Hasta

I'm not bothered regarding football coming back at the moment simply because with other changes in life at the moment it isn't a priority. I'd rather draw a line under it and restart behind closed doors further down the line. However on your 3 points above, the first one we are being told isn't the case. I suspect test will be available privately for anyone, including government, if they pay the fees. The second one, whether they restart in the Premier or not, is going to be a big issue. If you want hand downs from the top leagues to keep L1 and L2 clubs going then its more likely if the SKY / BT gravy train can keep on rolling. On the third one, if you are on £60k a year in this country and your employer cannot operate at the moment then your salary is practically halved. Those people do not have a choice about whether they can do anything or not to get their full salary. Therefore players should be able to not play, but their salary should take a huge it - like more than half. The same as most well paid folk who can't do their job have had to.

I'm not sure Matty. It may well be as you say, but many other activities will be limited as well. You may find the first game back after 12 months could be massively attended. Waggot will have it pencilled as a category A+ game just incase.

Sunderland fans views on Jon Mclaughlin. Generally regarded as decent for them, would be missed but replaceable. No-one seems to be suggesting he would be great in the Championship. https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/jon-mclaughlin.1516241/

Completely unrelated stat, but David Raya had made more career starts whilst he was still at Rovers than Brad had made in his entire career before moving to Ewood.

All games legally streamed on Bet365

No-one gets relegated from league 2 so less likely to have kick offs. Relegating clubs unexpectedly because they just dropped in the relegation zone on a random date inMarch would be unfair and unsporting. We don't know what would happen so it would be fairer to void. Surely?

Money, it's a gas Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash New car, caviar, four star daydream Think I'll buy me a football team Money, get back I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack Money, it's a hit Don't give me that do goody good bullshit

Jack takes some blame for appointing Kidd. Like Hartford wasn't Daglish, Kidd was never going to be Fergie.

Not mentioned like Ossie and Archibald, but Stapleton was another high profile coup for the club at the end of the 80s. I recall being disappointed by him, and am surprised he made as many as 80 appearances, but as a kid I would have been too young to appreciate his all round game. I just wanted to see him hit the back of the net. What are other people's opinions on his Rovers spell?

If gossip was to be believed, we got relegated at home to Man United on a Wednesday night, Our record signing Kevin Davies was up Tokyo Joe's till late on the Monday night before.

Like Rochdale Blue says, not having Gallagher or Sutton for a lot of the season dwas critical. The replacements brought in for £9milliom (Ward and Blake) simply weren't good enough with no help from the manager. Jansen wasn't quite ready but interestingy he appeared to be have subbed in every game he started whilst Ashley Ward was left on the pitch. Flitcroft was also injured almost all season and only made 8 appearances. He wasn't replaced properly until we signed Carsley in desperation at the end of March. (who was a shadow of the player he became at Everton) Henchoz was being dragged down by having to play with either Peacock or Dailly. A decent manager with that squad and that budget in the second half of the season would have kept us up

I'm not disagreeing, but what will you class as clearer? They can play when the daily confirmed number of cases gets below 2000 instead of 4000 ? As far as I can see, the health arguments for not playing in June will also be there in November and could be here for years.

And if the majority of clubs disagreed with him and refused to play it could be interesting! As I said earlier, I think the FA and clubs will make finishing the season happen somehow, whether it's safe, fair or not, just to keep the money wheel turning.

Aside from the inevitable legal challenges from Leeds / West Brom and any champions league issues (can that even go ahead with the usual qualifiers in August anyway?) , this does appear the most sensible way forward. Although if it's not really safe in June, it won't be safe it August.

I'm generally agreeing with you, and of course the players won't want to take the risk. But, again, the players have to accept that they will no longer receive their whopping salaries that have made them multi-millionaires. And I'm not talking about just dropping 20% off their wages. At some point soon players would have to take massive, massive cuts as it is unsustainable. And when that happens, the players will either decide it's time to play again or throw the toys out of the pram. Premier League and Champinship clubs are not going to agree to wait until a vaccine is in operation, and during this time receiving no incomings but having to pay out millions in salaries. Players won't like it but they also won't like the only alternative. Money will talk.

Clubs will want it with no money coming in. If players see their money drying up, they will push for it. It will happen sooner or later. Different level of close contact, but horse racing will restart at the start of June because jockeys and trainers are all unanimously pushing for it.

Morally and logically yes. But if this goes on until a vaccine how do you pay the players without clubs going bust? That's the panic and then need to get a resumption.

It's not that simple. They don't want to give tv money back because how else do they pay the players. And if they don't pay the players, can they just walk from contracts? If clubs have to pay the staff, but don't get the tv or some streaming money, they will fold without serious intervention. It appears football is screwed unless they play this season ASAP.

If you can't fully socially distance at work, you are still actually still meant to go to work:- (taken from here.). However you wouldn't expect most places who struggle to adopt social distancing to allow the level of contact you would get on a football pitch !!!!! Employers who have people in their offices or on site should ensure that employees are able, where possible, to follow Public Health England guidelines on social distancing (including, where possible, maintaining a 2 metre distance from others), and hygiene (washing their hands with soap and water often for at least 20 seconds).

I agree with the first part, although many people who cannot work have been furloughed, sometimes on a portion of their salary. Companies who are struggling to pay their staff have been able to furlough them. This doesn't really apply to clubs. Football clubs have had their income streams turned off, but are still expected by the players to pay 70% or upwards of the players massively salary. Whilst there is way too much money sloshing about in football, many clubs aren't actually cash rich, just rich in the balance sheet. If footballers don't want the clubs to move heaven and earth to get them playing again and regain access to some of their income streams, they are going to have to accept a far bigger salary decrease than I expect they currently have. I'm not saying that they should be forced to play if its not safe, but they need to realise their salaries are not sustainable at all at the moment. If they want to keep earning what they currently earn, they need to accept the risk over health and safety. On the second part, that's untrue as warehouse staff up and down the country have worked through all of this supplying dart boards, bicycles, toasters, TV's and every other gadget people desire. Only non-essential shops had to close, not businesses. However it's not really relevant to the point regarding footballers, and I'm sure they don't go around the warehouses grappling with each other and spitting on the floor.

I've had a season ticket for 30 years. I normally watch about 5 or 6 games a week on tv whilst watching the highlights of other games and regularly looking at league tables during the week. I am missing not going to Ewood, meeting up with long standing mates and having a pint during and after. However I thought I would be craving some live football to watch. But I'm not. I can't explain why. Maybe because I know when it restarts it will be behind closed doors and I suspect it just won't be the same. It should be left until the stadiums can be filled again. As supporters, we have often used the phrase "football without fans is nothing". Well that's about to be put the test. If Rovers played this weekend in a deserted Ewood, I'd stream it but not with great anticipaton. But I wouldn't stream any premier league games or other games as I just don't have the interest. I'm fairly sure I'm classed as a football fan though.

How can the Champions League and Europa league go ahead as normal next season anyway. Even if the premier league finished the season, there would be many other leagues around Europe that wouldn't. How would the early qualifiers be able to take place in July? They wouldn't. Therefore the competition will be being changed from its usual format regardless of what the PL do. There's no easy solution. There will be legal cases regardless of what the outcome is, if the clubs can afford them. Wierdly, I don't really care if the season is played behind closed doors or not. I normally watch loads of football, but I don't have any real appetite for behind closed doors games at the moment.

At the moment it seems like the PFA and the Premier league players don't want to risk playing. They are the ones who would halt 'project restart'. However they will see themselves sitting around for the rest of this year on 70% or 80% of their substantial wages. However, as more and more players stop getting paid (at all levels), there will become more and more of a clamour from them to play behind closed doors to unlock the TV rights and streaming monies. Stuart's idea is the best one to try and safeguard football and it's 91 league clubs, but will be fought against by many different parties.

The season needs to be either cancelled or finished behind closed doors. Finishing it on points per game would be a nonsense. Relegating Villa, who have a game in hand having reached a cup final, would be farcical. Not relegating teams from the Premier League, whilst relegating teams from the Champinship would also be farcical.

Ok. Thanks.