Man City v Everton tonight just been called off due to more City players testing Positive...

League cup semi finals in 9 days time. Remember Leyton Orient got kicked out of the competition for not being able to play the fixture due to COVID cases. Bet they won’t kick Man City out.

Today Rochdale announced their next two League One fixtures would be postponed, while League Two side Morecambe said their next two matches had been called off too.

Man City v Everton tonight just been called off due to more City players testing Positive...

League cup semi finals in 9 days time. Remember Leyton Orient got kicked out of the competition for not being able to play the fixture due to COVID cases. Bet they won’t kick Man City out.

One rule for the have’s...

Man City v Everton tonight just been called off due to more City players testing Positive...

League cup semi finals in 9 days time. Remember Leyton Orient got kicked out of the competition for not being able to play the fixture due to COVID cases. Bet they won’t kick Man City out.

One rule for the have’s...

[attachment]C23BCBCD-856E-4426-B951-2631A16951C6.jpeg[/attachment]

Yup this one is going to be very interesting???

Man City v Everton tonight just been called off due to more City players testing Positive...

League cup semi finals in 9 days time. Remember Leyton Orient got kicked out of the competition for not being able to play the fixture due to COVID cases. Bet they won’t kick Man City out.

One rule for the have’s...

[attachment]C23BCBCD-856E-4426-B951-2631A16951C6.jpeg[/attachment]

So, is anyone surprised? I doubt it. Leyton Orient don't matter. Manchester City do. No level playing field here.

The League Cup is a farcical competition this year anyhow.
I assume it was a case of agreeing to the rules about this or the competition would have been scrapped.
I like the idea of a level playing field, but there was one motivation for not scrapping the competition this year - money.
The lower league clubs only interest in the competition was raising money, not the competition itself.
Most folk round Carlisle wouldnt go to the bottom of their garden to watch the blues play, but give them Liverpool or Man U and they would fall over each other to see it.
So it is what it is.

Talks still ongoing with regards break/suspension - might not have a choice soon anyway

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/12/29/exclusive-premier-league-clubs-discuss-two-week-break-season/

There’s always a choice

FA vase postponed indefinitely, no surprise.

Money from the government, to the conference teams, ends today. Some teams saying they haven’t received anything or no where near the full amount. There’ll need more money ASAP to carry on.

EFL clubs are mainly surviving on advances in TV money and loans plus the pittance of PL money. There’ll need more money as the EFL probably thought fans would be in by now.

Another game that has fallen foul to Covid although bizarrely called off very late. Both squads apparently have Covid issues.

I simply can’t see how this season can finish on time given the amount of games some teams are already racking up (Accrington for example). We’ve been lucky so far to get most games on but I can see there being more issues as the weeks progress.

Not a massive issue in League Two (at the moment obviously)

By my very quick calculation there are 12 midweek slots left that don't have fixtures. We've just filled one with the Harrogate game.

In our league no side is more than 3 games behind (Exeter). We've had seasons before where a cold winter wipes out a few games and it always gets finished in time.

Clearly though it is a situation that will probably get worse for the next couple of months. You could easily extend the lower leagues by 2-3 weeks in May if needed. It's not as if any of the players need to be fit for the Euros.

Twice weekly EFL Testing to commence:

Whose paying?

The EFL hopefully

Would help if some of these idiotic footballers would start following the rules. The Serbians having a NYE party, the South Americans at Spurs having a post xmas get-together, Kyle Walker allegedly having another party this week. It’s beyond belief how stupid some of these lads are.

Discussed on Quest again:

In the Walsall managers post-match interview, he was saying they had no match for 2 weeks, I assume they are out of the cups.
Cant help thinking there could be some tinkering with fixtures in that kind of scenario , given we are all likely to be playing behind closed doors eg
Team A match v Team B cancelled due to team B isolating
Team C match v Team D cancelled due to team D isolating
So move around a couple of fixtures?

Just reading Celtic jetted off to Dubai for a winter break straight after their Old Firm defeat yesterday even though the Scottish winter break was cancelled this season. Unnecessary travel is forbidden yet the SFA sanctioned the trip and even rearranged their next game even though their opponents Hibs refused the initial request to move the game back to allow the trip.

They were very gloomy predictions on the news tonight that we are going back into full lockdown by the end of the week. That will presumably include football being cancelled, if so.

They were very gloomy predictions on the news tonight that we are going back into full lockdown by the end of the week. That will presumably include football being cancelled, if so.

Were more or less in full lockdown now.

I suppose a national lockdown would be similar to last March.

Schools and colleges closed, no weddings, no house sales, limited travel and exercise.

And no football!

Happy New Year.

Football was still played at our level in second Lockdown so fingers crossed

Madness that schools can’t open, too dangerous, we all are told to stop in yet sports/football continues.

But the government won’t want to bail out football clubs, even the conference again.

I imagine the EFL/conference may put a breaker in however on the pressure of clubs and players.

Ending the season now and determining league positions using the same method as last season would do me!

Sky are saying elite sports to end, ITV and many others saying it’ll continue.

I think sky got confused about team sports, which are cancelled!

I think it’s too early to use ppg.

Need to get to end of January before ppg mite happen, but football needs to continue for my mental health ?

You want football cancelled Mullen, it’s clear.

But surely with your Carlisle United hat on you’ll want the season to get to the stage where PPG can be used to decide, before it’s all cancelled. Imagine being top and then having it all null and void?

Madness that schools can’t open, too dangerous, we all are told to stop in yet sports/football continues.

But the government won’t want to bail out football clubs, even the conference again.

I imagine the EFL/conference may put a breaker in however on the pressure of clubs and players.

Large secondary schools have a 1,000+ kids mingling indoors with hundreds of staff for six or seven hours every weekday.

Clubs like Carlisle have about 30 players and coaching staff and play a game outside against another similar sized squad for ninety minutes once or twice a week.

I don’t want it cancelled but I believe it should be cancelled definitely.

I just can’t justify 22 men kicking a ball about as safe but sending children to get an education isn’t.

Monies the problem though, the government won’t want to bail out again.

You just need to read the papers and on twitter that players/managers/coaches are uneasy with carrying on.

I’d suspend, If it was up to me, restart once supporters can fully attend and carry on the season.

Kids are unhygienic germ spreaders. They can’t be trusted to keep their hands clean, to not cough onto their hands, to not hang around in groups etc. They are kids, most of them aren’t capable of taking this seriously,

Where as (Most) professional athletes should be able to act responsibly off the pitch and stick to hygiene and cleanliness etc. They’ve obviously had to show a level of dedication and professionalism to get to where they are so should be capable. I know there has been and will be the odd exception yes.

But how/why you are comparing the two is beyond me.

The problem has always been that what is fair and just and what actually works are two separate things.
Schools being closed is awful, but everyone understands why.
You can't go to shops so some businesses are totally [censored] because a minority can't act responsibly.
Playing professional football, with the modest numbers of people involved is very low risk with a huge contribution to the economy..
Some people are totally screwed financially, whereas others are not affected at all that way.
You can buy a random array of crap in supermarkets and online that people have to make, ship, deliver, sell (which keeps them in a job), but you can't go the gym ; which would be ok if you social distanced..
Some folk seem to want to down tools on full pay while others work to provide essential services.
We are all in it together but then its every man for himself.
It's not fair at all.
I am sorry for all the crap that is coming everyone's way, but personally happy that professional football is continuing.

There’s loads of stories of professional footballers being stupid during restrictions. I’d trust an 8 year old over some of those.

We all want football to continue. Sorry but I just can’t justify schools unsafe football safe.

Not to mention the long term financial issues it could cause carrying on with no supporters for a large period of time. Will the PL help again?

There aren’t “loads of stories” for f sake. There are a minority who are stupid as I said, but comparing a school full of hundreds of germ spreading kids congregating for 6 hours a day 5 days a week to 22 professional footballers training for maybe 8 hours a week and then playing a 90 minute match on a Saturday is utter f777wittery.

Mullen you’re making out as you want it cancelled as a result of the schools closing. But the reality is you’ve been hinting/calling for/predicting that all football is to be cancelled on a weekly basis since the season begun in September.

No there’s other reasons as well. I don’t agree with any of the restrictions but they are here.

Schools closed.
Can’t run in a group, of more than two.
Can’t see/hug parents.
Can’t go shopping, apart from food.

Unsafe!

But 22 players can play football “elite” as it’s deemed safe. Stinks to me!

I can’t even go to a golf course on my own as it’s now unsafe.

For the record: I don’t agree with any restrictions as it’s complete madness but we have them and under a national lockdown. For that reason football should be cancelled! as should all sport.

No it should not.

It’s because you like watching football, as we all do, it’s a football messsgeboard so it’s skewed.

Logically though it’s the wrong decision, in so many ways.

Yes there’s tests, but as we’ve seen today in the cricket you can test negative and then positive the next without meeting anyone (they are unreliable but that’s another discussion) footballers have family and mix with them.

Mullen, why does it 'stink to you' and what is your obsession?
Isn't it a fact that footballers are regularly tested (certainly at premier level, and I believe this week in the other professional leagues) and that they have strict covid protocols in place - teachers and pupils are not being tested or vaccinated although in my opinion they should be, along with all health care workers.
As I and others have constantly said, if everyone had followed the basic guidelines from the word go the situation would probably be nowhere as bad as it is now.

The majority followed the 1st lockdown to the letter and we are still where we are.

Strict protocols in place - so many games now are being called off

It stinks because it’s now illegal to meet up with more 2 people, message is stay at home but footballs ok to continue.

There’s also the financial issues.

Whose paying for the tests? It’s not the EFL or the PFA.

The PL bail out was for a set period only. This is going to continue until April with no supporters - who is going to bail out next.

Clubs, lower leagues, took all their TV money in one go to get by when certain clubs were wanting a cancellation and to furlough. What happens when that money goes?

Clubs can ask the EFL for a loan but it has to be paid back - when? How?

I don’t think there’s strict protocols in place at all. You only have to look at the amount of cases at clubs.

Bernard Mendy broke the rules on 31st December but was on the bench for Man City yesterday. Guadiola saying he’d didn’t really do out wrong and was a great lad.

It’s that kind of cavalier approach by clubs and players that is causing the many outbreaks.

I don’t want it suspended though as I’ll go off me nut if there’s no football again.

It’s a little bit of respite in these gloomy times.

Think Carlisle need to be given credit we seem to be one of the few clubs to not have an outbreak yet

National leagues in trouble.

“Most clubs think that would be unacceptable given they would not have agreed to start the season behind closed doors had they known it involved taking on further financial obligations.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55564703

It’ll be the same for a lot of EFL clubs.

Think Carlisle need to be given credit we seem to be one of the few clubs to not have an outbreak yet

That's the kiss of death for Saturday now, thank's.

I see that Derby have cases and so Wazza and their first team are unavailable for their cup tie at Chorley, so they have to play their u/23 team instead.
There will be a few nervous grannies round Derby if Rooney tests positive.

I'm astounded Gordon Taylor and his mob are stumping up for the testing for the EFL sides.

Them lot are usually tighter than a gnat's chuff.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55566238

Let’s hope they stick to it.

They said they’d do it before, but it wasn’t forthcoming.

He’s maybe taking a bit out of his huge salary to pay for it

Although it pains me to say it I think it’s probably time to knock football on the head for a few weeks.

Should of been cancelled ages ago.

We’ve a supposed NHS crisis, lack of beds but it’s ok to play a sport and with a possibility of injury taking up one of these beds.

Not to mention the other reasons.