the world or if it will reshape society. Families and businesses are going to be under enormous financial pressure and the whole idea of paying to watch football might be out the window.
Domestically there will be a number of clubs that go out of business, depending of course on how long the restrictions last and what sort of compensation may come from the FA/PL to help those clubs. If we tried to finish all domestic seasons with some clubs no longer existing it will affect fairness and relegation/promotion figures are going to have to be skewed.
With the CL and EL you would think that qualification for the 2020/21 season (if it happens) would need agreement between all the European federations which might not be possible. And when you try to factor in issues around player contracts and transfers it becomes even messier.
Something that might work (in my ignorant view) is to scrap the 20/21 CL and EL competitions and just pick up the usual knockout phase of the 19/20 competition based on where it got to this season. We can probably assume that CL and EL teams will not be those going out of business. The 20/21 season could be played as normal with teams competing to qualify for CL and EL 21/22.
That would remove financial complications about which teams from this season qualify which would have inevitably ended up with legal challenges. I think it would also allow the top tier leagues to be voided or concluded early more easily because it's one less faff to worry about.
Once the top tier leagues were "dealt with" I think it becomes easier to have all lower leagues concluded early with relegation/promotion frozen for this season. It would seem destructive to relegate/promote teams if they don't have a decent transfer window to prepare for their coming season, and the players at clubs going bust will need to be made available in some sort of fair manner. So I reckon starting 20/21 with the same teams in the same leagues (minus the bust teams) with no transfer restrictions would allow for fairness, scheduling and teams to sell/buy in order to stay afloat.
Only time will tell. We don't yet know if this virus is the shock of adding a new flu to the world or if it will reshape society. Families and businesses are going to be under enormous financial pressure and the whole idea of paying to watch football might be out the window.