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

[Ad@m]

It's going to be a legal minefield isn't it? 

And that will be the deciding factor.  Football is designed so that seasons don't go past 30 June - all the contracts are written up to that point so there's no way this season can go past that point.

How many players are out of contract at the end of June and have agreed terms with other teams?  What if one of those players leaves a relegation-threatened club and scores the winner to send them down?  The lawyers will be all over that.

What about Liverpool's shirt sponsors who've been involved in the vast majority of their (possible) Championship winning side, but their contract expires on 30 June so they might not actually be able to promote the Championship win?

Money talks and on the basis Sky have already said they're not going to ask for any money back, the biggest risk to the league now is being sued because the rules changed in the middle of the season.

[dave.woodhall]

If they play football while people are dying, then they will be proving that they have no integrity at all, and that this is about pleasing sponsors and fecking Sky Television. 

If they do opt for this points earned per game crap, I hope that they differentiate between home and away games and take into consideration that we have six from ten games at home still left to play!  It's also flawed as there are always the odd surprising result in football.

On H&A points we're still down.

Deservedly so as it stands but who knows what might have happened? Might still, of course.

We're not deservedly anything until we've played exactly the same teams exactly the same number of times as everyone else.

[CyprusVillain]

My mum, a nurse, always told me when i was growing up to remember the cleaners in the hospital save more lives than the doctors; the porters play just as important a part in looking after patients as the nurses.

Agreed algy. So called ordinary working people have much greater sense than those elevated into senior management.

The school where I work, part of an academy chain, were utterly negligent leading up to the lockdown. No mitigation strategies were practised by the school, no attempts to put anti-bacterial gel in classrooms, no insistence that pupils wash their hands.....100s crowded into corridors and 30 pupils per class.

Because no instruction had come from above - no action was taken.

Did not stop one of the canteen staff simply excising basic commonsense and tethering the entrance to canteen open so that pupils did not have to make contact with the door. The only effective mitigation strategy taken and not by someone on £60k but a woman in her late 50s, insecurely employed and on the minimum age.

Who is the essential worker now?

[Nev]

The "behind closed doors" thing is a dangerous road to go down.

The USP of the game is the role that the crowd play, the TV companies have often said that without this the product is significantly diminished. So, if games are played with no crowd and as expected, we end up with a reserve game atmosphere would you think that the TV bosses will leave it as it is?

I can see recorded crowd noises being deployed, West Ham and I suspect Spurs already do this within the Stadium during their games so it's not a great leap at all. To the traditional fan this is abhorrent, but to your average Liverpool fan at home in Totnes or Chelsea fan in Warwick does it make any difference?

And once the game returns to normal will those sound effects be retired until the next pandemic? I doubt it.

[chrisw1]

If they play football while people are dying, then they will be proving that they have no integrity at all, and that this is about pleasing sponsors and fecking Sky Television. 

If they do opt for this points earned per game crap, I hope that they differentiate between home and away games and take into consideration that we have six from ten games at home still left to play!  It's also flawed as there are always the odd surprising result in football.

What if factories are reopened, building sites reopened, office buildings reopened?  Would 22 blokes on a football pitch working in an industry that literally pays tens of thousands of peoples wages still be proving their lack of integrity?

[Mister E]

League 2 looks like they are looking to Void as can't afford to restart.

Sturgeon is saying she isn't expecting Scottish football to be played with fans until next year

She's also casting doubt on the viability of playing games behind closed doors.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/20/nicola-sturgeon-dampens-hopes-of-scottish-football-returning

[andyh]

The "behind closed doors" thing is a dangerous road to go down.

The USP of the game is the role that the crowd play, the TV companies have often said that without this the product is significantly diminished. So, if games are played with no crowd and as expected, we end up with a reserve game atmosphere would you think that the TV bosses will leave it as it is?

I can see recorded crowd noises being deployed, West Ham and I suspect Spurs already do this within the Stadium during their games so it's not a great leap at all. To the traditional fan this is abhorrent, but to your average Liverpool fan at home in Totnes or Chelsea fan in Warwick does it make any difference?

And once the game returns to normal will those sound effects be retired until the next pandemic? I doubt it.

Good points Nev.

It doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to see SKY showing the games with a ‘crowd noise’ soundtrack played under the commentary.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

It's coming to the stage now where imo the 2019/20 season should be null and void. Exceptional times occasionally require exceptional responses and this is one such example.
By the time the next decision is made regarding continuing with lockdown there will have been no PL football for almost 8 weeks, which in normal circumstances is a close season when footy shuts down from mid-May to the 1st week in July for pre-season training.
For me this is not just about AVFC (I think we would have stayed up, for what it's worth) it is about the integrity of the game in the face of large numbers of people sadly losing their lives. The likes of sky etc should get over themselves.  Instead they along with the football authorities should start planning for next season and use the time constructively to ensure when mass gatherings are allowed again they are done with reassurance and safety in mind. Instead of creating a log jam of football between 2 seasons, they should put all their focus on the upcoming season, whenever that may start (end of 2020 or beginning of 2021? Who knows?)

[Big Ming]

The way to resolve the 2019 - 2020 season.   My suggestion........

The 'Bobby Ewing' solution....... Premier League bosses wake up in shower together...

"It was all a dream...."  ( in our case, a bad one).

It never happened.

[OzVilla]

League 2 looks like they are looking to Void as can't afford to restart.

Sturgeon is saying she isn't expecting Scottish football to be played with fans until next year

She's also casting doubt on the viability of playing games behind closed doors.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/20/nicola-sturgeon-dampens-hopes-of-scottish-football-returning

I think this is quite telling. Direct quotes from a political leader who will be calling the shots and part of the national decision making discussions. What Henry Winter or Jamie Carragher think is utterly irrelevant. What the likes Nicola Sturgeon think are what really matters.

[Drummond]

The "behind closed doors" thing is a dangerous road to go down.

The USP of the game is the role that the crowd play, the TV companies have often said that without this the product is significantly diminished. So, if games are played with no crowd and as expected, we end up with a reserve game atmosphere would you think that the TV bosses will leave it as it is?

I can see recorded crowd noises being deployed, West Ham and I suspect Spurs already do this within the Stadium during their games so it's not a great leap at all. To the traditional fan this is abhorrent, but to your average Liverpool fan at home in Totnes or Chelsea fan in Warwick does it make any difference?

And once the game returns to normal will those sound effects be retired until the next pandemic? I doubt it.

Good points Nev.

It doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to see SKY showing the games with a ‘crowd noise’ soundtrack played under the commentary.

They already do manipulate the sound of the crowd. I'm pretty sure I read that as well as quietening down some stuff they already pipe extra noise through.

[CT]

The "behind closed doors" thing is a dangerous road to go down.

The USP of the game is the role that the crowd play, the TV companies have often said that without this the product is significantly diminished. So, if games are played with no crowd and as expected, we end up with a reserve game atmosphere would you think that the TV bosses will leave it as it is?

I can see recorded crowd noises being deployed, West Ham and I suspect Spurs already do this within the Stadium during their games so it's not a great leap at all. To the traditional fan this is abhorrent, but to your average Liverpool fan at home in Totnes or Chelsea fan in Warwick does it make any difference?

And once the game returns to normal will those sound effects be retired until the next pandemic? I doubt it.

Good points Nev.

It doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to see SKY showing the games with a ‘crowd noise’ soundtrack played under the commentary.

They already do manipulate the sound of the crowd. I'm pretty sure I read that as well as quietening down some stuff they already pipe extra noise through.

They certainly do. Really noticeable when they cover Leeds games. Leeds fans tend to sing about SKY a few times per game, and as soon as they do, you get the pre programmed crowd noise come through, with just a tiny bit of the live noise in the background. 

[Nev]

The "behind closed doors" thing is a dangerous road to go down.

The USP of the game is the role that the crowd play, the TV companies have often said that without this the product is significantly diminished. So, if games are played with no crowd and as expected, we end up with a reserve game atmosphere would you think that the TV bosses will leave it as it is?

I can see recorded crowd noises being deployed, West Ham and I suspect Spurs already do this within the Stadium during their games so it's not a great leap at all. To the traditional fan this is abhorrent, but to your average Liverpool fan at home in Totnes or Chelsea fan in Warwick does it make any difference?

And once the game returns to normal will those sound effects be retired until the next pandemic? I doubt it.

Good points Nev.

It doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to see SKY showing the games with a ‘crowd noise’ soundtrack played under the commentary.

They already do manipulate the sound of the crowd. I'm pretty sure I read that as well as quietening down some stuff they already pipe extra noise through.

They certainly do. Really noticeable when they cover Leeds games. Leeds fans tend to sing about SKY a few times per game, and as soon as they do, you get the pre programmed crowd noise come through, with just a tiny bit of the live noise in the background. 

I think it was this season where a the sound operator left a fader open playing crowd noise across a minutes silence at a game.

[CT]

The "behind closed doors" thing is a dangerous road to go down.

The USP of the game is the role that the crowd play, the TV companies have often said that without this the product is significantly diminished. So, if games are played with no crowd and as expected, we end up with a reserve game atmosphere would you think that the TV bosses will leave it as it is?

I can see recorded crowd noises being deployed, West Ham and I suspect Spurs already do this within the Stadium during their games so it's not a great leap at all. To the traditional fan this is abhorrent, but to your average Liverpool fan at home in Totnes or Chelsea fan in Warwick does it make any difference?

And once the game returns to normal will those sound effects be retired until the next pandemic? I doubt it.

Good points Nev.

It doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to see SKY showing the games with a ‘crowd noise’ soundtrack played under the commentary.

They already do manipulate the sound of the crowd. I'm pretty sure I read that as well as quietening down some stuff they already pipe extra noise through.

They certainly do. Really noticeable when they cover Leeds games. Leeds fans tend to sing about SKY a few times per game, and as soon as they do, you get the pre programmed crowd noise come through, with just a tiny bit of the live noise in the background. 

I think it was this season where a the sound operator left a fader open playing crowd noise across a minutes silence at a game.

I think you're right. Might have been the Sheffield derby. Loads of fans were slagging them off for not observing the silence / applause, when in fact it was Sky who had done it.

Videos started to surface showing the fans had actually given it the full respect.

[ChicagoLion]

Crowd noise followed by the silly music after a goal has been scored.