Blimey sometimes I think to myself it's not such a wonderful world. Hard times for us all. Good job thanks to Stevie G we've all got this place to come and share. Bless you mate.

Stay healthy and happy folks. Speedy recovery to those of you feeling under the weather. David, tough gig fella. Chin up. Been there. It will get better.

National curfew is supposedly about to be announced if it hasn't already. This is an election year. Los Angeles suspended local elections. Let's say this expands to other cities, counties, states. Trump has precedence in terms of lower governments. Yes, I am worried about a dictatorship for an indefinite time. Were it Obama or even Hillary Clinton, I still wouldn't like it and would fight against BUT I at least trust them be far, far more level headed.

But Trump?

What if this happens in the UK. Would Boris do the same? I don't know. I'd love to hear opinions. This crisis would affect elections I assume. Putin is getting permission to be President till 2036. I can easily see Turkey's Erdogon, Brazil's Bolsanaro, Hungary's Ader, to go that route for what I hope are obvious reasons. They were headed that way anyway. Had Netanyahu been in power, I would have added him to that list. Xi is already a dictator/authoritarian in practice if not in title.

Interesting times.

Tough. But all the best. Nothing I nor anyone can say to take away the sting of a broken heart. But all the same, time heals all wounds.

Share thoughts about the forum. Overall, more positives than negatives. Obviously had my trials and tribulations on here but I'm not going anywhere. No 'flounce' as you Brits put it. Partly to keep the forum going and partly for personal reasons to resist being forced off.

Times like these though, you hold the ones you love a little harder.

Best of luck.

Bless you Tom.
Thank you.

Thanks American.

This forum is a family. Dysfunctional admittedly to some degree but a family nonetheless if you think about it. Many of us, myself included, have been on here longer than personal relationships. Some of us have been in this 'family' longer than members of our own families. Specifically children. Some of us have had a relationship on here last longer than marriages. Like all families, extended included, some you like, don't like and are estranged from and fantasize of fratricide but will all come together over a bigger event, a title, a cup and a virus.

If you genuinely feel this way why don’t you find peace inside your own mind and unblock everyone with a clean slate? Start again, there are no “trolls” and nobody has bullied you. You believe if someone shares a different opinion to you and expresses it they are a troll.

As it is you pump out incoherent and coherent clap trap depending on your state of mind and the purpose of a forum is to share experiences and provoke debate.

Clean slate and unblock everyone you big crackpot

A belated happy birthday David and sorry to hear of your relationship break up. But your sister is correct.

Sorry to hear it.

Good post Top Gun. Since Greeny asked for him to be banned, he’s behaved a little better in my view. Although he has also annoyed when doing his bullied victim stuff. But disagreeing with someone on an issue is not trolling, as you imply.

The forum has never been about everyone agreeing with everybody. It shouldn’t be either. If it was, it wouldn’t be as great a chat room as it still is. Exchange views and disagree at times. That’s what the forum is about.

Judith, Best wishes to you and your family. I can't add anything to what has already been said but simply echo the sentiments of others. It is a wonderful forum and such a fine legacy of Steve's.

Brom and Darren. Speedy recovery and let's hope it is just regular flu and that your loved ones are not impacted.

David, thanks for your kind words. It sounds like you are already well on the way to moving on. Good for you.

Cheers Dec

Arsenal chief doctor Gary O’Driscol has decided to stay with Arsenal after he was set to join Liverpool.

For the league to be voided this season (or for any divisive decision) there needs to be 14 of the 20 prem clubs to vote for it.
On the assumption that voiding the season means no relegation, no title and going back to last seasons positions for European places then you are going to get the vote from any club threatened with relegation which could be the bottom 8 teams. You wouldn’t get Liverpool’s vote as it would mean no title, you probably wouldn’t get Man U or Leicester’s vote as they sit in champions league spots (if 5th gets CL) but you would get the vote of chelsea, spurs and arsenal - if we revert to last season for allocation of CL spots Arsenal get CL for finishing 5th.

It could happen.

The fair thing is finding a way to finish the season even if it is behind closed doors but who knows what’s going to happen.

Behind close doors would mean anyone involved, players, staff, referees, etc, have to be tested prior. In lieu of that, and no more matches, I'd like to see the season final table be what it was suspended at.

Great point about who would vote for what scenario.

Hi again Judith

One last thought - the sun never sets on Steve Gleiber’s Forum.

Some achievement, that.

Hi DD - bit of a bummer, that. Hasn’t happened to me for many years but I remember (every time) when it did. I’m still here though.

Your Princess sounds like a gem. A nugget. A credit.

Get a shed. xx

This is a shocker for one reason. His age, 21. But he suffered from leukaemia, which fits with pre existing illnesses that lowered your ability to fight off illnesses

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 04566.html
Francisco Garcia death: Spanish football coach dies from coronavirus aged 21

Thank you Bernard

Thank you Gunfire.

Happy Birthday David. You'll find your Princess. Yes, chin up. It's all good.

To Judith,
Lovely to have 15 years strong of this forum. Steve looking down is thrilled no doubt. Keep it going. Ups/downs, different moods, banter, some come, some go. All for one club and that The Arsenal.

Hello again. Blimey, how long is it since you’ve been here?

I love seeing great assists. One of the things I loved about Bergkamp was his eye for a great pass. One of the things I loved about Fabregas as well. Henry was known as a scorer but he provided a lot and is not recognized nearly enough for that part of his game.

Happy Birthday!

Sorry to hear of your break-up

Many thanks Zed.

Thank you Gooner!

If I was a betting man I would say there is a 10% chance of the season finishing. I don’t see how clubs, being aware of work health and safety issues, could expose players and staff at the club to the risk they will catch the virus from others even if they were playing behind closed doors. It’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t happen. Let’s just worry about ordinary people first.

I’m shocked people are still debating what will happen this football season! Never mind finishing this season I’d suggest there’s a 50% chance next season won’t start on time in August.

You will need infection numbers in the UK back to the hundreds and at the moment you have 1500 tested positive with the rumour being that up to 35000 could have it. This is going to ground everything for months and I don’t see the UK government being willing enough to introduce the extreme measures China used to combat the disease.

I heard a guy from one of the top Russian teams interviewed on TalkSPORT yesterday. Zenit St Petersburg I think, without being sure. He said a domestic Russian league game, which might have involved Spartak Moscow but I’m not sure, had 1,600 people there who are not part of the crowd or fans attending the game. Staff of both teams, media reporters, television crew, police and so on.

There’s no reason to think Premier League matches will have any less. Indeed, my guess would be there’s even more at a Premier League game than at a Russian league match. If that’s the case, it surely means games cannot be played behind closed doors. The same number of stewards might not be needed, but I would imagine there would have to be a presence of some sort. That surely means the season won’t be completed. Bad luck for Liverpool if the season is voided, but my own view is stuff them.

Everyone will presumably know Henry scored more goals for Arsenal than Bergkamp. What might not be realised so commonly is that Henry also provided more assists for Arsenal than Bergkamp.

Stuck at home I've listened to some Talksport like Bernard. Given that it's a 24 hour sport radio station there's not much else for them to talk/speculate about! By the way, I'm with Bernard, stuff Liverpool. I wouldn't shed a single tear if the season was null and voided but I expect they'll find some way to either complete it or otherwise award the title to the scousers.

Hello, hope you're all doing well in these weird times. To all of you directly affected (bromley, Darren, and anyone else I might've missed), best wishes to you and your families.

I never thought I'd be sort of defending Boris Johnson (the absolute cock), but I have to say I think the criticism aimed at the UK government has been extremely harsh. Their course of action is quite similiar to the one we've taken in Sweden. Believe me when I say I have no time for our current government, but I think their handling of this crisis has been excellent so far; calm, level-headed, and any measure that has been taken has been a direct suggestion from the experts and not just a political decision. From what I've seen the decisions being made in the UK has been made after advise from experts, which I think is extremely important right now.

Like it or not, social distancing to flatten the curve is probably our best bet at this point. It's tempting to just shut everything down, but what if this last for two months? Or more? It's simply not possible to close an entire country down for several months, and that's why drastic measures such shouldn't be taken until they have to.

Most have probably seen this already, but I think it's a very educational video to explain the thought process behind it all: https://youtu.be/nl6tTwxzCi8

Stay safe, and if you're feeling gloomy - Liverpool just had their best season ever and will probably not even get to lift a trophy.

To be honest all laughing and joking aside I don’t really get the desire to strip Liverpool of a deserved title. It’s funny that they are run away title winners and this could happen and yes if they do win the title you won’t hear the end of it but really ? It’s all a bit unfortunate and let’s be honest they were far and away the best side in the league this year.

Also I would add that Arsenal aside if there’s any football club that could probably understand and empathise with the human tragedy involved in the situation its probably Liverpool.


Would I feel differently if it was Spurs ? Absolutely

You wouldn't mention if Bergkamp was a kraut

Sorry mate I disagree.

They have wasted 7 weeks. Came up with a ludicrous plan that suggested infecting 40 million people and killing hundreds of thousands because they were not prepared to damage the economy. The plan would have made Britain “infection land” to the rest of the world and nobody would have been able to come here, That was clearly a decision made by business and not science. The plan was ludicrous and unworkable.

We are back on the right track now but even now they are just offering best practice advice rather than legislating and enforcing decisions due to lobbying from the insurance industry so people can’t make small claims.

But the plan wasn't to infect 40 million at once, clearly that would be bonkers from a humane, medical but also economic sense. They way I interpret the comments about herd immunity is just a resignation to the fact that most people will catch this disease at some point or another. Now it's just a matter of trying to control the situation enough so we can spread it out over a long period of time so as to not put an unnecessary strain on the hospitals.

I'm obviously not 100% up to date on the situation in the UK, it's more than enough just trying to follow what's happening here in Sweden. But in concrete terms, what are the measures people would've wanted to see that haven't been implemented? Here, a lot of people are complaining about schools being open, but I think there are very good arguments for why they should be. Some are suggesting we close our borders, but the experts are saying it won't make any difference.

It's a delicate balance obviously, but from my perspective the response in the UK and Sweden seems more fact-based than a lot of other places where politicians are making decisions to show strength rather than because they're advised to do so.

Dutch government have chosen to try to control the virus rather than a draconian lockdown, which I think is the right decision. I don't really get the criticism of the UK government, I mean rationally what more can you do?