Return of league 2, 12th Sept (merged)

Quoted from moosey_club

I would say surely the EFL realise that with these restrictions they are going to be making the game unsustainable for most clubs, if not all. But then it's the EFL we are talking about so maybe they dont.
Unless every club seriously reduces their playing budgets, considering they already have contracted players deals to honour, how can they stay within the financial fair play rules with the reduced income ?  
We know that our season budget is set based loosely on projected attendances, expected cup runs (football fortune) and that as a club we have stayed within budgets more or less, so if we believe we will be down to gates of 2000 our budget will be halved, if that was the case then i dont see how we could sign another player for this season with the committed deals we already have.
Repeat that throughout the leagues and you have a serious issue.

That’s pretty much my point. The EFL simply don’t have any idea.

There’s unlikely to be any real support mechanism or packages given the fact that each football club operates differently. Surely any money that comes in to a club which has large deficits will go on wiping debt so in the end it still doesn’t help.

I’ve seen some more tripe this morning that chanting could be an issue. I mean I know the top flight and 98% of it’s fans don’t really give a excrement given crowds aren’t important and they’ve proven it can operate without. The sanitisation of football is there for all to see. At our level it’s somewhat different and quite frankly, if chanting or shouting or cheering are now things that can allegedly be problematic then personally we might as well give it up and forget about football.

I can’t see how these ridiculous suggestions, albeit rough draft guidelines can ever be workable. Aside from the obvious of how you choose who is allowed in, but the constant sanitising of the game, clubs burdened with pre-existing contracts which have to be honoured and then incomes halved or more just spells a recipe.

Is all this simply to start the season on 12th September? If stadiums will be able to open fully without restriction in October then surely just wait.

I’m certainly no fan of the government but as I said previously, any government would be hard pushed to justify handing cash to a club that is essentially owned by a millionaire, operates at a loss and serves less than ten percent of its local community (I do understand that actually GTFC for instance, contrary to the NIMBYs and the boring girl privates is singly the biggest attraction to draw large crowds regularly locally and provides some great community support).

Will any sky money filter down? Even if it does, I can’t see it being anywhere near enough to help budgets remain sustainable but also allow clubs to be competitive.

Could we see a decline in quality but an up turn in younger players and YT lads breaking through purely out of necessity?

Or will clubs look at the guidance, when it’s eventually published, realise it’s simply that and just open. Pay lip service to social distancing and open the stadiums, gamble on folk turning up and not being worried or scared? Personally I think ST are likely to be hit because of the financial fallout of all this rather than people worried they might catch something.

We all know though that it’s a big flipping mess. Top flight clubs will still spend millions this summer and it’ll be celebrated as it always is, like spending over a billion is some measure of success and the rest will be left to fend for themselves and the EFL will continue to be ineffective...

If worse comes to worse clubs will have to go semi pro. Plenty of non-league teams survive on gates of low hundreds, there are full time teams with much smaller gates than any teams in league two gets. Fans and officials everywhere will have to do what it takes to stop their clubs from dying.

So, I haven't seen an explanation on how the 2000 (or however many it is), will be selected and what happens on match day if hundreds more try to get in?

Quoted from 123614

So, I haven't seen an explanation on how the 2000 (or however many it is), will be selected and what happens on match day if hundreds more try to get in?

the club have stated they are waiting for more guidance.

Ahh thank you.

My solution is to tape up every other seat so they can't be used. Stagger the next row so that the person in front is sat in front of an empty seat. That would give us approx. just over 4,000 seats.

I know this will be unpopular, but, make the wearing of masks compulsory. If you haven't got one on, you don't get in. Our stewards enforce it, if you take it off, you're asked to either put it back on, or you are removed from the ground.

Not ideal, but workable, and means that we can at least watch the mighty mariners again.

With away fans banned from travelling, what's the bets we draw Man. Utd. away!!!

I think you are spot on Mimma

Whilst I see where you’re coming from RE the masks, it is unlikely that will happen. There are trials taking place now and the wearing of masks isn’t compulsory, and the event is taking place outdoors, the wearing of masks isn’t entirely necessary.

The taping up of every other seat, again, whilst I see the logic is unlikely. What about those folk who attend and take small children or are from the same household? If you can sit 6 or whatever it is to a table in a boozer, inside, then why would they over complicate at football which is fundamentally outdoor.

With a certain cretin as the safety officer and the EFL’s inability to do very little right I can see it being a farce, add to that the incompetence of the government and it seems like it could be an over complicated mess.

My view was that the club telling fans about draft guidance wasn’t helpful, that will remain my view, especially given the discussions which have taken place since. That guidance could literally be in the bin by the end of the week. I think it would’ve been better for the club to simply explain that there are discussions taking place, defat guidance is being circulated to gather opinion to help inform the final piece of guidance. At the his stage I’m probably more interested in how the club will approach staffing with furlough being wound down and how we are likely to move forward with signing players and the like.

Like I say, I don’t disagree with the comments about masks or seat restrictions ms everyone is entitled to their opinion on it but the questions I pose are likely to be posed by several others.

Side note, unnoticed that the cinema has a basic yet effective ticketing system which only allows certain seats to be sold in order for them to ensure social distancing...given we still hand write all ST sales, how would this look for the club should it be necessary to do? The sale of STs is going to look different and unlike others, I’m not convinced we’ll shift that many for varying reasons...can the club put themselves in a position where only ST can gain entry?

Quoted from IlkleyMariner

Cricket authorities have agreed to let Surrey and Warwickshire cricket that they can have 2,500 spectators from August 1st.

They have much bigger grounds with more static fans than GTFC, so unless things change looks like 1500 to 2000 fans is all we can get.

However there is still a few weeks to see if the cricket experiment works, so here’s hoping for improvement in infection levels.

I don't know if it's changed these days, but when I occasionally went to watch a County match at Grace Road you could count the number of spectators on one hand!

Rumours that the no drinking in view of the pitch laws may be relaxed to increase revenues and avoid unnecessary close contact.