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

[dave.woodhall]

Looks like only way the premier league get the 14 votes needed for neutral venues is by removing relegation......

Which was always going to happen.

[Damo70]

I would have thought they’d promote the top 2 in the championship and make it 22 teams then. They’ll avoid legal aggro then, I wouldn’t think the teams in the play offs can make too much fuss since technically none of those finishing 3-6th are promoted.

I would have thought that promoting the top two in the Championship and making it a 22 team Premier League would please the two promoted clubs and also please the other 20 Premier League clubs who will have two teams they all fancy their chances of finishing above.

[Chris Smith]

BBC Sport reporting that there may be no relegation if neutral venues are used.

Still hate the whole idea, even if it does suit Villa.

That won’t happen IMO what’s the point of playing on for those teams with nothing to play for?

To fulfill their contractual obligations.

There’s also the placing prize money which could, potentially, be withheld if the season is not completed.

[paul_e]

I'd prefer them to void the games/league but I can live with this as a compromise, particularly if it's done knowing that things will still be a mess next season and this gives them games to test things out.

However there's still a couple of problems.
I think it's unfair to decide the European places like this though but that a minor concern because I don't see how they run a European competition next season anyway.
The season still has to finish by the 30th June, taking away relegation, and ignoring the rule about playing weakened teams, mitigates that to a degree by letting a lot more teams give run outs to kids to allow for rest periods. Will still be a lot of games to cram in though.

If you start on the first weekend in June you can fit 9 games in whilst giving 2 days rest in between every game. That just leaves the games in hand to be played at some point, probably a few days before the main restart, again, giving them a 'warm up' of what to expect.  That means if there a reasonable, and safe, way to restart games at the beginning of June they can probably just  manage it in time. I have doubts though.

[Dave P]

I would have thought they’d promote the top 2 in the championship and make it 22 teams then. They’ll avoid legal aggro then, I wouldn’t think the teams in the play offs can make too much fuss since technically none of those finishing 3-6th are promoted.

I would have thought that promoting the top two in the Championship and making it a 22 team Premier League would please the two promoted clubs and also please the other 20 Premier League clubs who will have two teams they all fancy their chances of finishing above.

But would the EFL promote throughout or just from the championship? Don’t think Cov will be happy in league 1 and who do you promote in league 2?

[olaftab]

Promote the teams in automatic promotion places in EFL and forget play offs. All Leagues will grow in number but can be realigned the following season or over a couple of seasons.

[The Edge]

I would have thought they’d promote the top 2 in the championship and make it 22 teams then. They’ll avoid legal aggro then, I wouldn’t think the teams in the play offs can make too much fuss since technically none of those finishing 3-6th are promoted.

Avoiding legal aggro will be pretty much impossible whatever they decide. Fulham for instance will insist they were by no means out of the automatic promotion race. 

[Jon Crofts]

I would have thought they’d promote the top 2 in the championship and make it 22 teams then. They’ll avoid legal aggro then, I wouldn’t think the teams in the play offs can make too much fuss since technically none of those finishing 3-6th are promoted.

Avoiding legal aggro will be pretty much impossible whatever they decide. Fulham for instance will insist they were by no means out of the automatic promotion race. 

Any club with a statue of Michael Jackson outside it's ground has zero validity in this argument.

[mr underhill]

a singular lack of taste on every level.

[Dave]

I would have thought they’d promote the top 2 in the championship and make it 22 teams then. They’ll avoid legal aggro then, I wouldn’t think the teams in the play offs can make too much fuss since technically none of those finishing 3-6th are promoted.

Avoiding legal aggro will be pretty much impossible whatever they decide. Fulham for instance will insist they were by no means out of the automatic promotion race. 

Any club with a statue of Michael Jackson outside it's ground has zero validity in this argument.

(Fulham don't)

[Jon Crofts]

I would have thought they’d promote the top 2 in the championship and make it 22 teams then. They’ll avoid legal aggro then, I wouldn’t think the teams in the play offs can make too much fuss since technically none of those finishing 3-6th are promoted.

Avoiding legal aggro will be pretty much impossible whatever they decide. Fulham for instance will insist they were by no means out of the automatic promotion race. 

Any club with a statue of Michael Jackson outside it's ground has zero validity in this argument.

(Fulham don't)

They did.

[TopDeck113]

Outside Flushing Meadows there's a statue of Billie Jean.

[Damo70]

I would have thought they’d promote the top 2 in the championship and make it 22 teams then. They’ll avoid legal aggro then, I wouldn’t think the teams in the play offs can make too much fuss since technically none of those finishing 3-6th are promoted.

Avoiding legal aggro will be pretty much impossible whatever they decide. Fulham for instance will insist they were by no means out of the automatic promotion race. 

Any club with a statue of Michael Jackson outside it's ground has zero validity in this argument.

(Fulham don't)

They did.

I would imagine nobody hated the Michael Jackson statue more than the Fulham fans themselves. Apart from the subject matter it was a very cheap and tacky statue.

Maybe they could have improved the statue by having some local schoolkids 'touch it up a bit'.

[old man villa fan]

There is no valid argument for using points per game to decide relegation in the PL.  There has not been one team out of the 30 teams in the last 10 years that have been in the bottom three after 29 games that has ended on the same points per game as they were after 29 games.  The closest was Burnley in 2014/15 who went from 0.86 to 0.87.  As there is no correlation between the two, there is absolutely no valid argument to use it.

In the last 10 seasons, the following teams have escaped relegation after being in the bottom 3 after 29 matches:
2010/11  Wigan and Wolves
2011/12  Wigan and QPR
2013/14  WBA
2014/15  Leicester
2017/18  Palace

If you look at the bottom 3 teams after 29 matches over the last 10 seasons, the following differences can be seen:
   14 of the 30 improved their home form (points per game)
   Average improvement across the 30 teams was 0.03 points per game
   21 of the 30 improved their away form
   Average improvement across the 30 teams was 0.07 points per game
   Home and away, 18 of the 30 improved
  Average improvement was 0.05 points per game

The above are averages and there are always exceptions (see above teams that escaped relegation).  You cannot introduce something that has no basis in fact to interpolate out a club's form from 29 matches to 38.  Football has it's 'miracle' matches and DW raised one in the Watford v Liverpool match not so long ago.  It is fact that towards the end of the season, teams in the bottom three improve their form over the last quarter of the season.

The above applies to PL relegation but may not be the same for promotion from the Championship or other division promotion or relegation and there is the issue, there is not one system that fits all.  In the Championship at the corresponding point last season, Leeds were 2nd, 2 points ahead of the 3rd placed team.  They ended the season 6 points behind Sheff Utd. and as we know (yes!), they were not promoted through the play-offs.

There is no way of replicating the first 29 matches in the final quarter of the season, whether it by points per game, playing at a neutral ground, behind closed doors or whatever.  Add in the health risk of trying to play the matches and no discussion as to the details of all the issues of this and the late end to the season, the only option is to void the season.

[Jon Crofts]

Nurses, doctors and care workers can’t get the PPE they need and the PL want to start playing football. If this crackpot scheme doesn’t get fucked off by HM Government then we should all just pack up and go home. Not a muttering from the RFU or any of the other 6 nations governing bodies about restarting rugby or finishing the 2020 6N tournament & not a peep from the ECB. Finishing the season just to comply with a TV contract, no relegation, no fans, what exactly is the point? Ridiculous.