The only way I see forward to deal with this situation is to wait until all the test results are available:
If it’s only a couple of players like Jesus and Walker along with those from the staff that already tested positive, then impose ban/fine on the players rather than the club. Make City play all their remaining games with whatever player that are available. Obviously it will require PL to provide City a cut off date by when the reports should be made available and the matches until then postponed.
If the number of players and staff infected is way more than told, such that City cannot field a playing 11, sanction the club then. Make them to forfeit all the postponed matches and impose appropriate fines.
No idea what else PL could do realistically and legally until the test results are available.
I think this issue is only going to get worse as the season continues. Notwithstanding the difficulty of ensuring adequate protocols and dealing with the various challenges caused by mutations, players at teams who are underperforming are going to be less and less concerned about protecting the integrity and safety of the competition.
If the consequences are merely postponement when some behaviour has been clearly reckless (Walker, Foden, Greenwood, Salah etc) then it’s inevitable conclusion, imo, is that the league will not be completed. As far as I know, the league still hasn’t agreed on what % of matches need to be completed in order for final standings to be determined. Another reason to get out in front of the pack early.
However, my feeling is that the clubs will be looking at no less than 70% (so 27 league games) and right now I don’t have much confidence we’ll make it that far.
Because I don’t think it is accurate to think about this as a restaurant, in the sense of you or I going out to dinner with the rest of the public. This would have been a closed environment with the same sort of protections and provisions for the servers/caterers that they’d get at their training facilities.
@Kopstar, I wonder whether Klopp’s selection decisions, something that seems to run counter to his stated concerns about the workload of the players, is due to him sharing your perspective. Is he trying to squeeze as much out of his best players now in the expectation that we’ll have a hiatus sooner than later, and we need to be top whenever that happens.
@Noo_Noo but FWIW, I dont think this is a viable part of protocols as it assumes a greater ability to control our bubbles better than we can in reality. They HAVE to take some risk at their own facility for training etc. But everything they do outside of that should be as limited as exposure to people outside that bubble as possible.
I would assume that it was not a normal restaurant that anyone could walk into, but a well sanitized/protected one with restricted access. Just like the canteen in the training ground.
Hence it’s important to know the extent of infection and the source before any concrete action can be taken. Until then postponing the matches seems to be the best option.
Edit: A bit late to reply. Agree with @Limiescouse
I think the general question would be how much of that info is legit. Will City provide all available information to the PL? If yes, then will the PL release all of it for general consumption?
I think this will be the grey area where not all information will be made available and the involved parties will try to blame each other for inaccuracy/lack of data.
I don’t think the City incident is a run-of-the-mill set of positives. Sheffield United are playing today with a number of positives (names not disclosed) discovered with the same round of tests. Something more serious must have occurred to create the uncertainty around ManC.
Quite possibly. It also raises the prospect of teams just above the relegation zone (or in the top four) as we approach whatever % of games the PL have agreed as being the minimum needed to constitute a season, deliberately sabotaging the ability to fulfill the full fixture list.
How is the PL going to police that given the precedents it has already set regarding protocol breaches that have already occurred this season?
At some point, I think they are going to need to humiliate a side that is in breach. It will make for an awful spectacle - viz. the NFL game Denver played with no passing attack - but it gets the message across in sporting terms that resonates with players.
How exactly the PL deals with discarding their precedent, I don’t know. But putting the PL clubs back in the position of a cash call due to broadcasters demanding rebates is not a viable outcome.
I think the lines the NFL have drawn in interpreting issues franchises have had seems to be fairly sensible. From what I can tell, they have 3 scenarios:
Isolated absences of players and staff - No provisions are given. the team has to suck it up and play regardless of how affected they are
Bubble contamination while trying to follow protocols - postponement until a clear picture of the exposure can be identified
Bubble violations - penalties for the teams and individuals involved.
I think those are reasonable categories to use, but where the NFL has not done this right is in how trivial, up until now, the penalty has been. I would be fine with a premier league team being given a 3-0 loss for failing to fulfil their fixture for violations like were identified with the Raiders, and with the club making up any financial short fall for their opponent for the game not going ahead.
De facto, that Denver game was the worst real punishment, and while it was technically in the 3rd category, the punishment was a function of the 1st category.
Just watched a bit of Hancock’s Half Hour on CNN, as they showed the statement by the health secretary in Parliament. So, Oxford vaccination being rolled out, 100M on order, hopeful news… and at same time, restrictions raised so more areas now tier 4.
I think the Prem is heading for a break. But be careful, as there will be a big bun fight over the knock on effect of this at the end of the season, with international sports wanting their day in the sun.
It’s why, when it was all locked down earlier, it needed clear rules to be established on an incomplete Prem season. But they can’t organize a piss up in a brewery. I’m sure Chris Wilder, for example, would be insisting they stay up, as he was sure they were about to go on a 14 game winning streak!
