Premier League 2019/20

[Lineker]

Quote

Premier League players will wear the words “Black Lives Matter” on the back of their shirts in the opening round of fixtures upon next week’s restart. The slogan will replace the ­footballers’ surnames in one of ­several initiatives marking recent events agreed by the clubs at a meeting on Thursday, which also include a minute’s silence to ­honour those who have died as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The shirt tribute was proposed by a group of Premier League captains and Professional Footballers’ ­Association representatives, with moves under way to ensure kit is ­prepared ­appropriately. One club told the Guardian their kit staff had been primed to order shirts reflecting that change.

It will not be the only new piece of design on players’ kit, with heart-shaped badges paying tribute to NHS workers and “Black Lives ­Matter” badges also being embroidered. The placement of the latter is yet to be ­finalised, although the intention is they will be displayed on the front of shirts.

The league is also understood to have no problem if players or teams wish to take a knee before games. The issue of what happens if a player removes his shirt to reveal a slogan in support of the movement was raised at the meeting. Referees had expressed concerns about the appropriateness of issuing a yellow card and are expected to be asked to use their discretion.

Proceedings finished within an hour in what had been billed as a wrap-up meeting, with far fewer issues of contention than in previous weeks. The clubs unanimously approved the league’s matchday protocols on player health and safety, meaning the way is clear for the competition to restart with Aston Villa’s match against ­Sheffield United next Wednesday.

This week the Premier League confirmed it would not be bringing in the Rooney Rule, requiring at least one BAME candidate to be interviewed for a coaching vacancy.

The Brighton manager, Graham Potter, says the situation surrounding opportunities for black and other minority coaches must nonetheless be addressed.

“With football, you want it to be meritocratic, you want it to be the best person gets the job, and that’s what we all think it should be,” he said. “But the realities of the historical situation, for whatever reason, [are] that hasn’t been able to happen and we have to understand why that is. Why is it a disadvantage to be black in this country? Why are there not enough coaches and managers that are black in football? We have to understand the historical context and educate ourselves around that in order to understand today and the context we face now.”

Meanwhile, new Fifa regulations will allow leagues to open transfer windows before this season is concluded, though the Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, has said its clubs will not be able to sign players before 25 July, after the campaign is brought to an end.

The head of BT Sport has said games behind closed doors will give broadcasters an opportunity to innovate despite accepting the spectacle will have something missing when the Premier League season resumes without fans on 17 June.

BT will attempt to enhance the viewing experience with artificial crowd noise and plans to build a sense of community by having supporters in studios, but Simon Green admitted the product was not the same in empty stadiums.

“It absolutely matters that the event is shown in the best way it can be shown,” he said. “Sport as a spectacle is far better with an atmosphere and a crowd. But at the moment we all understand that’s not possible. It’s a temporary thing and hopefully it won’t last too long. The demand for the sport is there. We want to be able to provide it in the best way possible.”

Green said audiences had reacted positively since BT added crowd noise to its live coverage of Bundesliga matches and added that Premier League fans would be given the chance to switch the feature off during games.

“I was surprised by how well received it was by our viewers, particularly on social media, and some of the feedback we’ve had from the press and radio as well,” Green said. “We are stepping forward and next weekend, after working with the Premier League and EA Sports, crowd noise will be offered as standard, with the ability for anybody who doesn’t want it to take it away. The option will be to remove it rather than to step into it.

“We believe that crowds are what hold sports together. We are looking at how to bring live fans into the coverage in a very restrictive and intimate way in some capacity across the studio coverage, whether it be the early kick-off before the first game we show next Saturday or in our post-match show.”

Green, who said BT had been hit financially during the coronavirus pandemic, is confident fans will watch games in empty stadiums. “It does impact us but there is an intrigue to it,” he said. “We’re working with the Premier League, we’ve worked with the Bundesliga and we’ve seen the effect of not having crowds.

“The viewing figures for the Bundesliga, the averages even now are well up prior to what they were before Covid. It’s the only live football at the moment but there does seem to be a genuine interest in watching live sport, with or without crowds.

“Having watched the Bundesliga we are all acutely aware it’s not quite the product it was previously. But the emotional interest and attachment people have to football in this country is such that it will still be a very strong television product. Without crowds it does open up opportunities to use innovation to enhance coverage.”

BT’s first game will be Watford v Leicester on 20 June.

[Baddar]

The immediate reaction on social media to BT's crowd noise was far from positive, so that's bollocks for a start. 

Presumably the coverage got better as the weekend went on. 

[Baddar]

Here's what the crowd noise/virtual effects will be like for the PL for anyone wondering;

 

[Colly]

It sounds great, but it looks shite.

[Adam]

I can't say I'm a fan to be honest, it wasn't even that bad without fans when the goal went in since the team and bench (presumably) still celebrated. I think I'd rather leave it with the real sounds.

[Lineker]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/13/watford-ben-foster-anxious-players-could-thrive-without-fans

Watford played Brentford at Vicarage Road on Saturday, their second friendly there after another between two Watford XIs last week. At the time of the first game, Premier League clubs were discussing the possibility of playing crowd noise during matches and Watford trialled this – a largely unpopular innovation but one with great comic potential.

“It really annoyed me,” Foster said. “You can only play it at certain times, like when the ball goes out, when it would just come on and be really annoying. Everybody agreed we’d rather not have it. We had one of the coaches refereeing and he was the worst referee ever, so they started playing: ‘The referee’s a wanker.’ Nobody knew it was coming. Even he was laughing.”

[Gazz]

Norwich have confirmed that a player has tested positive for COVID-19. It was also a player that played against Spurs on Friday.

[Malenko]

5 hours ago, Gazz said:

Norwich have confirmed that a player has tested positive for COVID-19. It was also a player that played against Spurs on Friday.

Isn't that the covid version of shoot first, ask questions later?

[Lineker]

Marcus Rashford has called on the government to reverse a decision not to provide free school meal vouchers during the summer, saying that "the system isn't built for families like mine to succeed" - BBC Guardian

[Colly]

He's the best.

[DavidMarrio]

He does quite a lot outside of football and he's a real credit not only to the club as to what a role model should be but to himself as well.

He's absolutely bob on with this, it's a ridiculous decision to make. But that's the Tories for you. 

[Colly]

 

[Gazz]

They should settle this with a penalty shoot out.

[Lineker]

Quote

Marcus Rashford has vowed not to give up after Boris Johnson rejected a plea from the Manchester United and England striker to reconsider the government’s decision not to extend its free school meals voucher system for low-income families over the summer holiday period.

Rashford tweeted on Monday afternoon: “We aren’t beaten yet, stand strong for the 200,000 children who haven’t had a meal to eat today and keep retweeting #maketheUturn.” That post had been retweeted 13,000 times within an hour of going up with his initial letter being liked by more than 170,000 people.

A few hours later he added: “Wow, just got home from training and I’m blown away with the support. It’s not over yet, let’s keep retweeting and tagging local MPs. We need to be the voice for those 200,000 children who have no choice but to skip meals today, I refuse to give up #maketheUturn.”

Rashford has urged politicians to ensure that vulnerable pupils can continue to access the national voucher scheme, which was introduced in March to help poorer families to feed their children when schools were closed under lockdown measures.

And on Monday evening, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, announced an appeal from his party for the government “to make sure no child goes hungry this summer by funding free school meals”.

“In the long-term we need to tackle the causes of child poverty,” a Labour statement read. “Right now, we need the government to step up and make sure the 1.3 million kids don’t go hungry this summer.”

Rashford’s emotional open letter, in which he spoke powerfully about his experiences of relying on free school meals, had called on the government to reconsider the move not to extend a scheme which is worth £15 a week to recipients and has received support from education leaders and teachers’ unions.

He did receive support from the Co-op which tweeted on Monday afternoon: “We’re with you @MarcusRashford. No child should go hungry, so we’re extending our free school meals scheme throughout the summer holidays at our 25 @CoopAcademies 6,000 students who normally receive government funded free school meals will receive Co-op gift cards.”

However Downing Street has confirmed the scheme will end when the school term ends. The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The PM understands the issues facing families across the UK, which is why last week the government announced an additional £63m for local authorities to benefit families who are struggling to afford food and other basic essentials.

“The PM will respond to Marcus Rashford’s letter as soon as he can – he has been using his profile in a positive way to highlight some very important issues.”

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, the country’s biggest union of teachers, said the union “fully supports” Rashford’s demand to provide free school meals over the summer.

Rashford’s letter received a positive reception after being published on Sunday. “The government has taken a ‘whatever it takes’ approach to the economy – I’m asking you today to extend that same approach to protecting all vulnerable children across England,” the 22-year-old said.

“I encourage you to hear their pleas and find your humanity. Please reconsider the decision to cancel the food voucher scheme over the summer holiday period and guarantee the extension.

“This is England in 2020 and this is an issue that needs urgent assistance. Please, while the eyes of the nation are on you, make the U-turn and make protecting the lives of some of our most vulnerable a top priority.”

Rashford has partnered with FareShare, a food distribution charity which is distributing three million meals a week to vulnerable people across the country during the pandemic. Yet the striker, who explained that his family relied on similar schemes during his childhood, believes that more needs to be done and said that he would not have become an England player without access to handouts in his youth.

“Without the kindness and generosity from the community there wouldn’t be the Marcus Rashford you see today: a 22-year-old black man lucky enough to make a career playing the game I love. Wembley Stadium could have been filled more than twice with children who have had to skip meals during lockdown due to their families not being able to access food.

“This is not about politics; this is about humanity. Political affiliations aside, can we not all agree that no child should be going to bed hungry? Food poverty is a pandemic in England that could span generations if we don’t course correct now.”

[Lineker]

Quote

Premier League players have been told not to spit, clear their nose or surround match officials when the season restarts, and will be directed towards a “celebration camera” after scoring in closed-doors matches.

Before the return of top-flight football in England on Wednesday, the Premier League has issued official guidelines on how games should be staged, played and broadcast amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It has confirmed players will wear Black Lives Matter and NHS badges on their shirts for the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign and a minute’s silence will be held before the opening 12 matches in recognition of those affected by the virus.

Teams can travel to games via car, coach, plane or train providing physical distancing measures are observed. Players will then head through a “sterile route” in a stadium to expanded dressing rooms, stagger their exits from the tunnel, minimise close contact during warm-ups and will have a maximum of 15 minutes for therapy after a game.

There will be drinks breaks midway through each half with players having to drink from their own water bottles. Only players with a clinical passport – a barcode that is scanned from a phone or print-out confirming their most recent test result was negative – will be allowed access to the Red Zone, the area of a stadium that includes the pitch, technical area, tunnel and dressing rooms. The maximum number of people allowed in a red zone is 110.

The strict protocols for players also include no handshakes, no spitting or nose clearing, no mass confrontations, no surrounding match officials and using hand sanitisers before and after every match. Any medical staff performing physio or soft tissue treatment are required to wear PPE. In the absence of ball assistants, spare balls will be placed around the pitch to prevent delays should one disappear into an empty stand.

The Premier League has also announced several innovations to improve the broadcast from empty stadiums. Crowd noise will not be played inside them, although fans watching at home can activate EA Sports Atmospheric Audio, but clubs can broadcast live video feeds of 16 supporters on big screens during matches. If the situation allows, players will be directed by broadcasters towards a celebration camera after scoring a goal.

Cameras will be placed in tunnels – without sound – and the audio from the coin toss will be broadcast live. VAR and doping tests will continue, albeit with additional rooms being used at Stockley Park to allow for physical distancing, while teams can name nine substitutes instead of the usual seven and use five instead of three.

[Colly]

 

[DavidMarrio]

We all know the goal music will be a recycling of Samba de Janeiro, Chelsea Dagger and Fire... 

Does Harry Kane get pyro bursting out the four corner flags?

[Baddar]

Someone's gonna do whatever the latest Tiktok dance is, aren't they...

[DavidMarrio]

6 minutes ago, Baddar said:

Someone's gonna do whatever the latest Tiktok dance is, aren't they...

That or a Fortnite dance

[Gazz]

I can already feel the climate change coming off the combined gammon of Alan Brazil and Graeme Souness.