Season 20/21 - 12th September Start

captainox

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The countdown begins! Follows an international break so perhaps Sykes might have already featured for Northern Ireland by then.
Imagine the squad will be back into preseason for week beginning 10th August?

 
The countdown begins! Follows an international break so perhaps Sykes might have already featured for Northern Ireland by then.
Imagine the squad will be back into preseason for week beginning 10th August?


Or the week before. It does make you wonder quite how many of the clubs will act during this window. It almost feels like the current climate has been normalised to a certain extent. Discontentment among clubs from months ago feels less important than it did back in April. It does make you wonder how many clubs will come back having strengthened, stagnated or declined due to budgetary constraints...
 
How do they expect clubs to afford playing behind closed doors for at least 6 weeks?
They should’ve used September to get the tinpot trophy out of the way in a round robin fashion since they’re poorly attended matches anyway - they could’ve even used a few of those games for reduced capacity pilots - and then kicked off the league calendar in October when they have a handle on just how many people they can safely let in. Use the trophy as a sort of pre-season tournament to get everybody at least a couple of competitive games, and clear the schedule so that all the midweek fixtures that will be needed next season could be league games, which would bring in more people than the tinpot ones. Even if only 4,000 people can attend home matches, you’d rather have 4,000 people going to a league game on a Tuesday than half that number at best paying a fiver to watch our reserves play Brighton U13s.
 
They should’ve used September to get the tinpot trophy out of the way in a round robin fashion since they’re poorly attended matches anyway - they could’ve even used a few of those games for reduced capacity pilots - and then kicked off the league calendar in October when they have a handle on just how many people they can safely let in. Use the trophy as a sort of pre-season tournament to get everybody at least a couple of competitive games, and clear the schedule so that all the midweek fixtures that will be needed next season could be league games, which would bring in more people than the tinpot ones. Even if only 4,000 people can attend home matches, you’d rather have 4,000 people going to a league game on a Tuesday than half that number at best paying a fiver to watch our reserves play Brighton U13s.

Do the EFL consider things like this but reject them for whatever reason? Or do they not even think?
 
They do not think Hampshire!! Ryaniobirdio is entirely right that the less important matches would have been ideal "dry runs" - what do you expect when you look at the clueless "management" team at the top of the EFL.
 
Do they have anything to think with?
 
Do the EFL consider things like this but reject them for whatever reason? Or do they not even think?
The EFL are always very keen to point out that the clubs control it themselves via voting. But they always seem to skim over the part where they’re well within their rights to bring forward as many motions as they like, and to encourage clubs to vote for it if they genuinely believe it to be worthwhile.
 
They should’ve used September to get the tinpot trophy out of the way in a round robin fashion since they’re poorly attended matches anyway - they could’ve even used a few of those games for reduced capacity pilots - and then kicked off the league calendar in October when they have a handle on just how many people they can safely let in. Use the trophy as a sort of pre-season tournament to get everybody at least a couple of competitive games, and clear the schedule so that all the midweek fixtures that will be needed next season could be league games, which would bring in more people than the tinpot ones. Even if only 4,000 people can attend home matches, you’d rather have 4,000 people going to a league game on a Tuesday than half that number at best paying a fiver to watch our reserves play Brighton U13s.

Simplicity is genius!

They won`t do that then........
 
They should’ve used September to get the tinpot trophy out of the way in a round robin fashion since they’re poorly attended matches anyway - they could’ve even used a few of those games for reduced capacity pilots - and then kicked off the league calendar in October when they have a handle on just how many people they can safely let in. Use the trophy as a sort of pre-season tournament to get everybody at least a couple of competitive games, and clear the schedule so that all the midweek fixtures that will be needed next season could be league games, which would bring in more people than the tinpot ones. Even if only 4,000 people can attend home matches, you’d rather have 4,000 people going to a league game on a Tuesday than half that number at best paying a fiver to watch our reserves play Brighton U13s.

They shouldn’t even worry about this competition, just focus on getting games played before a 2nd wave, and or winter sets in having games postponed etc.
 
Sorry to be a party pooper but I would have thought the reason for not restarting the season with a cup competition is obvious - it’s a cup competition: people get knocked out. It doesn’t really make sense for clubs to have to go to the effort of doing a full preseason to get players fit, play potentially one solitary match, and then not play again for a month. There’s presumably also the issue of financial budgeting - clubs will want to know how much they are likely to be paying to ensure their stadia are covid friendly while there is still no prospect of fans being in the stadium. Much easier to do with guaranteed league games than a cup competition.
 
Sorry to be a party pooper but I would have thought the reason for not restarting the season with a cup competition is obvious - it’s a cup competition: people get knocked out. It doesn’t really make sense for clubs to have to go to the effort of doing a full preseason to get players fit, play potentially one solitary match, and then not play again for a month. There’s presumably also the issue of financial budgeting - clubs will want to know how much they are likely to be paying to ensure their stadia are covid friendly while there is still no prospect of fans being in the stadium. Much easier to do with guaranteed league games than a cup competition.
The teams that are knocked out after their two group games play each other in subsequent friendlies while the rest whittle it down to the final. Thus ensuring everyone plays a similar amount of games against similar opposition. Then you start the league games cleanly and consistently in early October with your reduced capacity in place, right from the get go, rather than playing catch up and then reducing the commercial value of your midweek games. There’s no revenue in the September fixtures anyway as no one can be there - you’re moving the more valuable and desirable fixtures (the league ones) to a time when people can attend, rather than taking away multiple league games and opening up matches that are priced low and woefully attended anyway.

This is a global pandemic with catastrophic financial consequences that needs logical thinking and moves that aren’t simply ‘the done thing’, to ensure maximum clarity and in term maximum capacity in terms of financial returns for the lower leagues. It’s similar to how the Europa and Champions League competitions are taking place in August in almost the exact same principle and format. If you’re pressing ahead with them then you get them done how they need to be done. It really isn’t difficult.

No wonder football is on the brink if the idea of widespread streaming and moving a pointless cup competition forward is seen as some sort of radical nonsense.
 
The teams that are knocked out after their two group games play each other in subsequent friendlies while the rest whittle it down to the final. Thus ensuring everyone plays a similar amount of games against similar opposition. Then you start the league games cleanly and consistently in early October with your reduced capacity in place, right from the get go, rather than playing catch up and then reducing the commercial value of your midweek games. There’s no revenue in the September fixtures anyway as no one can be there - you’re moving the more valuable and desirable fixtures (the league ones) to a time when people can attend, rather than taking away multiple league games and opening up matches that are priced low and woefully attended anyway.

This is a global pandemic with catastrophic financial consequences that needs logical thinking and moves that aren’t simply ‘the done thing’, to ensure maximum clarity and in term maximum capacity in terms of financial returns for the lower leagues. It’s similar to how the Europa and Champions League competitions are taking place in August in almost the exact same principle and format. If you’re pressing ahead with them then you get them done how they need to be done. It really isn’t difficult.

No wonder football is on the brink if the idea of widespread streaming and moving a pointless cup competition forward is seen as some sort of radical nonsense.
I mean I'm not saying it's 'radical nonsense' and I can see where you're coming from, but you can surely see why starting the JPT as an earlier mini-tournament in this context might be be objectionable to come clubs.

Another thing to consider - one of the only benefits of the competition is it gives a lower league club the possibility of a day out at Wembley, along with all the financial and marketing opportunities that come with that. Why would they risk, if this competition is to take place at all (and frankly I'm not sure it needs to), having it at a time in the season when fans definitely will not be able to attend, as opposed to later in the year as usual, by which time fans MAY be able to? It just seems like, if most teams are going to be playing friendlies anyway, you might as well just delay the start of the season as usual.

Also the situation is clearly not analogous to the European cups taking place in August. They were already half-finished when the season ended, and there was a huge amount more money at stake there than other cup competitions which were cut short - e.g. this year's JPT. Very different to just starting the most minor cup competition in the country before the league for the hell of it.
 
I don’t get why they just didn’t wait a few weeks for the season to restart so that fans can attend... I assume that the games behind closed doors will be on ifollow too, wonder if they will continue to show them when there’s reduced crowds
 
I don’t get why they just didn’t wait a few weeks for the season to restart so that fans can attend... I assume that the games behind closed doors will be on ifollow too, wonder if they will continue to show them when there’s reduced crowds

I imagine it's to do with getting the season done by a certain date so as not to run into close season and impact on next seasons start date. There are also the Euros in the summer.
 
The teams that are knocked out after their two group games play each other in subsequent friendlies while the rest whittle it down to the final. Thus ensuring everyone plays a similar amount of games against similar opposition. Then you start the league games cleanly and consistently in early October with your reduced capacity in place, right from the get go, rather than playing catch up and then reducing the commercial value of your midweek games. There’s no revenue in the September fixtures anyway as no one can be there - you’re moving the more valuable and desirable fixtures (the league ones) to a time when people can attend, rather than taking away multiple league games and opening up matches that are priced low and woefully attended anyway.

This is a global pandemic with catastrophic financial consequences that needs logical thinking and moves that aren’t simply ‘the done thing’, to ensure maximum clarity and in term maximum capacity in terms of financial returns for the lower leagues. It’s similar to how the Europa and Champions League competitions are taking place in August in almost the exact same principle and format. If you’re pressing ahead with them then you get them done how they need to be done. It really isn’t difficult.

No wonder football is on the brink if the idea of widespread streaming and moving a pointless cup competition forward is seen as some sort of radical nonsense.
Your suggestion seems sound. Have you put it to the club for their and onward consideration?
 
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