Oxford game off

[Neil Baker]

It was not their money in the first place it is a grant and that was to get the season started, so no clubs will have to pay any grant back.

Nobody wants to scrap the league, however we also do not want people at risk, and feel that they could suspend whilst we are where we are, they can quite easily extend the league even further, and push the start of next season by a month, the problem the FA tend to be so inflexible.

 

[Sir Rebel1965]

Now the game at Arbour Park on the 2nd Jan 2021 against Oxford is off due to Covid.

Time for reality to kick in - the season needs to be suspended until it is safe to play games.

Its not about the money, please protect the players/staff.

[Curtis]

Neil,

The Club received a grant, and presumably the terms were to start the season & it was compensation for lost gate receipts for October, November & December.

If the Club are offered identical terms for the next three months (which it appears will happen very soon) do the Club have to accept and continue with the season?
 

If not, who at the Club makes the decision about whether to continue with the season? Is it the Managers, the players or the Steering Committee?

[rebelbrewer]

10 hours ago, Richie Baker said:

Reading into Neil's post it would seem a fair number of NLS clubs do not want to play and will just keep getting games postponed in the hope the NL will suspend/scrap the season.Im guessing if clubs got together and refused to play the NL would want their £90,000 back

Reading into Neil's post he thinks there are more important things than football right now and, and as a supported for over 50 years, much as I want to see the rebels again, I completely agree.

[Curtis]

Hi RebelBrewer,

For anyone over the age of 65, with serious health conditions, or in regular contact with people from these categories I fully understand the concern.

But most players don’t fall in to these categories, and as Elite Sportsmen (deriving a living from playing football), they really should be acting responsibly & doing their utmost not to contract the virus or come in to contact with anybody who might have the virus, so that they can play matches & earn a living. I would hope the Club has some rules around this (I actually read somewhere that one club had instructed/advised all players not to go to supermarkets).

 

 

[Reading Rebel]

4 hours ago, Curtis said:

Neil,

The Club received a grant, and presumably the terms were to start the season & it was compensation for lost gate receipts for October, November & December.

If the Club are offered identical terms for the next three months (which it appears will happen very soon) do the Club have to accept and continue with the season?
 

If not, who at the Club makes the decision about whether to continue with the season? Is it the Managers, the players or the Steering Committee?

I don't know the answer but if a club were to refuse to play it makes sense that that club would be kicked out and automatically relegated. 

[Reading Rebel]

It was pretty obvious that Saturday's game would not go ahead.

Once a test is positive isn't there a 10 day isolation period? 

[Neil Baker]

10 hours ago, Curtis said:

Neil,

The Club received a grant, and presumably the terms were to start the season & it was compensation for lost gate receipts for October, November & December.

If the Club are offered identical terms for the next three months (which it appears will happen very soon) do the Club have to accept and continue with the season?
 

If not, who at the Club makes the decision about whether to continue with the season? Is it the Managers, the players or the Steering Committee?

Who knows what any club would/will do if/when this situation arises, this is completely uncharted territory as we are mid pandemic Mark, another thing to factor is at present the competitions below us may not even get started again, which could mean there is no promotion or relegation into/from the NL South/North, again who knows.

Any decisions would always be made by the steering committee, if players didn’t want to play for any reason then they have that right to step away of course, in the same way I have made my decision for the best of my Dad, but that was purely down to his situation and the ever increasing infections which meant I wanted to take myself away from the situation for a period of time.

Time will tell if further restrictions are imposed on the country, if not then I think the season will get finished, however it is going to be very stop start like it has been for a while, and there is still the matter of the extra finance to sort, whether this is via loans or grants and also how it will be distributed, as there has been so much fall out from the first tranche of money from those clubs who have felt hard done by.

I think I have given enough information on my feelings, and won’t be passing any further comment here.

Cheers Bakes

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Neil Baker

[Sir Rebel1965]

7 out of 10 games off so far today.

 

Is the league suspending itself? 

 

Is it a fait accompli?

[Reading Rebel]

Obviously the amount of postponed games cannot carry on at the same rate as they are without something being done to sort the backlog of fixtures out.

If the season does continue, extending it into the summer months and delaying the start of next season would be a possible option.

Personally I think the season should be suspended until the virus is under control again. 

 

[rebelbrewer]

13 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

I don't know the answer but if a club were to refuse to play it makes sense that that club would be kicked out and automatically relegated. 

Unless that is agreed by all/most clubs and league management are lobbied to that effect. These are not normal times.

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, rebelbrewer said:

Unless that is agreed by all/most clubs and league management are lobbied to that effect. These are not normal times.

Of course. If clubs want to cut the season short it would have to be done en masse or not at all.

With so many postponements I think sooner or later something's got to give. 

[Stan]

We are now in the same situation as when the first lockdown stopped all sport . Infections are high and increasing and there is no prospect of fans being let in anytime before Easter when a vaccine has been at least partially rolled out. The whole country will be in Tier 4 by next week and no prospect of play at any level below NLS for many weeks. Results so far are pretty meaningless and the more they try and plough on that irrelevance will only increase. Its tough on everyone but we really should just bite the bullet suspend play at our level, only consider starting when the vaccine has been substantially rolled out to at risk groups and we can have proper, ie with crowds , football again.   

[Jon Underwood]

20 hours ago, Curtis said:

Hi RebelBrewer,

For anyone over the age of 65, with serious health conditions, or in regular contact with people from these categories I fully understand the concern.

But most players don’t fall in to these categories, and as Elite Sportsmen (deriving a living from playing football), they really should be acting responsibly & doing their utmost not to contract the virus or come in to contact with anybody who might have the virus, so that they can play matches & earn a living. I would hope the Club has some rules around this (I actually read somewhere that one club had instructed/advised all players not to go to supermarkets).

 

 

Man City game called off tonight due to positive COVID cases at the club.

Maybe their players are not being responsible enough too?

Just to be clear “Elite” is someone who derives an income from football, not a living.

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Jon Underwood

[Sir Rebel1965]

Looks like Kyle is spreading it about again - done a lot of that in lockdown?  Did he have to pay this time?

[Curtis]

30 minutes ago, Jon Underwood said:

Just to be clear “Elite” is someone who derives an income from football, not a living.

 

From the government web-site:-

‘For the purposes of this guidance the definition of an 'elite athlete' means a person who is: an individual who derives a living from competing in a sport’

[Jon Underwood]

Have to be honest I haven’t checked the Govt website recently so I stand corrected.

However when the discussion was being had earlier in the year regarding “elite” and the playoffs it was definitely referred to as an income rather than a living as I know we were confused at the time as no-one would earn a living from what they earn playing for us or many other clubs in our league!

[Radders]

On 27/12/2020 at 20:22, Curtis said:

Hi RebelBrewer,

For anyone over the age of 65, with serious health conditions, or in regular contact with people from these categories I fully understand the concern.

But most players don’t fall in to these categories, and as Elite Sportsmen (deriving a living from playing football), they really should be acting responsibly & doing their utmost not to contract the virus or come in to contact with anybody who might have the virus, so that they can play matches & earn a living. I would hope the Club has some rules around this (I actually read somewhere that one club had instructed/advised all players not to go to supermarkets).

 

 

I think that club you are referring to are Wolverhampton wanderers, a premier league team whose players are professional and only play football, train football, live football. Therefore there is an argument for them to act responsibly, however, even these professionals have family; children going to school, elderly relatives that need care; so there are still multiple opportunities for them to inadvertently contract the virus. Or are you saying that because they play football they should have to not see their families for 9 months of the year.

Carrying this on to looking at Slough and other teams at our level and the situation is even more convoluted. Our players all have other jobs away from football so naturally have to mix with others here. I know the elite sportsperson argument has been debated enough already but do you honestly believe that our players are ‘elite’? And do you honestly believe that, even if they are elite, this should mean they have to wrap themselves up in cotton wool for a year just so that some football matches can get played? 

[glyn]

Played Slough by David Brent to cheer myself up this afternoon.

It made it worse i really miss Arbour Park

[Sir Rebel1965]

Game against Hampton and Richmond on the 5th is off due to........................................... COVID!

When will the leauge see that the current situation is not tenable and something major needs to happen?

Having watched the interview with the managers, it is clear what their views are, so is the league prepared to sacrifice players just to get games on?

I had very little faith in those managing the league - I now have none.