Premier League 2019/20

[gunnar hendershow]

ESPN, who have no right being incompetent at this because they can afford the very best journalists and analysts in the world, put together best of lists all the time with phenomenally outrageous decisions like Joao Felix ahead of Sadio Mane.

[Lineker]

 

[Colly]

While I don't disagree, surely the point is that sport won't be brought back until level 2 or 3 of the Nandos thermometer, at which point they'll also be opening non essential business like clothes shops etc. Once that happens I'll have a hell of a lot more sympathy for someone who has to work in Next for 8 hours than someone who's lifestyle makes staying at home a hell of a lot easier plus the level of protections (testing, distancing at grounds etc) will be a lot higher. Yes, players will have physical contact with each other, but at this stage of the pandemic I really can't quite grasp how any of them are catching it, I'd love to see some track and trace on those Brighton players.

[The Lusophone]

I mean they're talking about elite sport coming back from June 1st and I don't see how we'll be at level 2 by then tbh.

[Colly]

"Not before" June 1st, it's exactly the same wording for non essential retail, and potentially some school kids (which probably complicates things more than anything else for players). A footballer in his 30s is in a far lower risk group than Carol, aged 50, going to work in Primark then coming home to her two bed flat.

To be honest I can see a lot getting pushed back as the rest of the UK don't seem confident of the timescale, but I do worry that statements like that feel more "we're more special than x".

[METALMAN]

If the footballers don’t want to work that’s fine, but they should have their pay reduced to £2,500 per month like everyone else. 

Their wage packets are immoral already, but even more so when they aren’t doing anything for them.

Edited May 12, 2020 by metalman

[TCO]

Yeah that's my problem with it all. They seem incredibly reluctant to play while seemingly keeping their astronomical wages flowing. The same wages that are only possible because of revenue streams from them playing.

No issues with them not playing for safety puposes but their wages should be withheld at that point.

[Naitch]

Plus it would mean that clubs can prioritise paying their other employees for whom many of them were more than happy to jump on the furlough money train.

[Gazz]

And where does the money being withheld go? Why should the clubs hold it? What does that achieve? Any Premier league club using furlough aren't not going to use it if they're also withholding player salaries.

What about the tax revenue? Did you ever see the leaked Carlos Tevez payslip from a few years back where he had paid over £350k in tax that year so far?

[Colly]

At the risk of this making my first post sound like bitterness they could always give me some of the money I've paid to see them play back...

[METALMAN]

1 hour ago, Gazz said:

And where does the money being withheld go? Why should the clubs hold it? What does that achieve? Any Premier league club using furlough aren't not going to use it if they're also withholding player salaries.

What about the tax revenue? Did you ever see the leaked Carlos Tevez payslip from a few years back where he had paid over £350k in tax that year so far?

Well, in most cases the clubs don't really *have* the money that should be withheld. Most football clubs don't have the reserves to cover their outgoings without ongoing football matches so they take out further debt. The debt is provided by banks, of which the state is the guarantor. So if football clubs are taking on obscene levels of debt, and if a portion of that returns to the exchequer (although we have to consider the large number of footballers who instead pay their wages into an offshore secrecy jurisdiction) it doesn't really serve as a net good, because the organisation paying the wages is getting itself into further - possibly unsustainable - debt by doing so.  Now, in situations where there are financial difficulties the exchequer provides banks with liquidity. So if we want state revenue, giving banks money to give to football clubs to give to footballers (who are, at the moment, an unproductive asset) so that a portion (assuming they aren't in tax havens) goes back to the state doesn't really seem the most efficient means of achieving it.

In any case, Carlos Tevez may have paid £350k tax. But with the UK exchequer's typical annual revenue being around £790,000,000,000, I think we'd have found some way to get by without his generosity.

Countries like Sweden or Denmark or the Netherlands somehow find a way to run superior public services without massive numbers of obscenely paid professional footballers keeping the whole thing going. I'm sure we could too.

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by metalman

[Lineker]

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The Premier League is facing the possibility of having to delay its Project Restart after a pair of crucial meetings with players and managers provoked a series of robust exchanges and diverging views.

A planned resumption of play on 12 June is now looking less likely, and kick-off a week later is now a possibility after issues over protocols for a safe return to play and concerns over the need for more training came to the fore.

Players had not previously had a chance to share their views on restart plans and at a two-hour meeting between 20 club captains, Premier League officials and the deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan van Tam, several of them chose to get concerns off their chest.

Players aired worries over safety, which the Premier League hopes to address with its return-to-play protocol. Others were concerned that giving their consent to abide by the protocol might leave them legally exposed should they contract Covid‑19, but those fears are believed to have subsequently been allayed.

In the managers’ group there was a focus on getting ready for the restart but again the protocols were central. The existing return-to-play arrangements do not address a safe way to engage in contact training, and without that players cannot get fully match fit. Some managers are believed also to have asked questions about what should be done in the event of a player testing positive for Covid-19, with the league still to agree upon a position over whether the entire squad should isolate as a result.

Despite the number of opinions and sometimes their strength, the back-to-training protocol looks set to be finalised. The government, which issued its own guidance on Wednesday for what it called “stage 1” training for elite athletes and was in line with much of what the Premier League has decided, is expected to give its assent this week. The protocols will then be presented to the clubs for final approval at a shareholders’ meeting next Monday.

That meeting falls on the day group training was due to restart under Project Restart’s plan A. The first round of Covid-19 testing for players will then need to take place. Results could take two days to return in some cases, which would push training back towards the end of the week. With managers believing that players need four weeks to get match fit, rather than the three previously allocated, a 19 June start date becomes more logical.

The protocol is far from the only issue the Premier League will have to address, however, even to hit a delayed start date. Firstly there is the issue of contact training, with a second stage of protocols yet to be devised. Again these rules would have to be approved by government which looks set to address the issue in its “stage 2” guidance for sports. According to the new official information, however, stage 2 “will be finalised and communicated once the government has agreed to move to this step”. There is no timeline for when that decision will be taken.

After that there will be the problem of where and how to play matches. While the issue of neutral venues is now being reconsidered, it is far from agreed. Police have entered into negotiations with the Premier League but are understood to feel that neutral venues are still a live possibility, as is the curtailment of the season.

The Premier League was given some relief, however, with the news that all these details need not be resolved before the end of the month. The European governing body Uefa had previously insisted that its member leagues come to a conclusion as to how to finish the season by 25 May. That advice has now been relaxed.

“Uefa would like as much as possible to receive such information by 25 May,” the governing body said in a statement, “but we understand that detailed plans might not be fully available by then due to a variety of external constraints.

“Uefa would nevertheless expect to at least receive some indications as to the potential way forward envisaged by national associations and leagues by that date.”

[Lineker]

Quote

Dele Alli has been injured during a robbery at his home in north London. The Tottenham midfielder was held at knifepoint and punched after burglars broke in during the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The 24-year-old was hit in the face during the terrifying incident but has not sustained serious injuries. Alli has been isolating with his brother and their respective partners.

Two men broke into the property just after midnight on Wednesday morning and threatened the England international. He sustained a facial injury before the intruders fled.

“Thank you for all the messages,” Alli posted on Twitter. “Horrible experience but we’re all okay now. Appreciate the support.”

The attackers took numerous items from the house including jewellery and watches. Police are understood to be reviewing CCTV footage of the incident in Hadley Wood.

The Metropolitan police said: “Police were called at approximately 00:35 on Wednesday 13 May to reports of a robbery at a residential address in Barnet.

“Two males gained entry to the property and stole items of jewellery, including watches, before fleeing. One male occupant of the property, aged in his 20s, suffered a minor facial injury after being assaulted. He did not require hospital treatment. No arrests; enquiries into the circumstances continue.”

A Spurs spokesperson added: “We have been offering our support to Dele and those isolating with him. We encourage anyone with any information to help the police with their investigation to come forward.”

Alli and his Spurs teammates are in the process of meeting the Premier League over Project Restart as they work towards a return to action next month.

The latest raid comes two months after Jan Vertonghen’s family was robbed at knifepoint while Alli’s Tottenham teammate was away on Champions League duty. Vertonghen was part of the squad who travelled to Germany for the last-16 second leg against RB Leipzig in March when four thieves wearing balaclavas raided his home. They were armed with knives, but Vertonghen’s wife and two children were unharmed.

In November Ashley Smith was jailed for 10 years for attempting to rob Arsenal’s Mesut Özil and Sead Kolasinac of luxury watches worth £200,000.

Smith and his accomplice, who were both armed with improvised blades during the incident last July, were fought off by Kolasinac. Özil, whose wife was in the car, drove the players from the ambush. The would-be robbers pursued the Gunners pair on a stolen moped and threw stones at their vehicle causing “significant” damage.

[Lineker]

Quote

Top-flight clubs are seeking answers from the Premier League over their proposed medical rules before Monday’s pivotal vote on Project Restart.

Clubs want assurances over what would happen if a player tested positive for coronavirus and some players are equally unconvinced by medical protocols explained in a conference call on Wednesday between captains, league officials, and the deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan van Tam.

The tensions have been sharpened by the move by the digital, culture, media and sport secretary, Oliver Dowden, to “open the door” to the Premier League returning, provided it met conditions including making some games free to air.

The Premier League said last night it also removed a hurdle by agreeing to allow clubs to enter into short-term contract extensions with players whose deals are due to expire on 30 June of this year.

The Brighton forward Glenn Murray said on Wednesday that he is concerned the league could be rushed back too soon – the league is hopeful of resuming the season in mid-June – and the club’s chief executive, Paul Barber, acknowledged several parties need satisfying before next week. “We’ve got a lot of work to do in our club, let alone anyone else and their clubs to get to a point where our directors are comfortable enough to sign off on protocols,” he said.

“We have a process of making sure every part of our club is comfortable with what we’re doing. The most important constituents in that are the players because they need to feel safe and feel that it’s the right thing for them to do, clearly Graham [Potter, the manager] and his staff, and the directors at the club need to understand exactly what they are signing up to and make sure they are comfortable because ultimately the liability sits with us.”

Danny Rose and Raheem Sterling are among the players to have warned against the early return of the Premier League, with the Newcastle full-back saying: “Football shouldn’t even be spoke about coming back until the numbers [infected or dying] have dropped massively.”

The resumption of the interrupted season hinges on Monday’s vote and Barber said Brighton have raised several questions, principally with regard to what happens in the event of a player testing positive, with the league yet to agree on a position over whether the entire squad should isolate as a result.

Potter said he was keen to obtain further detail around “what-if scenarios”. He said: “What happens if we get positive results of the virus: what happens there? How does that affect the competition? There are lots of little bits of detail we would like.”

Barber said the club are keen to “understand exactly what we are signing up for”, with the issue of positive tests one of several raised with the league. “It is one of the complicated questions we have asked and we are waiting for the answer. It is a very, very complex and it is something we are all waiting on from the league, to find out exactly what would happen in those scenarios.”

If Brighton are satisfied by the protocols, they plan to return to training on Tuesday. Potter said three weeks would be sufficient but acknowledged his players face a challenge to reach match fitness given any return will be at least three months since their last game. “You don’t have to be a genius or mathematician to know there is a challenge to be overcome,” he said.

“We have been keeping fit from a fitness perspective we have not been keeping fit from a football perspective because we have not been playing. We have had a really long time off and ‘small groups’ is not football training – it is fitness training with a ball.”

Three unnamed Brighton players have returned positive results from 14 tests for Covid-19, the latest of which was announced on Sunday. Potter, who held a virtual meeting with his squad on Wednesday, said the player is asymptomatic.

“We had a very small number of [testing] kits that we bought privately at the start of this crisis – not from the NHS or a supplier that was supplying the NHS at that time – to test players that have shown symptoms or, in this last week, where the players have been overseas,” he said.

The Bundesliga in Germany resumes on Saturday and the president of Italy’s Olympic committee, Giovanni Malago, said on Wednesday that there was a “99% chance” that Serie A would be back on 13 June.

The Premier League has been told by the government it must show some matches on free-to-air TV and put more money into the Football League and grassroots game as a condition for restarting this season.

The demands were made by the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, at a meeting on Thursday at which he gave the go-ahead for matches to resume provided it is safe to do so.

“The government is opening the door for competitive football to return safely in June,” Dowden said. “This should include widening access for fans to view live coverage and ensure finances from the game’s resumption supports the wider football family.”

“It is now up to the football authorities to agree and finalise the detail of their plans, and there is combined goodwill to achieve this for their fans, the football community and the nation as a whole. The government and our medical experts will continue to offer guidance and support to the game ahead of any final decision which would put these plans into action.”

The Premier League is in negotiations with its broadcast partners Sky and BT over finding a way of showing some matches free-to-air if and when the season resumes. The government’s preferred solution is that the remaining 45 matches not already covered under the terms of existing TV deals are shown either on freely accessible TV channels or via a streaming platform such as YouTube.

The government has also instructed the league to factor “solidarity payments” into any final reckoning should the season be completed. Broadcasters have demanded a rebate from the Premier League even if they are able to screen their full complement of matches, because of subscribers lost owing to the current postponement of the season and because the league has not been able to deliver the product as promised. The DCMS has asked, however, that a tranche of any remaining TV money received should in part be shared with the rest of the football pyramid.

The precise amount of any sum is yet to be determined and although the government has asked football to find a solution, this may not prove straightforward. The EFL is understood to expect an extra one-off payment, a contribution towards filling the potential £200m black hole in club finances it faces by September. Sources at the Premier League, meanwhile, suggest they see the government’s request as being about ensuring that funds owed under current solidarity arrangements are made available.

Rows over broadcast revenue are hardly new and other concerns are taking precedence. The immediate hurdle, well before any matches can be played, is enabling players to return to training after two months away from the field. The EFL and Premier League have devised medical protocols that conform with new government advice on training for elite athletes. The Premier League hopes to convince its 20 shareholder clubs to give their assent in a vote on Monday.

The outcome of the vote is not guaranteed, following a series of meetings on Wednesday between players, club managers and officials. Some of the players – the influential Watford captain, Troy Deeney, among them – are understood to have left the meeting feeling concerns over safety had not been resolved, and managers are believed to have asked for any pre-resumption training period to be longer than the three weeks budgeted for in the Premier League’s Project Restart plans. Managers and players will this week feed their thoughts back to clubs before the vote.

If the protocols are passed, players would be allowed to train in groups while observing physical distancing. Any contact training, a vital component in preparing for matches, would be allowed only following new protocols and further government advice.

Tottenham’s manager, José Mourinho, said: “I want to train and I am desperate for the Premier League to return as soon as it’s safe to do so, particularly now as we are seeing other leagues preparing to return to action.”

Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing the government’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan van Tam, who was directly involved in drawing up government sporting guidance and spoke with top-flight players via video link on Wednesday, suggested that any further steps would not be immediate.

“The overall approach with easing social distancing has been one that has been tentative, measured, slow and step-wise,” he said. ‘That is exactly the plan that is under way for all of elite sport, not just football. The first of those is really to return to safe training still observing social distancing, and plans are taking place at quite some depth to be ready to do that.

“We will have to see how that goes before it is time to move on, or even think about moving on, to the return of competitive football matches. I think we have to be slow, we have to be measured.”

In a rare foray into a possible actual football transfer - there are reports that Chelsea and Juventus have opened talks over a Pjanic-Jorginho swap deal.

[Lineker]

Premier League's Covid-19 code of conduct form explained

Quote

Premier League squads could be quarantined in the event of a single failed coronavirus test if clubs vote to return to training next week. Players are to be tested for Covid‑19 twice a week during a first stage of return, with a positive test requiring the player to isolate for seven days under Public Health England guidelines. PHE rules, however, also require that a “contact” of a known case should isolate, as someone would if they were living in the same house. That quarantine period should last for 14 days.

The EFL, in training protocols sent to its clubs this week, confirmed that a “playing group” would be quarantined for 14 days if one of their number tested positive. The Premier League would not comment on the details of its protocols but confirmed it was following PHE guidelines.

The medical protocols have been challenged by Premier League managers during a conference call this week. Some clubs are also waiting for the protocol to be approved before testing their players, and the prospect of large‑scale quarantine is another potential impediment in the already narrow path towards resumption.

Should the protocols be approved at the shareholders’ meeting on Monday it would be only another tentative step. The protocols will not address the complicated and higher-risk training that would involve contact and groups at close quarters. An estimated two weeks of contact training would be needed before games could be played.

While contact training would be a more sizable hurdle for the league to clear, a positive vote on Monday would buy time to do it. It may also provide a window for PHE to update guidance on quarantine. A positive test in this first stage of training – where groups will be limited in size – could be manageable for clubs but once full training is resumed large-scale quarantine would pose serious questions over sporting integrity.

The Bundesliga becomes the first major European league to resume on Saturday, with clubs following a rule where only the player to test positive is made to isolate.

In Italy approval for the resumption of training for Serie A was predicated on a change to the government protocol which required squad quarantine. On Friday Serie A officials called on the government to relax that condition. “The points of the protocol that are difficult to implement were analysed and some tweaks were constructively elaborated in order to solve problems,” the league said.

Quote

Watford’s Troy Deeney has said he will put his family’s health before football and has raised concerns about the Premier League’s plans to restart the campaign disrupted by Covid-19.

The 31-year-old club captain was part of a conference call this week with the Professional Footballers’ Association, Premier League officials and the government on safety measures surrounding Project Restart, which envisages a return to play in June. Those plans were given a boost on Thursday when the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, said the government was “opening the door” for football to return next month but Deeney said he was against a quick restart.

“I’m not even talking about football at the moment – I’m talking about my family’s health,” Deeney said on Instagram. “If I feel that I’m not looking after my family, then I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to put my family at risk.

“What are they going to do, take money off me? I’ve been broke before so it doesn’t bother me. They’re talking about not playing in front of fans until 2021. So if it’s not safe enough for fans to be inside a stadium why should it be safe for players to be in there?”

Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster believes it would be wrong for Premier League players to be tested for the coronavirus ahead of medical workers. “Footballers are not essential key workers, we shouldn’t have access to tests before front-line workers,” Foster told BBC Newsbeat. “I don’t know if we have to wear masks when we go back to training, I haven’t a clue. It is not going to be normal anymore, a completely different set of circumstances. How do you socially distance from a corner? Can a goalkeeper spit on their gloves?”

Tottenham’s Harry Kane said players were awaiting safety guidance from the league before deciding about a possible return to competitive action. “I think the majority of players are looking forward to playing again as soon as possible but we know we want it to be as safe as possible too,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Kane said he, along with the rest of the Spurs squad, had taken tests for coronavirus on Monday with no positive results. “We want to see how the Premier League gives us a plan and what that looks like,” the striker added. “I guess we just go from there. I am happy to start training in small groups if that is allowed and just trying to get back to some normality as soon as possible.”

The Norwich captain, Grant Hanley, outlined the “uncertainty” he believes hangs over the process. “Looking at the protocols for going back to training, I think that’s probably fair enough. But it’s just the next step after that, like where do we go from there? In terms of going back into contact training and games.”

Hanley added: “My missus is pregnant and she’s due at the start of July, so there’s obviously worries there for myself. Every team and player has got different views on it. Some lads have obviously got vulnerable family members.”

Expanding on the details he thinks are lacking, Hanley said: “How do we travel to games? Where do we stay? What are the hotels? How can we guarantee hotels are going to be safe for us to be in? Ultimately it’s putting your family at risk that is the main concern and that’s the worry I think all the teams will have at this minute.”

[Lineker]

[Liam]

That Kasami versus Crystal Palace doesn't crack the top 10 is ridiculous.

[Malenko]

I don't remember all of those. I'll have to check them out. Bergkamp's would also be my number 1 pick, although Le Tissier's goal is great and would be my personal number 2. I only remember those 2, Di Canio's, Henry, Rooney, Kompany, Giggs and Yeboah. None of those comes close to the top 2 in my book.

Shearer's list is much closer to what mine would be than Wright's. At least they didn't just rearrange the same list as they've done previously.

Also, people seem to score lots of great goals against Newcastle!

[Cymbols]

Van Persie was offside against us as well, no way deserves to be there.

[Colly]

Bergkamp was by admission a fluke and a foul. Terrible decision.