Football

[scotrail158713]

Me too. Although their penalties were both at the “very soft” end of the scale.

And that after they got 3 penalties in 10 minutes in their game in the previous round
(Although to be fair the 3 in the last round were all nailed on penalties)

 

[Haywain]

Has just been announced at Scottish League One and League Two level (mostly semi professional). Three week suspension until February.

And all Scottish non-league football.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Question: Should football be paused due to COVID19? We are seeing more and more league games being called off due to covid restrictions and breaches of covid rules by silly footballers and clubs.

At our, level National League North, the cancellations are mounting up and "the integrity of the league " is looking in doubt. Darlington are 19th in the league. We have played 10 games which is the least in the division. We have between 3 and 7 games in hand on all the other teams due to an FA cup run and our own covid shutdown. We had a month without football ffs. We are 1 point off the relegation zone and 9 off the playoffs.

Last week we were allowed to travel to Brackley (NLN remember!) to play a game.We are a semi pro club so consider we have no covid testing at our level, no training ground to secure and no easy isolation as our players have real jobs so the players and staff went from work to the bus for 4/5 hours, played and game then went home on the bus for 4/5 and back to work. How can that be sensible? To add to that we are away at Farsley tomorrow night and away at Weymouth in the FA trophy on Saturday! This cant be sensible. I wont even discuss how bonkers it is that the club can bus a whole team 100's of miles to a game that i cant travel 12 miles to see!

This cant carry on.

PS Our games at Spennymoor on 2nd Jan and at Southport last weekend were called off due to, guess what? COVID!




No blood or bone showing: Play on but consider this a warning

I agree with you DarloRich. Football has a duty of care to its players and officials and there isn't the testing regime in NL and NLN/NLS that there is in higher leagues.

And if the NPL gets null and voided again, teams in the bottom half of NLN will be playing 30 or so fairly meaningless matches in empty stadiums if there is no threat of relegation to worry about.

 

[DarloRich]

And if the NPL gets null and voided again, teams in the bottom half of NLN will be playing 30 or so fairly meaningless matches in empty stadiums if there is no threat of relegation to worry about.

and it looks likely that it will be voided again sadly.

 

[adrock1976]

For the lower league sides that do not have the testing facilities or access to them, I was wondering whether it would be better for them to voluntarily suspend themselves from participating in the league season with the proviso that they would be compensated based on the 2018-19 season income?

If more than 25% of the division voluntarily suspends themselves, that season could be voided/ not go ahead. There may be a strange situation that it may cause an individual club to suffer losses if they participated in the season rather than if they voluntarily suspended themselves from participating.

If a lower league side was unable to put a team out on the field due to testing positive for Covid and did not have access to testing facilities, it would be very harsh for them to be docked points. I remember when Bryan Robson was in charge of Middlesbrough years ago, a virus went round the players meaning that a team could not be put out with the result of Sunderland being docked points. A similar thing happened in Scotland in the mid Noughties with Hamilton Academical also being docked points.

For the top flight sides who do actually have their own training grounds and access to testing facilities, I would be in favour of points being docked if a player has acted recklessly during the pandemic.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I remember when Mick McCarthy was in charge of Sunderland years ago, a virus went round the players meaning that a team could not be put out with the result of Sunderland being docked points. A similar thing happened in Scotland in the mid Noughties with Hamilton Academical also being docked points.

Not really similar at all. Hamilton's 15 points deduction in April 2000 was after they "no showed" for an away fixture after their unpaid players went on strike following a wage dispute.

 

[adrock1976]

Not really similar at all. Hamilton's 15 points deduction in April 2000 was after they "no showed" for an away fixture after their unpaid players went on strike following a wage dispute.

I was referring to the points deduction being the same as Sunderland's.

I do recall the players strike that happened.

 

[SteveM70]

I was referring to the points deduction being the same as Sunderland's.

I do recall the players strike that happened.

wasn’t that Middlesbrough? An away game against Blackburn? Or has it happened twice?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Have to say I don't recall Sunderland having points deducted, certainly not when Mick McCarthy was in charge there (March 2003 -> March 2006). Stand corrected if that ever was the case.

 

[SteveM70]

Middlesbrough rocked by three-point penalty

The day began badly for Bryan Robson and went downhill. First, his expensive Italian striker, Fabrizio Ravanelli, declared that Middlesbrough were doomed to relegation and then the Football Association left the Teessiders further adrift at the bottom of the Premiership by deducting three points...

www.independent.co.uk

My memory for irrelevant sporting nonsense worries me sometimes. On the other hand, I can barely remember what I did five minutes ago

 

[Mcr Warrior]

wasn’t that Middlesbrough? An away game against Blackburn? Or has it happened twice?

Middlesbrough rocked by three-point penalty

The day began badly for Bryan Robson and went downhill. First, his expensive Italian striker, Fabrizio Ravanelli, declared that Middlesbrough were doomed to relegation and then the Football Association left the Teessiders further adrift at the bottom of the Premiership by deducting three points...

www.independent.co.uk

My memory for irrelevant sporting nonsense worries me sometimes. On the other hand, I can barely remember what I did five minutes ago

Yep. That's the one.

Middlesbrough "no showed" against Blackburn Rovers in December 1996. Manager Bryan Robson reckoned they had over 20 players unavailable for various reasons.

The three points they subsequently had deducted was enough to see them relegated at the end of the 1996-97 Premier League season, Coventry City effectively being reprieved.

 

[adrock1976]

My apologies for getting the wrong team, even though I was in the right region.

I have fixed the post above.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

My apologies for getting the wrong team, even though I was in the right region.

I have fixed the post above.

No worries, but best not to mix up Sunderland and Middlesbrough on here!

 

[SS4]

For the lower league sides that do not have the testing facilities or access to them, I was wondering whether it would be better for them to voluntarily suspend themselves from participating in the league season with the proviso that they would be compensated based on the 2018-19 season income?

If more than 25% of the division voluntarily suspends themselves, that season could be voided/ not go ahead. There may be a strange situation that it may cause an individual club to suffer losses if they participated in the season rather than if they voluntarily suspended themselves from participating.

If a lower league side was unable to put a team out on the field due to testing positive for Covid and did not have access to testing facilities, it would be very harsh for them to be docked points. I remember when Bryan Robson was in charge of Middlesbrough years ago, a virus went round the players meaning that a team could not be put out with the result of Sunderland being docked points. A similar thing happened in Scotland in the mid Noughties with Hamilton Academical also being docked points.

For the top flight sides who do actually have their own training grounds and access to testing facilities, I would be in favour of points being docked if a player has acted recklessly during the pandemic.

I'd can the Euros and the World Cup at this point. That would then give teams additional time to finish the season before next season starts.

For those lower league teams without access to testing facilities it might be better to use the time for a winter break until closer to spring and play catch up in the summer. In an ideal world I'd like the FA to sponsor testing for players although how they'd do so is anyone's guess

For those teams with access to facilities the current method works well enough where games are decided on a case by case basis (despite what Moanihuro thinks) with the games being caught up by playing later into the summer. For another piece of wishful thinking on my part I'd sacrifice the European competitions to keep the domestic season going but that might just be my bias showing as villa are actually doing well for a change

 

[DarloRich]

For the lower league sides that do not have the testing facilities or access to them, I was wondering whether it would be better for them to voluntarily suspend themselves from participating in the league season with the proviso that they would be compensated based on the 2018-19 season income?

If more than 25% of the division voluntarily suspends themselves, that season could be voided/ not go ahead. There may be a strange situation that it may cause an individual club to suffer losses if they participated in the season rather than if they voluntarily suspended themselves from participating.

If a lower league side was unable to put a team out on the field due to testing positive for Covid and did not have access to testing facilities, it would be very harsh for them to be docked points. I remember when Bryan Robson was in charge of Middlesbrough years ago, a virus went round the players meaning that a team could not be put out with the result of Sunderland being docked points. A similar thing happened in Scotland in the mid Noughties with Hamilton Academical also being docked points.

For the top flight sides who do actually have their own training grounds and access to testing facilities, I would be in favour of points being docked if a player has acted recklessly during the pandemic.

The FA would dock points as soon as look at you. The league has been very good at moving games due to Covid but the calendar is already very tight. If a club at our level reports a case the whole team is quarantined for 14 days and games postponed.

Middlesbrough "no showed" against Blackburn Rovers in December 1996. Manager Bryan Robson reckoned they had over 20 players unavailable for various reasons.

Boro had "flu" - there have bee many urban legends about this since.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Contemporary news report in the "Independent" newspaper of the subsequent appeal hearing states that Middlesbrough had some 23 sick, injured and suspended players, which left them with "no option" but to pull out of the Blackburn game in December 1996.

Middlesbrough rocked by three-point penalty

The day began badly for Bryan Robson and went downhill. First, his expensive Italian striker, Fabrizio Ravanelli, declared that Middlesbrough were doomed to relegation and then the Football Association left the Teessiders further adrift at the bottom of the Premiership by deducting three points...

www.google.com

 

[KashmireHawker]

The FA Cup 4th Round Draw is a tasty one; particularly with Manchester United v Liverpool and a throwback to November 24th 1986, with National League North side Chorley taking on Wolverhampton Wanderers!

Virtual Tickets by Chorley are on sale at just a tenner and knowing that Non-League Clubs and all in there support chain need money and support, it’s a fantastic thing to do.

 

[DarloRich]

Contemporary news report in the "Independent" newspaper of the subsequent appeal hearing states that Middlesbrough had some 23 sick, injured and suspended players, which left them with "no option" but to pull out of the Blackburn game in December 1996.

Like I said - urban legends exist about why 23 people were sick. I wouldn't like to say if they are believable or not. In any event Boro thought they had permission to cancel the game, they didnt and the bloke they spoke to was not empowered to make such a decision or advise them accordingly and the FA screwed them. Blackburn also cut up rough knowing it would help them. The FA are still very unpopular on Teesside and always get a good reception.

Boro would have been better putting out a team of 16 year olds and getting beaten. They would have stayed up.

 

[scotrail158713]

I'd can the Euros and the World Cup at this point.

Eh - naw! This is the first tournament with Scotland qualifying in 23 years. We’re not canning it!

 

[DarloRich]

Eh - naw! This is the first tournament with Scotland qualifying in 23 years. We’re not canning it!

it is ok - you wont get past the first round.

 

[Haywain]

it is ok - you wont get past the first round.

It's being in the first round that's causing the excitement!

 

[DarloRich]

It's being in the first round that's causing the excitement!

There is a very simple equation for Scotland: embarrassing defeat to minnows / creditable draw with similar ranked but unspectacular team + meaningless victory against big team = first round elimination.

Also while England are little better at least we aren't Scotland

Scotland have done very well to qualify but have only qualified because the qualification standard has been watered down. 24 of the 55 UEFA nations will qualify for this upcoming tournament up from 16 last time round

 

[Butts]

There is a very simple equation for Scotland: embarrassing defeat to minnows / creditable draw with similar ranked but unspectacular team + meaningless victory against big team = first round elimination.

Also while England are little better at least we aren't Scotland

Scotland have done very well to qualify but have only qualified because the qualification standard has been watered down. 24 of the 55 UEFA nations will qualify for this upcoming tournament up from 16 last time round

Don't hold back !!

We are the Darlington of International Football

 

[DarloRich]

Don't hold back !!

We are the Darlington of International Football

You are not even that good. We have won a trophy You are the Hartlepool of international football

BTW I acknowledge England are rubbish.

 

[Butts]

You are not even that good. We have won a trophy You are the Hartlepool of international football

BTW I acknowledge England are rubbish.

We must be bad to be consigned to the ranks of "Simian Droppers"

 

[SteveM70]

You are not even that good. We have won a trophy You are the Hartlepool of international football

BTW I acknowledge England are rubbish.

Little Chris Senior’s greatest moment

 

[Mcr Warrior]

... best not to mix up Sunderland and Middlesbrough on here!

Or Hartlepool, or even Darlington!

 

[jtuk]

WE WON A GAME

 

[Mcr Warrior]

WE WON A GAME

Follower of the mighty Blades, by any chance?

 

[jtuk]

Follower of the mighty Blades, by any chance?

of course