The Barbarians game was called off due to several players doing similar, so not sure why Man City should not face punishment if it ends up being that their players did break their bubble.
Also, this is around the 4th or 5th time the City or one of their players has been embroiled in a story about breaking the covid protocols. As has been the case over the last few years, they think rules don’t apply to them, then cry foul when they are caught out.
They probably told most of their imports they’d be living “pretty much in London” and now they’re trying to keep up the ruse.
So that’s 5 first team players from City who have tested positive.
I don’t know the protocols for the PL in detail, but the whole point of them in the NFL is to prevent team contagion - the Denver Broncos were fined when they were forced to play a game without a quarterback because in a quarterbacks meeting they failed to adhere to mask and distancing protocols.
If Citeh has followed the rules yet had an outbreak in their training ground, it points to an inadequate set of protocols.
I think the comparison to Boro in the 90s a lot of people are making isnt a very useful one. The issue there was their complaint about the number of players they had out with a Flu outbreak. Here it is the unknown nature of their outbreak requiring the club to put a pause on everything until they knew the details. They should soon be able to tell how badly they have been compromised and be able to move forward accordingly. If their next game after that point is also postponed then we’re in the territory of comparisons against Boro.
It’s also important to point out that Boro werent punished for not being able to fulfil their fixture. They were punished because they refused to show up for it as a protest against having their request denied for the game to be postponed (or possibly the hope of forcing the PL to change their mind). At this point the league is working with the teams to ensure games are not being forced to go through with uncertain risk to the people involved, meaning that comparisons to that famous case don’t work.
I would agree with your bigger point though, that in a season with a historical level of compression of fixtures, postponements are not much of a benefit. We could see them having to play 4 times a week multiple weeks in a row come the spring to make up for it.
Do protocols allow for a team meal in a restaurant? This is despite the fact that no one else is allowed to meet socially in a restaurant with people from other households.
I think this could be the reason. Obviously, the PL/FA would have given standard protocol to be observed and this could have been what all premier league teams would be doing when they come to London. The protocols followed were not enough…Provided City’s intents on taking the team to dinner was planned well before hand and was in accordance with the protocols given.
Point being that if the huge amount of money etc weren’t there , you wouldn’t find the league limping around trying to fulfill obligations etc.
The rules won’t generally apply for special cases.
Possibly, but they also have had multiple prior breaches that have gone largely without real consequences. How many times has Walker ignored covid rules?
https://media1.tenor.com/images/c1df004a6706563929bd925267dd1cfe/tenor.gif?itemid=15542053
They are basically a covidiot club, which is not that surprising since the stench of conspiracy theory was there long before coronavirus.
They should lose the game as they can’t show up for it, end of. There are already precedents for this.
Ukraine losing to Switzerland for instance because they couldn’t play.
This case is quite simple imo. But of course the PL will needlessly complicate it.
This needs a better emoticon , just a like isnt enough.
Covidiot club lmfao
So there’s either something wrong with their testing, screening, work bubbles or is it a ploy for sympathy votes…my vote goes to trying to wangle some games.
The Premier League precedent is that outbreaks within a club can result in a postponment
I think its important to appreciate the difference in the circumstances both Newcastle and City have faced compared to the Covid issues we’ve had. Our have all be isolated cases that were traced to situations away from the club. That has allowed operations to continue as planned, just in the absence of the infected player. Both City and Newcastle had to close their operation down while they figured out who had been infected. Under those circumstances it simply isn’t safe to try to fulfil a fixture.
Postponement is the right decision, due to the priority of public health.
Since it is Man City, serial financial cheaters, entitled upstarts, with a team of bubble-breaking shaggers like Foden and Walker, for example, goodwill is in short supply.
Also the restaurant thing doesn’t sit well. They can easily have controlled catering for all those players, not just on match days either, but for every meal, including groceries at home.
If the season goes down to the wire, and it looks very tight so far, there will be much scrutiny over this sort of thing, and whether or not they gained an advantage by being allowed to postpone until more favorable circumstances could be reached.
This was supposed to be controlled catering.
Some will position this as something having gone wrong with following the protocol, but the reality is the nature of this virus (negative tests being not that reliable within 5 days of exposure) means that even the best and most adhered to protocol will have holes in it.
Agree with this, but my point was that they should keep it simple: Cheaty lose three nil. My opinion is that the same should have applied to Newcastle. In such a tight season, there should be no room for postponements if they can be avoided.
Fair enough, Newcastle is the precedent now for the PL and of course, Cheaty will be treated the same.
You are right, I’m sure they tried to be careful and it was supposed to be controlled, but my inclination to be understanding towards Man City, as they navigate a difficult circumstance, is in short supply.
Sandwich and a banana on the journey home, jobs a good un!
All that money spent on their training facility? Meals at work, breakfast and lunch anyway. Pick up your box of club procured supplies at training for evening meals, etc.
With all their resources, and indeed that applies to all Prem teams, they are significantly better positioned to get through this than the general public. And to the degree that football gives us a nice distraction/lift in a shitty pandemic, I would argue that they are obliged to do better with observing protocols.
I think forfeit is way over the top for this.
We can assume that rules have been broken, and cry for rightful punishment, but at the end of the day, as put by @Limiescouse, the tests aren’t 100% accurate, and also there’s asymptomatic folk who would could be none the wiser.
Pretty sure that if we had an outbreak at Liverpool, and had a match called off, every non Liverpool fan would be calling for forfeit, whilst we fight against it.
We forget about it and move on - City got a bonus few days rest now, but they will suffer later when the fixture is rescheduled. Balance will be restored.
You are right, of course, but at the moment I want to hold on to my right to be outraged by Man City. I need a villain to boo!