How much will Coronavirus (COVID-19) impact Aston Villa's season?

[cdbearsfan]

I think if they went 22 teams they would have it so that next season four went down and only the Champions and Playoff Winners went up. That's what they did last time they reduced the leagues from 22 to 20.

[PaulWinch again]

I think the idea of finishing the season and then applying different conditions to the consequences of the league positions is just flawed. Take an extreme example, say Liverpool lost all of their games and lost the the title. Why would their case for not benefiting from their home crowd be any less valid than a team who ends up in the bottom three?

Also you’d probably still have an argument from the TV companies that you’re not giving them what they paid for. If Brighton vs Norwich, for example, has no stakes on it who’s going to watch it?

The point is that if you decide that playing behind closed doors, rushing the end of the season into a compressed window, or something else is an acceptable conclusion to the season then you have to treat it is as such. It’s tough luck on the teams who have more home games left. Ultimately everyone will have played 38 games, so you face the consequences of where you finish.

Now I don’t think it is fair, so I don’t think you should finish the season unless you can do it under the conditions (broadly) it started. But if there is some agreement that you can finish the season then it has to be treated as a valid season.

[mr underhill]

but it won't finish like it started. Social distancingwill be in force long after the pandemic is under control, with or without a vaccine.

[Neil Hawkes]

Just a thought.

For all leagues, award 2 points for all remaining home games, award 1 point for all remaining away games, close the season and award, promote & relegate after above.

[Des Little]

I’d be extremely nervous about going to a football ground before they’ve got a vaccine out, that’s for sure.

[charlatan]

From that point, they would need 3 - 4 weeks mini pre-season. 

If all teams go back at the same time there is no need for any pre-season if time is of the essence.

[PaulWinch again]

but it won't finish like it started. Social distancingwill be in force long after the pandemic is under control, with or without a vaccine.

Well exactly, which is why I don’t think it’s fair to finish it.

[picicata]

From that point, they would need 3 - 4 weeks mini pre-season. 

If all teams go back at the same time there is no need for any pre-season if time is of the essence.

Pre season is there so players are properly up to speed and fit to play. No pre season and you risk many many injuries.

[baddowvillans]

For most of the season I have fancied our chances of getting something from the home games against Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves (as well as the others).  That confidence has dimmed a little as they have all got stronger and we have looked of the pace.  Play those games behind closed doors however and we will get smashed.  Teams like Villa need the crowd driving them on in these games so our season will have been massively impacted if they are not present. 

[BoVillan esq]

One possible solution is to stop the season as it stands, no more games, Liverpool crowned Champions, the remaining qualification places for next season's competitions is as stands, relegation and promotion places are solved by expanding each division for one season, so Leeds, West Brom are promoted, giving the Premiership 22 teams, so end of next season normality is recreated by more teams being relegated, so 3 come up and 5 go down, so on throughout the leagues.

That way the season is actually fulfilled, everybody knows where they stand and everybody knows what they have to do to survive or get promoted end of next season, the third place play-offs can't go ahead because it would involve to many extra games and to many teams completing this mini competition this season, so lets say, season ends right now Leeds and WBA have earned the right of automatic promotion because they hold the automatic promotion places, the rest is pure conjecture, so on and so forth throughout the rest of the leagues.

[/i]
Put this on a month ago as a solution and still think its the most practical and clean way of resolving what could be an almighty mess, its acceptable, joined up and could work, needs squaring in places but it could happen. The other thing is looking back at peoples messages from just a month ago....Oh wow!!!, what a month, from a few dead at that time to the fact we could hit 10,000 today, in a month, the stuff of nightmares. what the **** happened.   

[Mister E]

For most of the season I have fancied our chances of getting something from the home games against Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves (as well as the others).  That confidence has dimmed a little as they have all got stronger and we have looked of the pace.  Play those games behind closed doors however and we will get smashed.  Teams like Villa need the crowd driving them on in these games so our season will have been massively impacted if they are not present. 

Well, that depends how each club has managed its players during the downtime. We don't know whether Villa will come back stronger compared to the rest: wouldn't it be wonderful to see our guys fitter, stronger and more focussed than before the lockdown?!

Okay; perhaps unlikely given what we've seen of our coaching so far.

[PaulWinch again]

For most of the season I have fancied our chances of getting something from the home games against Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves (as well as the others).  That confidence has dimmed a little as they have all got stronger and we have looked of the pace.  Play those games behind closed doors however and we will get smashed.  Teams like Villa need the crowd driving them on in these games so our season will have been massively impacted if they are not present. 

Yep and I don’t disagree, which is why they should pull the plug on the season. What you can’t have is some misaligned hybrid approach where you keep playing, behind closed doors, but say that results matter up one end of the table and not the other.

[Villa Lew]

It's stopped us today, from being the first club to win at Anfield this season, in the Premier League 

[Brassneck]

Give Liverpool the opportunity to finish the season behind closed doors and they will snap your hands off.  They will agree to it.  Therefore, they would not be in a position to complain about anything if they subsequently lost every game.  If you are using that argument then you can't finish the league as per the current positions as Man City could say the same thing.

Almost every club in the division will want the games played out if possible - It is their salvation.  These clubs will need to vote on a way to finish it.  Once that vote is taken and passed, there is no going back and no complaining afterwards.  In order to get the bottom 6 onside, they will need to ensure that relegation is scrapped.  If the 5th, 6th 7th teams etc agree to it, there is no window for complaining/arbitration afterwards.

TV companies would have a deal whereby every game is likely to be televised so whereas they may lose out on the excitement of relegation games, they would get to show more games.

Playing the season out behind closed doors with no relegation keeps all 20 members happy or at the very least, 19 of them.

[malckennedy]

I admit that I’ve only quickly looked at this thread from time to time, but I’m puzzled by the frequency of the suggestion that it is appropriate to have no relegation from the PL if the season is abandoned whilst at the same time accepting that WBA and Leeds come up. If it is unfair to relegate teams on the basis of the season being incomplete it is equally unfair to promote others.

For what it’s worth my view is that there are only two equitable ways for this to be dealt with (and any others will rightly end up in the courts) - either complete the fixtures (which looks increasingly unlikely) or abandon the season with no relegations or promotions.