Coronavirus & The Premier League

[CaaC (John)+]

Watching a few games on tv and the players/managers etc still celebrate when winning with hugs and high fives AND spitting and clearing their noses?

[Redcanuck]

Villa have asked that their game against Everton on Sunday to be postponed.  Going to be hard to make up all their postponed games, if this one is postponed that will make 3. 

Southampton's cup game against Shrewsbury is supposed to be back on for Tuesday, if so Leeds/Southampton on Wednesday will be postponed.

Getting difficult to plan my fantasy team.

[RandoEFC+]

2 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

Watching a few games on tv and the players/managers etc still celebrate when winning with hugs and high fives AND spitting and clearing their noses?

Why are people suddenly making an issue out of this when it's been going on since the season restarted about 6 months ago?

They've all tested negative for the virus and they're already training together all week and in enclosed spaces in the dressing room whilst also spending much of the match making skin on skin contact while battling for the ball or marking each other. There was even a case at the restart when some Norwich players tested positive the day after they'd played in a friendly with Spurs and none of the Spurs players picked it up off them.

I get that it doesn't set a good example to the public but I think the public are smart enough to realise that they shouldn't be copying that behaviour. It's not like there's been mass reports of people meeting up for 11 a side football matches and saying they're doing that because they've seen professionals doing it on television so they thought it was allowed now.

[Stan]

Yeah John have a word with yourself. 

[Burning Gold]

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

Why are people suddenly making an issue out of this when it's been going on since the season restarted about 6 months ago?

They've all tested negative for the virus and they're already training together all week and in enclosed spaces in the dressing room whilst also spending much of the match making skin on skin contact while battling for the ball or marking each other. There was even a case at the restart when some Norwich players tested positive the day after they'd played in a friendly with Spurs and none of the Spurs players picked it up off them.

I get that it doesn't set a good example to the public but I think the public are smart enough to realise that they shouldn't be copying that behaviour. It's not like there's been mass reports of people meeting up for 11 a side football matches and saying they're doing that because they've seen professionals doing it on television so they thought it was allowed now.

New, more transmissible strains and multiple recent outbreaks within clubs

Negative test isn't a guarantee that you don't have it, so it's about managing risk while keeping the game going, and those things are relatively easy targets

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, Redcanuck said:

Villa have asked that their game against Everton on Sunday to be postponed.  Going to be hard to make up all their postponed games, if this one is postponed that will make 3. 

Southampton's cup game against Shrewsbury is supposed to be back on for Tuesday, if so Leeds/Southampton on Wednesday will be postponed.

Getting difficult to plan my fantasy team.

It makes you wonder at what point with these postponements are they going to start turning around and saying you just have to play them?

It's becoming even more complicated now if an FA Cup game get's postponed because it's directly interfering with the Premier League.

I also don't get why Shrewsbury weren't forced to play or forfeit and Villa were. I'm pretty sure some non league clubs have been chucked out the cup for covid reasons and not being able to fulfill the fixture.

[Redcanuck]

52 minutes ago, Lucas said:

It makes you wonder at what point with these postponements are they going to start turning around and saying you just have to play them?

It's becoming even more complicated now if an FA Cup game get's postponed because it's directly interfering with the Premier League.

I also don't get why Shrewsbury weren't forced to play or forfeit and Villa were. I'm pretty sure some non league clubs have been chucked out the cup for covid reasons and not being able to fulfill the fixture.

There doesn't seem to be one set of rules. I understand the FA and Premier have slightly different rules but they just seem to be making it up as they go along.   I don't think Villa and maybe even City can have anymore games postponed without it causing harm to their season.  No team can end up playing three games in a week and not drop points.

 

Spurs got a bye in the League Cup when Leyton Orient had to forfeit.  It was odd though because Leyton's situation didn't sound any different than the Premier clubs who have gotten postponements

[Stan]

Just now, Redcanuck said:

Spurs got a bye in the League Cup when Leyton Orient had to forfeit.  It was odd though because Leyton's situation didn't sound any different than the Premier clubs who have gotten postponements

This pandering to London clubs really needs to stop. Oh wait...

[Honey Honey]

How about a 1 month circuit break, only what the players do is have covid superspreader parties. Once they've got herd immunity we can be back to normal 

[The Artful Dodger]

Can anyone defend the football season continuing for anything other than money? It must be paused now.

[RandoEFC+]

Aston Villa vs Everton postponed. Still waiting on a criteria from the FA on when games should or shouldn't be going ahead. 

The scheduling is becoming an utter shambles now. Teams are literally finding out days before rearranged fixtures that they've got a game.

It's been lucky so far that none of the sides still in the Champions League have the problem that Everton have where fixture congestion later in the season is going to be inflicted upon them by being unlucky enough to face teams with Covid outbreaks over this period. Although it won't be to our advantage in my opinion, we can at least fit the fixtures in as we won't be competing in the latter stages of European competition, but if this had happened to Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, and it still could, what's going to happen then?

And there's still the issue of whether these outbreaks come as a result of players breaking Covid protocols. Milovijevic and Eze have been caught out recently as an example. If Crystal Palace have a Covid outbreak because of them, and have to delay games which impacts on other teams' schedules later in the season, does there come a point where they just have to forfeit games because they're up against someone like Chelsea who can't fit it into their schedule, and whose players were available for the original fixture because they didn't break the protocols?

Hopefully these questions remain hypothetical but there's a growing risk that the Premier League is going to have to face up to these realities soon.

[Redcanuck]

1 hour ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Can anyone defend the football season continuing for anything other than money? It must be paused now.

I think it has to do with the mental health of a large percentage of the population.  Being in lockdown is having a negative influence on people's sanity and football gives many of us an outlet.  Without out it I don't know where I would be mentally.

[Mpache]

2 minutes ago, Redcanuck said:

I think it has to do with the mental health of a large percentage of the population.  Being in lockdown is having a negative influence on people's sanity and football gives many of us an outlet.  Without out I don't know where I would be mentally.

Yup, I don't care what anyone says. Sport is essential. Without it, I would be suffering in bed for a large majority of the time. Having this sort of escape helps me tremendously.

[RandoEFC+]

I'm not going to argue that sport doesn't improve people's mental health and I don't think football should be suspended but it certainly isn't essential. The only reason football continues is because it costs them more to suspend the season than it does to pay for their own private coronavirus testing infrastructure. I'm not complaining though.

[Scouse_Mouse]

Definitely not "essential" but agree that it should be continued.

Just need to start enforcing some basic control over players flaunting the rules.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

There are of course instances of players behaving stupidly, but let's be realistic, this is a highly infectious virus, it is going to spread, footballers are going to get it. I'm not talking about cancelling it or even a long break, maybe a month? I can't see how the season just ploughing on despite multiple players falling ill and fixtures crammed into ridiculous schedules is worth it, it just makes this season a bit of a joke. Ultimately we need UEFA to have the balls to cancel the EUROs, nobody cares about international football anyway.

[Happy Blue]

Cancer & flu deaths are down due to covid, I think we all need to catch it ASAP ..or again in my case lol

[Redcanuck]

On 21/01/2021 at 17:43, Happy Blue said:

Cancer & flu deaths are down due to covid, I think we all need to catch it ASAP ..or again in my case lol

I don't think many people have died from old age either.

[Happy Blue]

4 minutes ago, Redcanuck said:

I don't think many people have died from old age either.

Less than 0.3% die from covid, dont believe the hype/scam!

[Honey Honey]

5 hours ago, Happy Blue said:

Less than 0.3% die from covid, dont believe the hype/scam!

On Christmas Eve my mates mother called his father down for dinner. He wasn't responding. They shouted again. Nothing. His mother and sister went upstairs where they found him out cold, not responding, they shook him, he wouldn't respond. Panic ensued. They called 999, the emergency services guided them through an attempted resuscitation. Pushing hard and fast on the chest. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital. Covid. His oxygen levels had dropped so low it caused the non response. There were no beds at the local hospital on the covid ward however. He ended up in an A&E bed for a couple of days. London was becoming overwhelmed. Eventually he was transferred. A place was available at a more central hospital. A few days in, conscious, using his phone, he spoke to his family, provided them passwords and other emergency information they might need. Just a couple of days before he bought a new car. Life was going on. Then one night in hospital he deteriorated, fast. The doctors made the decision to induce a coma and get him on a ventilator. The family of course could not see him. They had to wait at home. Wait for 1 phone call per day from the hospital. The stress and the distress was so much that my mates gf had to take the calls, no one in the immediate family could digest the information and relay it. The mother had to be protected, fed less information, for she couldn't handle hearing it. Once a day a doctor would call, what time, they didn't know, it could be 5pm it could be 1am. The doctors were overwhelmed keeping people alive. When they did call it wouldn't last more than a minute. The doctors didn't have time. Each day passed, the family stuck at home. We supported my mate at work as much as we could. Everyday checking in, asking if any news, trying to take work pressure off wherever we can. Then the news coming back was that he was in the worst possible state you can be where oxygen is concerned. Air was trapped in the lungs so they couldn't turn him over onto his front as is best for covid patients. Some days it would be a tiny bit better, 5 or 10% better on the oxygen level, then reversed the next day. A week passed. Then another week. No real improvement. We all had our hopes it would be ok, for here is a fighter with no underlying health conditions, fairly young, certainly no age to go. Doctors then reported kidney problems. A common feature on this sort of support machines and medicines. Another week passed. Now he had pneumonia. It became one thing after the other. On Thursday the family were called, told to go into the hospital immediately. Not told anything else. Of course if you've read up on this sort of thing you know that doctors get family's in to covid wards if someone is about to die, a last offering of humanity, a last chance to say your goodbyes. That evening he passed away. Almost a month after entering hospital. Covid won. A man taken down years if not decades before his time. A family distraught. A widow made far too young. Maybe grand children one day who won't have a grandfather. And why? You have to ask why did this happen? What we do know is he contracted the virus at work. Why was he at work? He didn't need to be. The occupation is one that can work from home. We hear that the boss made everyone go in. 3 people who I know who got covid in December did so in the workplace, 2 of them didn't need to be in the workplace. One suspects the boss may be like you. Covid is a scam, get over it, you're not at risk. The misreading, the misunderstanding, the downplaying of statistical risk. A common problem among men across many areas. It's difficult after the last months experience to read anything downplaying the virus. Treating it as if it is nothing to be concerned about. As if it is a hoax. As if life should carry on like nothing. As if the people who die or go through hell and their families going through hell aren't worth anything. The disregard for the screams of pain. The weeping. The emotional hell. Have some humanity. Have some class. Have some forethought. This virus is serious.

[RandoEFC+]

21 minutes ago, Steve Bruce Almighty said:

A man taken down years if not decades before his time. A family distraught. A widow made far too young. Maybe grand children one day who won't have a grandfather. And why? You have to ask why did this happen? What we do know is he contracted the virus at work. Why was he at work? He didn't need to be. The occupation is one that can work from home. We hear that the boss made everyone go in. 3 people who I know who got covid in December did so in the workplace, 2 of them didn't need to be in the workplace. One suspects the boss may be like you.

That's a horrible story mate and I'm so sad to read it.

It does seem to be another factor in the UK's horrid death toll that people haven't taken the work from home if you can message seriously since about the summer. Among both employers and employees, an element of that is surely our "stiff upper lip" culture as you say. People seemed to just about swallow the situation at the very beginning but as soon as the case numbers started to fall in May/June, it seemed like that was our excuse to start the "get over it" phase of things and the UK never really went back to appreciating the need for a full lockdown where people do work from home.

The financial factor is at play as well. Every few days/weeks a social media clip goes viral of people getting on trains in their droves somewhere in London. We'll all judge/blame them for being stupid but the fact is, many of these employees are faced with the choice of either going to work, and it's not an exaggeration to say they're risking their life to do so, or losing their job and their livelihood. The blame may be on the employers sometimes but many of them are faced with either forcing their workforce to get on with things or going bust themselves. I'm not here to make it political again or have yet another pop at the Tories but there are people out there who are faced with taking a risk with their health or their livelihood because social security in the UK is so pitiful. There are many people who just suck it up as well. Because of the nanny state/benefit sponge discourse that's been prevalent in the UK since I was old enough to read, too many people just can't ask themselves a simple question - why do I pay my taxes for my entire life if the state can't or won't look after me when there's a killer virus on the loose and my boss is insisting that I have to go to work and risk my health when I know I could work from home? - because they've been groomed to think that anyone claiming help from the state secretly has 17,000 flatscreen TVs stashed in their basement and are making a killing dealing drugs while we go to work and grind out the 9-5 every day.

Anyway, I tend to think the better of @Happy Blue in that he's hopefully just satirising the Covid-deniers and trolling rather than being genuine, but there was a bloke over here who filmed himself outside Tesco's saying he'd never shop there again his entire life because his friend was refused service for wearing a mask that said "Covid is a con" on the front. This bloke waffles on for about 3 minutes waving his "Covid - the great con" book around and brandishing his anti-vaccine t-shirt (I just Googled it to see if I could find it because I couldn't remember what it said on the front and just seen that Amazon are selling Covid conspiracy t-shirts, I mean wtf), mouthing off (without evidence of course) that the UK, New Zealand and Canadian governments and others that he 'couldn't remember' hadn't found a single isolated case of Covid-19, whatever that means, and parroting buzzwords he's obviously read on dangerous parts of the internet - scamdemic, plandemic, casedemic, etc. After this long, I've stopped getting annoyed at these people and my instinct now is to laugh at them, but one of my close friends lost a grandparent to the virus during the first wave in a care home outbreak, and one of my best friends lost both of his grandparents in the space of 11 days this month - I actually don't know if either/both of these were to Covid, but imagine you'd lost a close relative the day before and you went on Facebook to see idiots spouting shite about conspiracy theories. It's actually incredible that there haven't been more reports of Covid-deniers getting decked by people.

The worst part is, I think they're actually convinced that they're really clever "critical thinkers" and that the rest of us are just "sheeple" and we're the ones who are brain-washed because we listen to science, evidence and facts. The height of irony being that they're the ones who have probably spent their whole lives getting a kick out of holding a minority opinion and are the actual "sheeple", having attached themselves to somebody else's mad ramblings because they've lived a long life bereft of genuine national/global crisis and are just incapable of accepting the reality of this virus. It's one thing when these contrarians are merely convincing themselves that the Queen is a shape-shifting lizard or that 9/11 was an inside job but when it comes to this pandemic, these Covid-deniers are literally killing people by spreading their disinformation. And it is disinformation, not "just my opinion", because if we accept that respected scientists and the WHO can't be taken at their word, then we might as well just accept that we're abolishing the existence of objective truth.

[Storts]

2 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

That's a horrible story mate and I'm so sad to read it.

It does seem to be another factor in the UK's horrid death toll that people haven't taken the work from home if you can message seriously since about the summer. Among both employers and employees, an element of that is surely our "stiff upper lip" culture as you say. People seemed to just about swallow the situation at the very beginning but as soon as the case numbers started to fall in May/June, it seemed like that was our excuse to start the "get over it" phase of things and the UK never really went back to appreciating the need for a full lockdown where people do work from home.

The financial factor is at play as well. Every few days/weeks a social media clip goes viral of people getting on trains in their droves somewhere in London. We'll all judge/blame them for being stupid but the fact is, many of these employees are faced with the choice of either going to work, and it's not an exaggeration to say they're risking their life to do so, or losing their job and their livelihood. The blame may be on the employers sometimes but many of them are faced with either forcing their workforce to get on with things or going bust themselves. I'm not here to make it political again or have yet another pop at the Tories but there are people out there who are faced with taking a risk with their health or their livelihood because social security in the UK is so pitiful. There are many people who just suck it up as well. Because of the nanny state/benefit sponge discourse that's been prevalent in the UK since I was old enough to read, too many people just can't ask themselves a simple question - why do I pay my taxes for my entire life if the state can't or won't look after me when there's a killer virus on the loose and my boss is insisting that I have to go to work and risk my health when I know I could work from home? - because they've been groomed to think that anyone claiming help from the state secretly has 17,000 flatscreen TVs stashed in their basement and are making a killing dealing drugs while we go to work and grind out the 9-5 every day.

Anyway, I tend to think the better of @Happy Blue in that he's hopefully just satirising the Covid-deniers and trolling rather than being genuine, but there was a bloke over here who filmed himself outside Tesco's saying he'd never shop there again his entire life because his friend was refused service for wearing a mask that said "Covid is a con" on the front. This bloke waffles on for about 3 minutes waving his "Covid - the great con" book around and brandishing his anti-vaccine t-shirt (I just Googled it to see if I could find it because I couldn't remember what it said on the front and just seen that Amazon are selling Covid conspiracy t-shirts, I mean wtf), mouthing off (without evidence of course) that the UK, New Zealand and Canadian governments and others that he 'couldn't remember' hadn't found a single isolated case of Covid-19, whatever that means, and parroting buzzwords he's obviously read on dangerous parts of the internet - scamdemic, plandemic, casedemic, etc. After this long, I've stopped getting annoyed at these people and my instinct now is to laugh at them, but one of my close friends lost a grandparent to the virus during the first wave in a care home outbreak, and one of my best friends lost both of his grandparents in the space of 11 days this month - I actually don't know if either/both of these were to Covid, but imagine you'd lost a close relative the day before and you went on Facebook to see idiots spouting shite about conspiracy theories. It's actually incredible that there haven't been more reports of Covid-deniers getting decked by people.

The worst part is, I think they're actually convinced that they're really clever "critical thinkers" and that the rest of us are just "sheeple" and we're the ones who are brain-washed because we listen to science, evidence and facts. The height of irony being that they're the ones who have probably spent their whole lives getting a kick out of holding a minority opinion and are the actual "sheeple", having attached themselves to somebody else's mad ramblings because they've lived a long life bereft of genuine national/global crisis and are just incapable of accepting the reality of this virus. It's one thing when these contrarians are merely convincing themselves that the Queen is a shape-shifting lizard or that 9/11 was an inside job but when it comes to this pandemic, these Covid-deniers are literally killing people by spreading their disinformation. And it is disinformation, not "just my opinion", because if we accept that respected scientists and the WHO can't be taken at their word, then we might as well just accept that we're abolishing the existence of objective truth.

Shouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt; he’s been peddling that shite for ages and it’s taken a lot for me not to rise to it as I’ve started responding many times because it’s absolutely disgraceful

[Honey Honey]

2 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

That's a horrible story mate and I'm so sad to read it.

It does seem to be another factor in the UK's horrid death toll that people haven't taken the work from home if you can message seriously since about the summer. Among both employers and employees, an element of that is surely our "stiff upper lip" culture as you say. People seemed to just about swallow the situation at the very beginning but as soon as the case numbers started to fall in May/June, it seemed like that was our excuse to start the "get over it" phase of things and the UK never really went back to appreciating the need for a full lockdown where people do work from home.

The financial factor is at play as well. Every few days/weeks a social media clip goes viral of people getting on trains in their droves somewhere in London. We'll all judge/blame them for being stupid but the fact is, many of these employees are faced with the choice of either going to work, and it's not an exaggeration to say they're risking their life to do so, or losing their job and their livelihood. The blame may be on the employers sometimes but many of them are faced with either forcing their workforce to get on with things or going bust themselves. I'm not here to make it political again or have yet another pop at the Tories but there are people out there who are faced with taking a risk with their health or their livelihood because social security in the UK is so pitiful. There are many people who just suck it up as well. Because of the nanny state/benefit sponge discourse that's been prevalent in the UK since I was old enough to read, too many people just can't ask themselves a simple question - why do I pay my taxes for my entire life if the state can't or won't look after me when there's a killer virus on the loose and my boss is insisting that I have to go to work and risk my health when I know I could work from home? - because they've been groomed to think that anyone claiming help from the state secretly has 17,000 flatscreen TVs stashed in their basement and are making a killing dealing drugs while we go to work and grind out the 9-5 every day.

I told someone I know who still goes to the office who doesn't need to of the same story. His response was "he's old init"

No he's not. By all known measures this man was not vulnerable. That's also not the point. Even if you won't be badly impacted you can spread it and contribute to mutating it. 

We have all lapsed somewhere at some point most likely and will continue to. However there's a difference between lapsing and having an underlying lack of social responsibility in your belief system.

[The Artful Dodger]

Happy Blue was consistently anti-Vax before COVID kicked off, I don't think there's much doubting his views are genuinely held.

[Happy Blue]

4 hours ago, Steve Bruce Almighty said:

On Christmas Eve my mates mother called his father down for dinner. He wasn't responding. They shouted again. Nothing. His mother and sister went upstairs where they found him out cold, not responding, they shook him, he wouldn't respond. Panic ensued. They called 999, the emergency services guided them through an attempted resuscitation. Pushing hard and fast on the chest. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital. Covid. His oxygen levels had dropped so low it caused the non response. There were no beds at the local hospital on the covid ward however. He ended up in an A&E bed for a couple of days. London was becoming overwhelmed. Eventually he was transferred. A place was available at a more central hospital. A few days in, conscious, using his phone, he spoke to his family, provided them passwords and other emergency information they might need. Just a couple of days before he bought a new car. Life was going on. Then one night in hospital he deteriorated, fast. The doctors made the decision to induce a coma and get him on a ventilator. The family of course could not see him. They had to wait at home. Wait for 1 phone call per day from the hospital. The stress and the distress was so much that my mates gf had to take the calls, no one in the immediate family could digest the information and relay it. The mother had to be protected, fed less information, for she couldn't handle hearing it. Once a day a doctor would call, what time, they didn't know, it could be 5pm it could be 1am. The doctors were overwhelmed keeping people alive. When they did call it wouldn't last more than a minute. The doctors didn't have time. Each day passed, the family stuck at home. We supported my mate at work as much as we could. Everyday checking in, asking if any news, trying to take work pressure off wherever we can. Then the news coming back was that he was in the worst possible state you can be where oxygen is concerned. Air was trapped in the lungs so they couldn't turn him over onto his front as is best for covid patients. Some days it would be a tiny bit better, 5 or 10% better on the oxygen level, then reversed the next day. A week passed. Then another week. No real improvement. We all had our hopes it would be ok, for here is a fighter with no underlying health conditions, fairly young, certainly no age to go. Doctors then reported kidney problems. A common feature on this sort of support machines and medicines. Another week passed. Now he had pneumonia. It became one thing after the other. On Thursday the family were called, told to go into the hospital immediately. Not told anything else. Of course if you've read up on this sort of thing you know that doctors get family's in to covid wards if someone is about to die, a last offering of humanity, a last chance to say your goodbyes. That evening he passed away. Almost a month after entering hospital. Covid won. A man taken down years if not decades before his time. A family distraught. A widow made far too young. Maybe grand children one day who won't have a grandfather. And why? You have to ask why did this happen? What we do know is he contracted the virus at work. Why was he at work? He didn't need to be. The occupation is one that can work from home. We hear that the boss made everyone go in. 3 people who I know who got covid in December did so in the workplace, 2 of them didn't need to be in the workplace. One suspects the boss may be like you. Covid is a scam, get over it, you're not at risk. The misreading, the misunderstanding, the downplaying of statistical risk. A common problem among men across many areas. It's difficult after the last months experience to read anything downplaying the virus. Treating it as if it is nothing to be concerned about. As if it is a hoax. As if life should carry on like nothing. As if the people who die or go through hell and their families going through hell aren't worth anything. The disregard for the screams of pain. The weeping. The emotional hell. Have some humanity. Have some class. Have some forethought. This virus is serious.

Sad news mate, been through something like this last March when my mum died so can relate