Elton

Yes, what’s your point?

I disagree. PL clubs alone, of which we have a vote and influence, decide what will happen. They are not going to agree to a new rule part way through season to relegate clubs with loads of fixtures left. If season not complete we are safe. PL could chose to invite the EFL to promote clubs too if they wished. The PL can always decide to increase or decrease the size of the division when they see fit with a 14 plus majority vote.

Still not fair though. We’d still have 5 home games left and some rivals have 4. Haven’t played same clubs twice. It’s a mess. I’m 100% certain this will be a voided season or at least there will be no relegation.

Oh OK, every time someone young, fit and healthy gets a fever I’ll send my thoughts and prayers. Yeah, shocking tweet from his club wishing him well and saying he’s following medical advice and resting at home for 7 days, absolutely shocking..

Unless he’s 80 why wouldn’t they carry on? He’ll be better in a couple of days.

As the PL have a rule that requires 14 teams to vote for a rule change. I’d be surprised if 7 or more teams decided to vote to relegate 3 of their fellow clubs and shareholders with 9/10 games left, only to promote 3 clubs who haven’t even achieved promotion. As such I believe there is very little likelihood that we are going to be relegated without the season being completed. There is also no chance the league will finish before next autumn. As next season could be shortened too as it may start late, there won’t be much appetite to promote anyone, sorry Leeds. It’s almost certain that the league will be voided. They may decide to give Liverpool the trophy, engraved with a big asterisk in maybe in one of those little rooms where they interview players after the match.

Definitely not insane but I don’t think they have an actionable case and definitely don’t if the EFL don’t complete their season. Suspending the EFL will be a tougher call as so many clubs rely on match day revenue to survive. Quite a few could go under.

Agree with sentiment but August could still be during peak virus. Next season is unlikely to start on time.

Different organisations though. EFL teams are effectively invited to join the PL upon promotion. I can’t see how they would have a case as their season won’t finish either. Suspect they could invite current top 2 to join. Although having 22 teams would cause a lot of congestion, especially as the peak is in the summer, there’s not much chance of the next season starting on time even if they abandon this one.

Premier League confirm matches on this weekend. I’m still going to be hugging random strangers if we get another last minute home winner.

As Homer once said about speed limits, they might save a few lives but millions will be late.

According to a journalist a couple of weeks ago (can’t remember who) PL can decide to end the season early and effectively freeze the positions, so relegate the bottom 3 at the time. However, it would take a majority vote to agree that kind of action. So may depend how the middle of table clubs vote as I guess a lot of clubs would be happy with their position. Even finishing the season behind closed doors could be very difficult especially as the virus peak gets closer after the international break, when no games will probably happen anyway.. Games in hand will scupper an early freeze of positions too as well as general inequality of opportunity with more home games/favourable fixtures etc. I’ve always thought/hoped the best solution is no relegation and allow maybe the 2 automatic promotion places to go up, as play offs not possible if season ends early. Obviously no promotion for Leeds and WBA would be even better.

Political gesturing by Sturgeon and not following scientific advice. It doesn’t seem likely that they’ll be a UK government ban just yet. Maybe the PL will panic though when spreads through the players.

Leicester have 3 players with symptoms self isolating.. Given we’ve just played them I guess our match could now be under threat..

Government can ban gatherings but PL can still decide to postpone the games so they are not played behind closed doors. Hopefully they cancel the season and everyone starts again in August,.

Of course but he is working under Smith’s tactics and selections which have leaked goals throughout Smith’s managerial career. Terry can’t work miracles as one of 2 assistants to Smith. He may have a completely different philosophy when he becomes a manager.

Sorry but this kind of logic baffles me. What is an assistant meant to show so far? Only those on the inside at the club will know. If they choose Terry it will be because he has impressed them. The defensive issues are due to the team as a whole, not the back 4 or 5 who have to face constant attacks and are tactical/selection/formation issue and the remit of a manager, not an assistant.

Tony Barton did ok taking over for a few games. Plenty of assistants have. There aren’t many assistants with the presence, character and footballing brain of Terry, who all of our players will look upto. We could do a lot worse as a punt and if we do sack Smith a replacement for 9/10 games will have to be a bit of a punt.

Based on your logic, you could say Grealish is part of the problem.. If you don’t understand the difference of being in charge and being an assistant then there’s no point in debating this further.

According to the experts, if someone is infected they can only really infect a small number of people around them, so doesn’t really make that much difference if in a 42k crowd with a handful of people around them or on a bus/in a shop etc. You would have to stop every interaction which is impossible unless everything is locked down. It might get to that though when more people are infected. I’m not really sure this kind of thing can be stopped. Probably has to work it’s way through the population until there is herd immunity from people already having had it and future vaccines.

What do you have against Terry? You’re not a Villa fan so I wonder why you have a strong opinion on Terry’s suitability.

Exactly this. Even if Smith is listening to Terry, JT will be reacting to the footballing philosophy that Smith wants to play, the often quoted going ‘toe to toe’ with the opposition. Terry may start with a completely different approach and I suspect he would given how a lot of his very successful Chelsea teams had a solid base. Of course it’s difficult to change the approach totally now and also we aren’t too bad at home, as long as we don’t play in empty stadiums we still have a chance with 6 homes games even with Smith still in charge. I do think that long term we need a manager that can build from the back. Even this current Liverpool team only started improving when they sorted their defence and keeper out. It’s not that surprising that the 2 open/expansive promoted teams are in the bottom 2 and the more solid Sheffield United already safe and more.

Lol. How do you know that? You know he is not our manager right? He could be a poor manager, he could be a great manager. We don’t know because he is not yet a manager..

Unless you are a headline writer I can guarantee that won’t be a headline. I’m not sure anyone should be slightly bothered by such a headline anyway. Personally if Smith is sacked I’d like to see Terry get the job.

Wow, it’s all Terry’s fault then.. Guess we should sack him and watch us climb up the table? It’s surely not difficult to understand that Smith chooses the formation, tactics, line up. Just because Terry is a strong personality that doesn’t mean would be telling Smith that he hasn’t got a clue. That isn’t the role of an assistant. Terry may and probably will have a completely different philosophy if he was in charge. This isn’t an anti Smith post either but the conspiracy theories about Terry are as logical as stockpiling bog roll.