Thanks for the good wishes, folks.

Pity we have no Arsenal performances to distract us from whatever is facing us in the next few weeks and months.

Have to agree.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51889682
Coronavirus: Premier League 4 April return hard to imagine - Brighton chief executive

In a strange way the world could use the distraction. So many variables. How many fans will show up? How will it affect the play on the field? I recall when Magic Johnson had HIV came back to play and the first rough incident where there may have been blood was a 'hold your breath' moment.

The virus may become the norm. It may be something we have to deal with on an ongoing basis and if its close to the flu, then it will have a season where its prominent, likely the same as the regular flu season, the winter months.

So many different things to consider. Anyway, that April 4th date seems an arbitrary one for the league to do a 'wait and see'.

I suspect football as we know it will change forever. I think that a lot of teams particularly in the lower leagues are just hanging on week to week. This could be the end for them with. I am not sure we won’t have some problems as well.

If they called the EPL null and void as from now would you have any objection if the teams current position determined CL and Europa League places for next year. It would be totally against us as we would not qualify but personally I would not object. And maybe those comps will not happen in any event. Liverpool would not be awarded the title and I would not relegate anyone, promote 3 and next year 4 would go down and 4 down in the following 2 years.

By the way this is a recommendation from me. I had booked an overseas holiday and had to cancel last week. Where I was entitled to refunds, a couple of places responded immediately upon my cancellation and refunded me within days. A shout out to Booking.com, Mytrips and Caminoways. I wish I could say the same about some other big companies who really played some games. Yep will still drop a lot of money in non-refundable things but its a first world problem. All the people who will lose their jobs or lives across the world are the hard done by. But just thought I would pay tribute to those that were good to deal with.

I would support that decision fully, if your idea was implemented. Tough on the teams trying to get promoted and what a piece of luck for Norwich and others likely to go down. But if it stops Liverpool winning the league, that’s great. American said he hoped the other clubs would get together and agree to award them the title. I don’t. Stuff Liverpool.

If the season is declared null and void, no league results should count. It should be a full rewind to the end of last season. That would be very tough on Liverpool, Leeds and West Brom, but I think it is the fairest approach.

If this goes on for months, I think the days of huge salaries and transfer fees might be gone, at least for a while. Clubs are all losing revenue and the tv companies that generate so much income for the clubs will lose millions in advertising revenue.

People still talking about if this season will go ahead ?

Id talk about next season. Your going to need a substantial effort of sterilisation and isolation required to bring it under control that may stem several months. This hasn’t even peaked in the U.K yet and our tactics are completely reactionary.

The government seem to be abdicating decisions and leaving them to the private sector. Simply incredible

Nevermind if Liverpool will win the league or not, this is going to affect sport for a while. William hill have resorted to taking bets on the weather

Now that I did think about ! Say Lacazette and Aubameyang as an example.

If the season is voided are the club going to sit down with them and agree a contract extension of 300 k a week ish if they don’t even know when they can open their ground again ?

Wouldn’t it be nice if it makes Kroenke decide to sell the club. No reason to think he will, but I’d like to hope he will.

I think the coronavirus is a massive wake-up call to the world and it's legacy in terms of it's effects on lives and businesses could last for years.

I keep hearing the govt talking about following the science but doesn't the rest of the world have access to this same science, and if they do why have they chosen a different path?

They are new generation Tories, how we could do with a Thatcher, Major or Blair type right now as imperfect as they were. This lot are just being new generation Tories.

Economy over lives, they are scared of a recession however a recession at this point is inevitable.

Finally, a solution to the toilet roll crisis.

Edit: Kiwi, did you knock this up in the shed?

Odd, that the while rest of the world are closing down their cities and indeed their countries - schools, universities, shops, entertainment, transport and travel - we alone are taking a different approach, closing and restricting very little. We seem to be encouraging a “controlled” mass outbreak to infect an enormous number early-on so as to achieve ‘herd immunity’.

The suggestion is that a 60-80% infection rate is required to achieve that; this equates to 40-50 million people. Of course the overwhelming majority will recover, but that’s still a very high risk strategy for many. It’s pretty high risk for the country as well.

Roll the dice, eh? Typical Boris.

There is no herd immunity for flu and the common cold.

“Herd immunity” is clearly a public slogan being used by Dominic Cummings to simply try and justify why they want to ignore the virus because of the terrible state of the economy and them not wanting to shut everything. People will die because of the strategy or lack of one

My guess is that this season will be declared null and void so there’ll be no winner and no relegation, but Leeds & WBA will be promoted. That will mean a 22 team league next season with 42 games - 4 more than we’ve had for many years now.

All this should see the end of the League Cup and a re-jig of the FA Cup with no replays. 4 down and 3 up for the next two seasons will get the PL back on track.

I hope I’m wrong, but Cummings ideas on eugenics and genetics may well be behind this. Which makes the policy all the more chilling.

And as regards the policy, even if our CMO and chief scientific adviser agree with it, they still seem to be very much in the minority of medical opinion worldwide.

And as for that YouTube bucket video, I’d love to know who that bloke is. He makes the policy sound so logical, apart from one MASSIVE mistake; his whole argument forgets that the NHS is already, without Covid-19, at breaking point.

This should be declared a national emergency now, and we should be requisitioning private hospital beds, not paying £2.4 million a day for them. And Richard Branson can feck right off.

At the very least we should be in lock-down to allow time for the manufacture of more ventilators that would save lives.

Not to do so is unforgiveable.

To be honest, DHD, I think football is a complete inconsequence at the moment, until we get this virus under some sort of control.

Hi john1,

We are effectively betting the lives of our elderly and those with underlying medical conditions on our scientists being right and everybody else being wrong.

If few of the world's most esteemed scientists and epidemiologists think its the right approach, many to the point of being horrified, I would suggest the strong likelihood is that it isn't.

Sorry John, but that sounds like an extremely implausible conspiracy theory, and there are plenty doing the internet rounds at the moment, as you might expect.

Yes, I'm going to bleat on about the FA giving Liverpool the title (if the majority of owners/coaches agree) if the season is null and void. As much as Liverpool gave me ulcers with their weekly wins, the achievement thus far is nothing short of...well, I can't come up with any adjectives to describe it. It should be recognized.

As for the virus, the global deaths on the news said about 5,400. I don't believe that number for a second. China said 2800 roughly. They have zero transparency. I think its multiple times that and they gave a low ball number to make it seem like they have it in control. The level and degree they went to, shutting down an area with millions on millions and it being at point zero, I believe it spread so fast and was so deadly, they couldn't keep it under their hats because of the possible pandemic. My guestimate is their number of deaths are double the global number. They knew the economic hit they would take if they talked about it but it was out of their hands. Too many people, including foreigners saw the effects and the strong possibility the world would have a pandemic would ensue a global depression they would lose out economically anyway.

Japan says the Olympics are still going on but even if it does, it's going to be very, subdued. It's too soon after the hysteria to give anyone comfort. But Iguess after you spend so much money in advance to host it, you can't write it off...just yet.

The few experts out there are saying the world needs a cultural change to fight it. People are simply going to have to change their personal habits, gloves, washing hands, preventative measures. And its going to change how we raise kids. Parents let their kids do all kinds of things so they can have a happy childhood. Kids will sneeze, cough and spread germs like its nobody's business. If one kid gets something at day care, like the cold they all have it because of how kids are with each other as an example.

If this becomes something we are going to have to live with seasonally and like its cousin, it will mutate and need a different vaccine periodically to fight a new strain, then its going to get much worse before it gets better.

But Liverpool deserves their due.

Why is it implausible if we are literally the only country on the planet that seems without an interest in stopping the spread of a deadly disease.

Open airports, schools and no testing on countries coming in that have been infested with it.

To the rest of the planet that’s inexplicable and even the more liberal countries have enforced draconian measures so why is that so far fetched to suggest. There’s a reason we are behaving differently. The morality of the government is in question

That's rubbish TG. It may be that you disagree with the strategy, it may be that the strategy is wrong. However, the idea that Boris and Cummings are trying somehow to cull the population is bonkers.

A cull ? Probably not, I think they just don’t give a *%^@.

Cummings type of people he recruits ? Weirdos who like coding, he has bizarre views and doesn’t hesitate to employ people who believe in eugenics ffs.

So a cull ? Probably not ? However it’s not that much more mental than a country not bothering to protect itself from a deadly virus

Hi Brom,

Just for clarity's sake, I don't mean Cummings is responsible for the actual virus, but his ideas on eugenics may well be a driving force behind our govt's policy.

As I said, I hope I'm wrong and I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories. But there's a lot about Cummings that is to say the least, questionable.

If anyone can reassure me on this, please do.

This is the kind of thing I've read which worries me:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/pete-s ... ccounter=1

Hi John
I understand that some of Cummings' ideas are very questionable. I just think that the idea that there's any kind of link between Cummings' thoughts on genetics and UK coronavirus response is very far fetched.
But, obviously, what do I know.

No football and fearful times but we can alleviate some of that with a little reminiscing.

I love hearing ex pros talk about these matches. I would love to hear other players. A little disappointed Keown doesn't 'hate' Tottenham. I'd love to see a panel with Sherring'scum', big Tone, John Terry all talk about the Derbies.

All pubs and bars in Ireland closing tomorrow for at least two weeks. Tuesday is St Patrick's Day. Unprecedented times.

I was reading the comments on the video and the early posts were going in on Jenas. One of the funniest was Norwich vs Ipswich, the 'Old Farm derby...LOLOLOLOL

They mention, of course, Sol's transfer. I do feel for them in that regard, you can't blame Tottenham to feel hard done by. Not the popular thing to say on this forum but its true.

*%^@* sake......3590 new coronavirus cases in Italy. 368 dead in one day.

This has to be airborne doesn't it?

It is. But since it's in the respiratory tract and viruses are so unbelievably tiny, they just float out with water vapour when you talk (if you're infected obviously). So it spreads incredibly easily, especially as it takes so long for the infected to show any symptoms.

What? I'll turn to the news. Countries demographic issues (top heavy with the elderly...Italy, Japan Korea) are going to be hit hard. Italy probably has one of if not the biggest demographic issue in Europe.

There are whole small towns with hardly any young people. The country is practically giving away homes to anyone who will live and renovate them. All the young people have left, lack of jobs, boredom, etc, so in a way it makes sense, sadly enough, that Italy would be hit fairly hard.

Also 'reported' cases means only that. The unknown is the scary part. The number out there affected passing it on. I feel like I'm in real time in the beginning of one of those Hollywood movies.

Just to give an external view, in Ireland we can't understand the UK government's approach. It looks like an almighty gamble. An experiment on a national level. It is directly contravening the WHO advice.

Hi Dec,

If this goes horribly wrong, and it could, the country will never forgive Boris and his cronies.

I genuinely believe they are putting the needs of the economy above the needs of the health and lives of the population.