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

[old man villa fan]

I still do not see how they are going to restart the season any time soon.

I can't either.  It obviously not as important as people losing lives or becoming seriously ill, but this situation is starting to look very grim for a lot of professional sports teams.  The Premier League aside, playing behind closed doors just doesn't look financially viable for a lot of other sports teams. 

The only way to make playing behind closed doors financially viable is to broadcast every game, with the majority live.  So much talk about next season being played behind closed doors but nobody is talking how it could be made financially viable and make up for losses this season.  The reason is that if they could make it work, it would take away the cliff-edge argument that is going on now for completing this season.

[old man villa fan]

The PL are going to force a return to playing, no matter what. The integrity of the game is irrelevant against the pull of money. Is a footballer more at risk than a factory worker or a teacher? School's will be open & most of us will be back at work by mid-June.

The Gov't are only interested in positive press & a return of football fits the agenda. They won't put up any barriers to it's return. When the number of those with the virus go up again it'll be weeks before they know & even then they won't repeat the lockdown.

I'm not saying any of this is right but if we want to stay up, we're going to have to earn it, against the odds.

Yes, I believe this is what will happen, and for the reasons you have outlined.

We should have a clearer idea by Friday evening.   

Nope

Gov lock-down announcement pushed back till Sunday , PL meeting is Monday now

As  mentioned above the Gov is making the noises because on one hand they can't afford to bail out clubs with a near billion quid needed but if they do nothing clubs could fold and take takes jobs and a massive tax income away..

Why should the taxpayer bail out football.  There is enough money in football for it to survive.  A few clubs may go under but there will be others to replace them.  Perhaps a dose of financial reality might be better for football in the long run, anyway.

[PeterWithesShin]

There is currently no money in football apart from maybe online merchandise sales. A lot of clubs could go under, especially further down the leagues where the only thing that keeps them going is gate money and match day revenue.

[Toronto Villa]

The more that it becomes inevitable that the football season is over the more you start to see a lot of people’s true colours. And it’s quite ugly. People continue to die at an alarming rate yet many so called leaders clearly could not give a fuck. For the wealthy we are all expendable if they impedes their wealth. Then again for them we always have been behind their fake smiles.

[adrenachrome]

The PL are going to force a return to playing, no matter what. The integrity of the game is irrelevant against the pull of money. Is a footballer more at risk than a factory worker or a teacher? School's will be open & most of us will be back at work by mid-June.

The Gov't are only interested in positive press & a return of football fits the agenda. They won't put up any barriers to it's return. When the number of those with the virus go up again it'll be weeks before they know & even then they won't repeat the lockdown.

I'm not saying any of this is right but if we want to stay up, we're going to have to earn it, against the odds.

Yes, I believe this is what will happen, and for the reasons you have outlined.

We should have a clearer idea by Friday evening.   

Nope

Gov lock-down announcement pushed back till Sunday , PL meeting is Monday now

As  mentioned above the Gov is making the noises because on one hand they can't afford to bail out clubs with a near billion quid needed but if they do nothing clubs could fold and take takes jobs and a massive tax income away..

Thanks for the update.

The Torygraph science editor is saying that some lockdown restrictions could be lifted in early to mid-May after the government altered one of its 5 key tests. 

1) Evidence that the NHS can cope across the UK

2) A sustained fall in daily death rates

3) Evidence that the rate of infection is decreasing

4) Confidence that supplies of testing and PPE are able to meet demand

5) No risk of a second peak

The first four have either been met or are close to being met. The fifth hurdle, which ministers have always said is the most important, was originally designed to entirely avoid a second peak.

But on April 28th, the wording was changed to say the aim was to avoid a second peak "that overwhelms the NHS"  making it easier for ministers to say the test had been met.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has repeatedly pointed out  NHS has never been overwhelmed during the current crisis, which means that ministers could now argue that the NHS would be able to cope even if infections rose sharply again.

When will the UK lockdown end? The four potential exit strategies

[sid1964]

Listening to the chairman of Palace last night - it seems as though maybe a few in the premier league could go bump, it will be interesting to see how long these super rich owners of football clubs keep throwing money at clubs,  before they say enough is enough.

[OzVilla]

It really makes you wonder what the repercussions might be for clubs such as SHA.

Already in mountains of debt with potentially no match day revenue now for a year.  Add to that the sale of their star prospect, which was going to temporarily keep the wolf from the door, probably not moving on for the fee they'd have been expecting if at all.

[aev]

Listening to the chairman of Palace last night - it seems as though maybe a few in the premier league could go bump, it will be interesting to see how long these super rich owners of football clubs keep throwing money at clubs,  before they say enough is enough.

So much of this is down to the massive differences in money between the PL and the leagues below.

[RamboandBruno]

The more that it becomes inevitable that the football season is over the more you start to see a lot of people’s true colours. And it’s quite ugly. People continue to die at an alarming rate yet many so called leaders clearly could not give a fuck. For the wealthy we are all expendable if they impedes their wealth. Then again for them we always have been behind their fake smiles.

Deep down and maybe not that deep down, we all know that football at least at the PL level has been totally corrupted by money largely through sky, for decades. Add to the farce of the champions league, circulating cash round the few at the top through endless rounds of games as opposed to the old European cup where teams could actually get knocked out after a couple of rounds and teams like villa and forest could win the thing.

We all know this, but because we love the game and our chosen team we choose to at least partially ignore it every weekend, even at 4pm on a rainy Sunday we’re at VP because it suits the money men.

Football mirrors what’s happened with the rest of society over the last 30-40 years.

The govt had stemmed I think social unrest with furlough, but let’s not kid ourselves that their massive underfunding of the nhs and care system over the last decade is one of the reasons we now have the highest death rate in Europe.

At the same big business does everything it can to protect its business model and that largely means f**ing most everyday people over. Virgins letting thousands of staff go as have/will Ryan air and God knows how many other multi nationals, those at the top of those organisations, will not suffer a bean through this.

The premier league is no different

Sky
Wealthy owners
Shareholders
Chief execs
Agents
Players
Managers
Poor feckers on minimum wage or near enough it working at club




Supporters (those subscribing to sky a little higher)

The whole mantra of society pulling together is true in terms of key workers and appreciation for them, but not in terms of the whole of society. Business rolls on, the rich will protect their wealth at any cost, more poorer people will die of covid19 and in the midst of all this the farce that is the PL will restart behind closed doors somewhere. Dirty dirty business this and after loving football and the villa all my life, I’m struggling to care anymore.

[tomd2103]

I still do not see how they are going to restart the season any time soon.

I can't either.  It obviously not as important as people losing lives or becoming seriously ill, but this situation is starting to look very grim for a lot of professional sports teams.  The Premier League aside, playing behind closed doors just doesn't look financially viable for a lot of other sports teams. 

The only way to make playing behind closed doors financially viable is to broadcast every game, with the majority live.  So much talk about next season being played behind closed doors but nobody is talking how it could be made financially viable and make up for losses this season.  The reason is that if they could make it work, it would take away the cliff-edge argument that is going on now for completing this season.

I don't think showing games live would be viable for most sports teams other than those in the Premier League and perhaps the NFL.  Someone on the radio yesterday was saying that playing behind closed doors would cost clubs money.

[aev]

I still do not see how they are going to restart the season any time soon.

I can't either.  It obviously not as important as people losing lives or becoming seriously ill, but this situation is starting to look very grim for a lot of professional sports teams.  The Premier League aside, playing behind closed doors just doesn't look financially viable for a lot of other sports teams. 

The only way to make playing behind closed doors financially viable is to broadcast every game, with the majority live.  So much talk about next season being played behind closed doors but nobody is talking how it could be made financially viable and make up for losses this season.  The reason is that if they could make it work, it would take away the cliff-edge argument that is going on now for completing this season.

I don't think showing games live would be viable for most sports teams other than those in the Premier League and perhaps the NFL.  Someone on the radio yesterday was saying that playing behind closed doors would cost clubs money.

It wont be costing them of they do it this season, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it? Any costs incurred will be more than offset by the money we are told they won't be paying back.

[in exile]

Listening to the chairman of Palace last night - it seems as though maybe a few in the premier league could go bump, it will be interesting to see how long these super rich owners of football clubs keep throwing money at clubs,  before they say enough is enough.

Like ours you mean?

[algy]

I still do not see how they are going to restart the season any time soon.

I can't either.  It obviously not as important as people losing lives or becoming seriously ill, but this situation is starting to look very grim for a lot of professional sports teams.  The Premier League aside, playing behind closed doors just doesn't look financially viable for a lot of other sports teams. 

The only way to make playing behind closed doors financially viable is to broadcast every game, with the majority live.  So much talk about next season being played behind closed doors but nobody is talking how it could be made financially viable and make up for losses this season.  The reason is that if they could make it work, it would take away the cliff-edge argument that is going on now for completing this season.

That's fairly easy, though, especially if it's only the top 2 divisions playing. Play 2 matches at a time, kick offs at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, and 7pm on Saturday and Sunday - 24 matches, more than required. Or you could scrap the 9am one and play one match Friday night and one Monday night. You'd be able to play all at just a few neutral venues - 6 probably, to allow an hour before/after the game for teams to vacate and still leave a 2hr window to deep clean the dressing room etc.

That also leaves Wednesdays free to clear up the FA cup games.

Not saying at all that I support the idea, my feeling is that this season has been severely compromised, but the problems aren't going to be logistic ones.

[The Edge]

I still do not see how they are going to restart the season any time soon.

I can't either.  It obviously not as important as people losing lives or becoming seriously ill, but this situation is starting to look very grim for a lot of professional sports teams.  The Premier League aside, playing behind closed doors just doesn't look financially viable for a lot of other sports teams. 

The only way to make playing behind closed doors financially viable is to broadcast every game, with the majority live.  So much talk about next season being played behind closed doors but nobody is talking how it could be made financially viable and make up for losses this season.  The reason is that if they could make it work, it would take away the cliff-edge argument that is going on now for completing this season.

I don't think showing games live would be viable for most sports teams other than those in the Premier League and perhaps the NFL.  Someone on the radio yesterday was saying that playing behind closed doors would cost clubs money.

If they are to show all games behind closed doors  live on tv it raises the bigger question of safety. It takes a small army of people to put live football on our screens. How can anyone say that none of them are carriers of C19? And that's besides all the other people involved in putting on a game. Do you test them all and at what point in the proceedings do you do that? We're going round in circles. For me football can not restart without lockdown being lifted totally and the green light being given regarding C19. Anything else would be risking the lives of all those involved purely for money and in my view that's a disgusting attitude  to take.

[Dazvillain]

Surely it’s clear by now it’s going to be a long time getting to even a new normal. Why can’t the remaining games of this season be played JAN 21 to April . Earlier finish for euros and cancel season 20/21