GTFC first club to be fined over Covid breaches

Not for the first time in recent weeks, shambles seems to be much too polite a word to describe the affairs of our club. From what I've read this evening, I think we probably should consider ourselves fortunate the punishment was not more severe. Regardless of it being suspended, or whether any costs need to be paid to the other clubs concerned, this is not simply an embarrassment for our club. It is an incident that will, quite understandably, add fuel to the debate about whether elite sport should be continuing at the present moment.

I'm more inclined to point the finger of blame at other people for what happened before I look towards the board. But there seems to me to be a big gap between tonight's statement which says the board recognises it is ultimately responsible for the conduct of players and staff and the chairman's comments in a BBC Radio Humberside interview at the time in which he implied the postponement decision was taken in line with Football League guidance. Put simply, what did the board know about what had occurred and when did they know it? And did Holloway make his reported admissions while he was still in charge?

EFL are a joke, the reason we are hit with a fine, is because we called off the games, without getting permission from the EFL first.

List of the following who have broken Covid

Break Government guidelines, get caught, copy and paste an apology from your agent on social media, then carry on as normal. That is the way it seems to go.

Tottenham and West Ham condemned the actions of a number of their players after Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela, Sergio Reguilon and Manuel Lanzini were pictured spending Christmas together with their families.

Manchester City also expressed their ‘disappointment’ after news emerged that defender Benjamin Mendy broke the rules by hosting a New Year’s Eve party with friends at his home.

It comes after high-profile cases of coronavirus protocols appearing to be breached last weekend. Championship club QPR admitted they should not have allowed their former player Eberechi Eze to attend their tie against Fulham.  

Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho are set to miss England’s friendly with Wales on Thursday after the number of recent unwanted incidents off the pitch forced Gareth Southgate to warn his squad about the standards of discipline he expects.

The England manager told the trio to stay away from St George’s Park yesterday after the FA began an investigation into the players attending a surprise 23rd birthday party for Abraham, which broke Covid-19 guidelines.

Gareth Southgate has vowed to protect Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden despite sending the players home after they disrupted England’s preparations for Tuesday night’s game against Denmark by inviting two women to the team hotel in Reykjavik, breaking coronavirus isolation rules. Although Southgate admitted that Greenwood, 18, and Foden, 20, were guilty of “naive” behaviour, England’s manager said he wants to shield them from criticism because of their age.

It did not sit right seeing Luka Milivojevic lead Crystal Palace out on Saturday after spending New Year’s Eve with Aleksandar Mitrovic, the striker of the club whose games are being postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak.

Playmaker Jack Grealish was fined two weeks’ wages after attending a party during lockdown but he and Ross Barkley avoided punishment for eating at a restaurant together last month in contravention of London rules at the time.

Eight Aberdeen footballers have issued a joint apology for their trip to a city centre bar last weekend that breached lockdown guidelines.
Jonny Hayes, Michael Devlin, Scott McKenna, Matty Kennedy, Sam Cosgrove, Dylan McGeouch, Craig Bryson and Bruce Anderson all accepted they had made a "huge error in judgement" by visiting the venue together after the defeat to Rangers and exceeding the number of households allowed to meet.

Celtic defender Christopher Jullien tested positive for coronavirus following the controversial training camp in the UAE, with three members of staff including manager Neil Lennon and No. 2 John Kennedy along with 13 players having to self-isolate ahead of tonight’s league clash with Hibs.

Eight Aberdeen players who broke social distancing rules by going to a city centre bar on Saturday night have revealed their identities as they issued a grovelling apology for their actions.

The Manchester City and England full-back was forced to apologise in April after it was widely reported that he held a party at his Cheshire home in a blatant violation of the nation's lockdown measures.

David Luiz, Alexandre Lacazette, Nicoles Pepe, and Granit Xhaka were all caught breaking quarantine some time during April. Pepe was recorded playing football with friends, Luiz and Xhaka were seen meeting in a park, and Lacazette was photographed while talking to a valet.

Tottenham's players were spotted flouting social distancing rules as Jose Mourinho was seen working in a Barnet park with Tanguy Ndombele. Davinson Sanchez and Ryan Sessegnon were also caught by a social media user running side by side around the same park and Serge Aurier also posted a video of himself on Instagram jogging alongside another person. The club, who also reversed their decision to furlough staff following a backlash, underlined the Government's Covid-19 regulations to their players. But little over a fortnight later, Aurier was at it again, posting a video on his Instagram Story of him training with team-mate Moussa Sissoko before deleting it.

Everton labelled Kean's actions "unacceptable" after he filmed himself partying at home with guests in a breach of social distancing regulations. The Toffees said in a statement: "Everton Football Club was appalled to learn of an incident in which a first-team player ignored Government guidance and club policy in relation to the coronavirus crisis. The club has strongly expressed its disappointment to the player and made it clear that such actions are completely unacceptable."

Thousands of Liverpool fans gathered at Anfield to celebrate the club's first Premier League title. Supporters set off flares and fireworks.

Players spitting, hugging, celebrating after scoring (not applicable to Town, cannot score).

The list goes on.

Quoted from EY Mariner

Not for the first time in recent weeks, shambles seems to be much too polite a word to describe the affairs of our club. From what I've read this evening, I think we probably should consider ourselves fortunate the punishment was not more severe. Regardless of it being suspended, or whether any costs need to be paid to the other clubs concerned, this is not simply an embarrassment for our club. It is an incident that will, quite understandably, add fuel to the debate about whether elite sport should be continuing at the present moment.

I'm more inclined to point the finger of blame at other people for what happened before I look towards the board. But there seems to me to be a big gap between tonight's statement which says the board recognises it is ultimately responsible for the conduct of players and staff and the chairman's comments in a BBC Radio Humberside interview at the time in which he implied the postponement decision was taken in line with Football League guidance. Put simply, what did the board know about what had occurred and when did they know it? And did Holloway make his reported admissions while he was still in charge?

After all his Covid bullshit, you sort of wondered if he was covering something up or running away from something. Regards the board, they are ultimately responsible.

You know what, if this is the final act of the long running tragedy, it’s only fitting that it’s another catastrofuck. It’s Delboy meets Partridge meets Bullseye.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

It’s Delboy meets Partridge meets Bullseye.

Wait till the very end.....
[tweet]1349072514866151424[/tweet]

Quoted from The Yard Dog

List of the following who have broken Covid

To be fair, most if not all of those breaches are the individuals breaking the rules. It is difficult for a club to control their players’ private lives.

I agree the responses by the clubs to the transgressions were weak and embarrassing.

We have been fined and made a example of because we had no documented risk assessment, which probably contributed to the Club’s players and staff being exposed to unnecessary risk and the subsequent match compilations

Quoted from Nelly GTFC

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That's done me, got tears rolling down my cheeks..

Quoted from malkamalka

How much is the compensation? Whats it for?

Fulham had their game against Villa postponed yesterday and wer told to play Tottenham instead (tomorrow). 48 hours notice of changed planning/tactics/training routines etc.

Are Villa gonna compensate them for that?

I agree we probably messed up because it's what we do, but honestly, why are the rules different in the EPL than they are in the EFL?

Villa will have a documented risk assessment in place because they don’t have a myopic Board. Villa can’t do much to stop Jack Grealish parting the vulva in his private time or their players contracting Covid from other sources.

But if you don’t have the paperwork in place and are proven to have not followed the rules, you are liable to be fined.

Just grateful it wasn’t a points deduction or forfeit of points

Quoted from psgmariner

We've obviously done something wrong, but how is game of darts different to all sitting on the team bus or being in the same changing room?

All involve a lot of prix. If it’s a sackable offence we could save paying them off.

You could not make it up.

Fenty, Fenty, Fenty. Your malign influence permeates every corner of the club. You control the club. What goes on within it is your responsibility ultimately. If you'd got a decent stadium manager and sorted out that berk who got us fined over the Port Vale fiasco the other year, this might nor have happened. It's all of a piece with the fine we got for tapping up Scott & Hurst while they were at Boston. The same shabby behaviour. All these fines add up, to say nothing of the damage to the club's reputation - that will cost us far more.

And we're damned lucky not to be facing a points deduction and interest from the HSE.

Hand the keys in as soon as possible, and give those shares back to the Trust.

Quoted from Nelly GTFC

Wait till the very end.....
[tweet]1349072514866151424[/tweet]

That's the funniest(yet sad) post i have ever seen on here. If that joke of a board ever stand up again, to represent this club(please God no), then every one present should have this tune loaded on their phones and start playing it on a continuous loop until they sit down.