By what yardstick is it ‘worst case’ in your opinion..? Null and void is the only ‘equal’ way of ending the season because it contains the least number of assumptions. Any other mathematical calculation will discriminate against some teams because it will be too simplistic. Null and void doesn’t discriminate against anyone, it says this season didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because it didn’t finish and at the time it was suspended no positions (champions/promotions/relegations) were confirmed. Is it fair to relegate Charlton when one result against the PPG trend to date could keep them up? There is a lot at stake in inventing new rules which are applied after the season has begun which is why they will have reached a conclusion to continue the season. At the point it is all about timing. One can certainly NOT describe the current approach and timing as safety first. It is absolutely TV money first, safety a secondary consideration to be managed - and with one eye firmly on next season also to avoid losing TV money. Let’s just hope that it goes well. On a side note, perhaps fines should be introduced to clamp down on spitting (including goalkeepers on their gloves) to help to reduce risk of transmission.

The reason null and void is the best option is because it has an equal outcome for everyone. The unprecedented nature of this means it should be possible. Which Championship teams “deserve to go up”? As not a single team has mathematically been promoted or relegated their is / was still time for anything to happen. PPG is arbitrary as not all matches are equal and players go in and out of form and fitness. There is no good way of doing this from a competition perspective, which is why restarting this season in September was fairest and also supported a safety first approach. BCD just serves to further prove that TV is more important than fans. On note, I don’t see any reason why 3pm kick offs should be sacrosanct in future. This pretence that it will stop fans going to games is a hollow argument.

You certainly wouldn’t put your house on Leeds going up. PPG would be massively in their interests. Meanwhile Mowbray has planned the season out to give us the best chance of a late charge into those play-offs on the final day (knowing full well we couldn’t hang on to it if we got there too early and he would be completely scuppered. (I jest of course). BCD games though: as a home fan, no advantage of being able to influence the ref: away fans, no day out; neutral fans, a completely sterile affair - if we thought VAR ruined the excitement and spontaneity, BCD will kill it off completely. Imagine both at the same time!

Sounds to me that, as one of the chief reasons for the restart (after money - which L1/L2 have had to stomach) is to ensure Liverpool ‘cleanly’ win the League, they are worried about throngs of fans mobbing Anfield and creating one of the exact problems that scrapping the season would avoid. Moving a few other ‘big games’ just makes it seem like it’s being fair to everyone and something about integrity (ha!). But it’s irresponsible to say “we shouldn’t worry about something unless it happens” - it’s too late then! We are relying on Liverpool fans behaving sensibly during a moment they’ve not had for 30 years - so well beyond many of their fans’ lifetimes - to avoid a spike in NWcases which could lead to a catastrophic second spike. This is the kind of thing that absolutely needs planning for. As many of those fans are teens and twenties, I don’t trust that they are taking this seriously even now. Which is a bit of a generalisation but telling them to stay away from Anfield and don’t have group gatherings? I doubt it. At least with this restart we get to see who was right and wrong about it. Believe me when I say that I hope you (and Chaddy) are right, because if you are wrong it doesn’t bear thinking about.

In slight defence of Vinjers, we do need to at least start seeing the lads with PL potential featuring in the first team before they go. We wouldn’t have got £16m for Jones if he’d left as early.

Looking like shops are opening on 15th June. Let the season recommence.

Which is what I said. ??‍♂️

This is the dilemma for us all as human beings though, not just football fans. If there is going to be no vaccine then we are going to have to adapt to living with this virus. The question at the moment is, given where the UK is along the curve, is this the right time to restart football? Germany have had a much much lower death rate than anywhere else in Europe, they were ahead of us and have only just returned to football. Spain are more likely to be in the same boat as the PL (a coincidence that UK money is thrown at La Liga by O’Rourke - ex Setanta - ‘s Premier Sports and only available on Sky and Virgin?) where there will be pressure from clubs to restart. The principle of the lockdown as far as I can see was to avoid everyone becoming sick at the same time. Although it’s controversial and seen as insensitive, herd immunity is likely to be necessary to get us back to normal. I still maintain though that if footballers can get back playing then spectators should also be able to return - if they wish to. It’s is incongruous to think that it can be safe for players but not safe in the stadium. Neither party can socially distance. 88 seconds is a nonsense when players will be spitting, sweating and breathing heavily in close proximity. It’s one or the other. On the matter of TV, Sky and BT don’t just pay for certain games, they pay for exclusivity. Given the hype around the product, Bournemouth v Watford on the BBC or ITV would be enough of a football fix for many neutrals - indeed, this could easily be a Sky game! If they are giving up the exclusivity then they will be wanting a discount. But the most important bit is exactly as you say, what happens next season? When does it start? Is this the point of June and July football, to get the game back in late August? But is this still behind closed doors? This is the TV companies’ wet dream - much like the wall to wall news of coronavirus hiking the ratings, a massively hyped PL behind closed doors would do the same thing. Clubs can even cut costs by closing stadiums and getting rid of staff. We should be fighting BCD football lest the doors don’t reopen “because it’s not safe”. (Over to you @RevidgeBlue, I must have made at least three or four contradictions in there )

If they are going to show games on TV or YouTube then Sky/BT won’t have the exclusivity that they pay top dollar for. This would negate the whole money argument, which is they only logical reason to rush football back.

Sadly I think you are correct that it could be a while. It will be interesting to see what happens with coverage. For the whole TV money situation to make any sense we will have to expect that we will only see the same games available on Sky and BT that were originally planned. We may possibly be offered iFollow subscriptions for all games - including 3pm kos. If that is the case, I’ll forego my refund in return for a free subscription. That said, I’m so disillusioned by this whole sorry saga, I think I’d just rather have the refund. Particularly given that football has seen fit to declare it safe to put on matches while at the same time it believes it to be unsafe for spectators. Fans who don’t have coronavirus should be allowed to attend...

Deeming has certainly lost its way then. To be fair, journalists are key workers, it’s just that in the Twitter age we don’t seem to have very many left. At best there are people who report what they think is newsworthy (very tenuously, especially the local press) and at worst people who think it is their job to make the news. Some of them could have got their passes stamped on the back of the fisheries and trawlers workforce.

On what planet? The guy used to be an agitator, now he’s just a loudmouth, domineering caricature of his former self. His co-presenters must utterly despise him. Such faux-piety and moral-cheerleading from a bloke who apparently thinks it’s ok to log into peoples voicemails to get dirt on them.

This private company in Hong Kong is making tests. The PL are buying them privately which means they can’t be used by those who actually need them. This is a global pandemic. There needs to be a united effort to fix it. Starting with vulnerable people who, lets face it, are the only reason we are in lockdown. Meanwhile footballers being at the top of the list will only serve to extend the lockdown. But, yes, let’s crack on because TV money is far more important. It’s just a shame that ordinary folk think this is acceptable. I just hope nobody currently on furlough and struggling to make ends meet loses their job because of how long this is going on.

If the PL didn’t buy PSC stock do you think it would be thrown away? I find it saddening that some organisations are going out of their way to put money ahead of people. I just can’t understand why ordinary folk condone such despicable behaviour just because they like football.

So football returning - even behind close doors - isn’t safe? Ok. I’m not longer following the pro argument then.

If football uses 1600 tests per week then they aren’t available for anyone else. I don’t know how else to say it mate. If you don’t think more deserving cases are not yet being able to get tested then you aren’t paying attention or don’t have anyone in your family affected (which I’m very happy to hear). Meanwhile I have family in the care industry still waiting. Never mind, at least a load of overpaid loafers are ok.

Sadly, the public can’t be tested because the tests are all being used by footballers and staff. Which is exactly my point. We are going to see a huge recession that effects ordinary folk massively because of the current lockdown. Footballers would be the last people to suffer, I see no reason why they couldn’t have waited their turn considering: 1) Football isn’t the most important thing in people’s lives 2) Those people who think football is more important than ‘normal folk’ having jobs to go back to won’t even be able to go and watch anyway. This is all about money, both for the PL and the top clubs, and there is no concern for the financial situation of millions of people who need to get to back to work more pressingly. If testing has been made available for the sole purpose of avoiding giving money back to Sky and BT then I just don’t get how any right thinking person would believe this was in any way justifiable.

Should the lockdown be lifted for the general public on Monday so that everyone can go back to work?

Do you think that the lockdown should be completely lifted for the general public on Monday too?

“I heard about the incident from the mother of a former pupil of mine”.

Footballers shouldn’t need to socially distance from each other - in much the same way some schools are planning to manage the impossible task of socially distancing 4 and 5 year olds. (Very similar to footballers funnily enough). Thats a very different argument from thinking footballers should be tested as safe to work before teachers, for example. I just think football isn’t important enough that it has to go ahead while in the same breath it isn’t safe for spectators to attend - even with PPE.

Thanks Chaddy. I never believe anything til I’ve read it in the Daily Mail.

Is this some new, different version of football I’m not aware of? Are they also going to ban throw ins, or just clean their balls every time they go out? Look, we know football can get by in a fashion. The bundesliga has proved it but there are people out there losing their livelihoods while some folk continue to get thousand for playing a game. Football is not a priority. Therefore testing footballers while shops are closed is not a priority either.

Doh! Just play that back to yourself slowly: “It’s safer for footballers to play football because they’ve been tested, therefore they need to be tested.” I think that’s what’s called a circular argument!

Got to love the argument “the government said so” and the Chaddy-like! Again, this isn’t true. Footballers are in close proximity and cannot wear PPE, and the only “controlled conditions” are that they have access to testing that Joe Bloggs Barbers doesn’t, which is a self-fulfillling argument. And it’s not even “football”, it’s top-flight-English-football only! Barnet 0 Barnets 0