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

[spangley1812]

The National Leagues have been cancelled with immediate effect. The voiding is creeping up the pyramid.

No promotion? I'd have thought they would have wanted at least one team up to take the place of Bury.

National League clubs have voted to end the regular season at its current point, with promotion and relegation outcomes "under careful consideration".

[PeterWithesShin]

Former Welsh champions Rhyl FC are set to close down after 141 years of existence.

The north Wales side confirmed they had begun a winding-up process, with directors citing the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis.

"This is a very emotional day for everyone connected with the club," said chairman Paul Higginson. "We are all fans and feel it deeply."

The four-time Welsh Cup winners play in the second-tier Cymru North.

Rhyl had warned recently they could not meet financial obligations and required significant external investment to continue.

After a self-imposed deadline passed with "no viable approach", a club statement confirmed that they had initiated the winding-up of the company.

"The difficult decision was taken by the board of directors after considering the financial impact of the suspension of all football activities due to the unprecedented impact of Covid-19, the unwillingness of the ground's owner to consider either a long lease or sale on market terms and the ongoing fixed costs with no income prospects," the statement read.

Rhyl said they were offered support from the Football Association of Wales, but it would not be enough to save the club, who recently said they would need £175,000 of investment to offer long-term security.

They added that five approaches of investment were either deemed not viable or were withdrawn without any financial proposal made.

Fans had begun raising money to help a club that can cite the likes of Lee Trundle and Barry Horne as former players, with suggestions already that a 'phoenix' club could be formed.

Higginson added: "The town has a very proud footballing history and a very determined character and I have no doubt that a very strong new club will rise from this low."

[Towser]

Someone on Facebook came up with the best suggestion (for us) so far, Void the game week Villa, Sheffield United, Arsenal and City didn't play because of Carabao cup final. Then all teams will have played 28 games.

If you do that, Villa move up to 17th to bring all teams down to same amount of games played, this would move us out of the relegation zone and Wet Spam would go down instead.

[brian green]

Sad news about Rhyl.  Didn't Villa captain and legend Ivor Powell when as manager take them to Wembley aged 90 or thereabouts IIRC?

[steamer]

sounds good to me
forever blowing bubbles

[aev]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/22/premier-league-clubs-discussing-early-end-to-season-amid-growing-concerns-health-safety-covid-19?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[CyprusVillain]

Premier League clubs discussing early end to season amid growing concerns

An increasing number of Premier League clubs are actively discussing the possibility of bringing the season to an early end, with concerns growing over the feasibility of a return even behind closed doors.

The Premier League is suspended indefinitely and, last week, a meeting of the 20 clubs reaffirmed the intention to complete the season when it is “safe and appropriate”. Away from collective discussions, however, clubs are informally talking about the hurdles in the way of a return, with some asking whether the challenges will soon become too great.

The Guardian has spoken to clubs who have raised a range of concerns. The most immediate is a fear over the medical safety of playing a full contact sport while there is the risk of contracting Covid-19.

Clubs were told last week that play would resume only once there was sufficient capacity to test players, staff and other individuals – such as TV broadcast teams – involved in any behind-doors competition. There has also been a provisional medical plan drawn up between the league and range of club doctors over how to minimise the risk of infection.

But the practicality of the plan was questioned by one club, who argued that players may have to be separated from their families for a month or more to make sure they are not infected. There is also the concern over the amount of testing required, with perhaps multiple tests per person per match being required, and the possible insensitivity of undertaking such a plan when frontline workers in the NHS and other public services are currently not getting the testing they need.

Concerns over health and safety were not the only issues raised, however. For clubs outside the big six there are also distinct financial challenges with playing on. If the season were to return in mid-June – a best-case scenario – clubs would need to extend contracts of some of their players who might otherwise have left, keeping large wages on the payroll. Equally some clubs at the bottom would be paying greater wages than would have been the case had they already dropped down a division and activated relegation clauses. It is also the case that some clubs could find themselves in legal dispute with players over extending their deals.

If it were judged safe to play and clubs were able to take the short-term financial hit in the hope of recouping the money later through broadcast revenue, for example, there would remain issues over sporting integrity. A compacted remainder of the league season, with 92 fixtures still to be completed, would take place during the summer months and would have a physical impact on players. Clubs with smaller squads would face a challenge.

One club are believed to consider the age profile of their squad as a disadvantage if a regular weekend-midweek-weekend rhythm were required. Another raised the issue of what would happen should a player refuse to play over welfare concerns, or if a player who had been set for a transfer were selected against their prospective new club.

The issues may be resolvable but it is understood they have not been discussed openly in Premier League meetings. One club official who has taken part in the meetings said there had been no attempt to ascertain a preferred outcome and none expressed by individual teams. The next Premier League meeting is scheduled for Friday 1 May.

The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/22/premier-league-clubs-discussing-early-end-to-season-amid-growing-concerns-health-safety-covid-19

[PeterWithesShin]

Sad news about Rhyl.  Didn't Villa captain and legend Ivor Powell when as manager take them to Wembley aged 90 or thereabouts IIRC?

Powell was with Team Bath for about 30 years.

[CT]

With "socially disruptive measures" carrying on until the end of the year (according to Chris Witty) I wonder what that means for football in general.

[themossman]

Collymore has a complicated relationship with villa doesn’t he? Currently trying to relegate us.

Although, if it did end up with behind closed doors to equal up the fixtures surely we’d be in much better shape than and much more up for it than sheff Utd.

[PeterWithesShin]

If it was played and Sheff Utd won they'd go 5th, guaranteed UEFA Cup place and a possible CL place depending on what happens with Citeh and their spot.

[ChicagoLion]

With "socially disruptive measures" carrying on until the end of the year (according to Chris Witty) I wonder what that means for football in general.

It’s fucked.

[paul_e]

I take that guardian article as the first step towards voiding the season. Individually the problems aren't insurmountable but collectively they create a mess where the actions to suit some clubs harm others and vice versa so I don't see a version of this which gets the support needed to ensure it goes ahead, I included voiding in that but that has to be the fall back position if nothing else is agreed.

[aev]

If it was played out behind closed doors I wonder if the relegated clubs would also have a case in that the structure of the league had changed and therefore not a consistent playing field?

[walsall villain]

Someone on Facebook came up with the best suggestion (for us) so far, Void the game week Villa, Sheffield United, Arsenal and City didn't play because of Carabao cup final. Then all teams will have played 28 games.

If you do that, Villa move up to 17th to bring all teams down to same amount of games played, this would move us out of the relegation zone and Wet Spam would go down instead.

That’s the daftest answer I’ve seen. You can’t scrub other teams results even if it would suit us. Imagine the reaction on here if the boot was on the other foot so to speak.