Northern Premier League

Decided to null and void the season. Won’t be the last I suspect.

So it starts...

Isthmian and Southern League will follow suit shortly.  Removes the threat of relegation from the Conference North/South who, along with the Conference, are going to have an almighty battle on to finish games.

Can't see anything other than the Premier League and the Championship finishing the season out.

id take it now.....8 months to prepare for next season, might give us time to arrange more than one  pre-season friendly

Quoted from Boris Johnson

id take it now.....8 months to prepare for next season, might give us time to arrange more than one  pre-season friendly

Alas, it was 7 months yesterday to the start of next season (Saturday 7th August).

Quoted from diehardmariner

So it starts...

Isthmian and Southern League will follow suit shortly.  Removes the threat of relegation from the Conference North/South who, along with the Conference, are going to have an almighty battle on to finish games.

Can't see anything other than the Premier League and the Championship finishing the season out.

Why couldn't L1 & L2 finish?

So far we are 22 games into the season. Accrington have 6 matches to catch up on & several clubs are 4 matches behind in League 1 & Exeter City are 3 matches behind in League 2.

There are 18 "Saturday" fixture dates left including Good Friday remaining. And there are 6 "midweek" fixture dates left including Easter Monday. That means there are 11 blank midweek fixture slots to catch up already postponed games and future postponements. There is also the option of extending the regular season by 2 or 3 weeks which will create a further 4 or 6 possible fixture dates.

So that's potentially 15-17 blank fixture dates to catch up. We're far from the point where we should be talking about abandoning the league season.

Personally I don't think there is much prospect of League 2 not being able to finish in full even if it's with a short 14 day extension.

More so from the perspective of is it worth the risk?

Premier League financially can't afford to cut the season short due to the TV obligations, guessing they need the Championship to complete too to ensure relegation and promotion can take place too.

Quoted from diehardmariner

So it starts...

Isthmian and Southern League will follow suit shortly.  Removes the threat of relegation from the Conference North/South who, along with the Conference, are going to have an almighty battle on to finish games.

Can't see anything other than the Premier League and the Championship finishing the season out.

the 3 of them (northern, southern and isthmian) are, and have been,  working together, so it's a joint proposal at the minute.It's being recommended but clubs will be consulted and asked to ratify, although it's a foregone conclusion becuase with no bar sales and no spectators no team can afford to play

I was looking at the National League table the other night and Dover have only played 10 games.

They have another 34 to fit in.

Some clubs have played 14, others have played 18. What if some of those clubs (who are already behind) have to self-isolate? What if the weather causes postponements?

I probably agree that it's too early to make any decisions — maybe, when it all goes to pot in a month's time and the whole thing is a shambles, we'll say with hindsight that football should've been cancelled now — but it's not going to be straightforward to complete all leagues in a way that's fair for all teams.

It does raise questions about the integrity of the leagues. You'd be annoyed if you support Torquay and maybe relieved if you support Dover but there has to be a hell of a lot more games yet before you can draw any conclusions about each club's season.

How many points were Newcastle ahead of Manu at this stage of the season when they lost the title?

Quoted from RichMariner

I was looking at the National League table the other night and Dover have only played 10 games.

They have another 34 to fit in.

Some clubs have played 14, others have played 18. What if some of those clubs (who are already behind) have to self-isolate? What if the weather causes postponements?

I probably agree that it's too early to make any decisions — maybe, when it all goes to pot in a month's time and the whole thing is a shambles, we'll say with hindsight that football should've been cancelled now — but it's not going to be straightforward to complete all leagues in a way that's fair for all teams.

It does raise questions about the integrity of the leagues. You'd be annoyed if you support Torquay and maybe relieved if you support Dover but there has to be a hell of a lot more games yet before you can draw any conclusions about each club's season.

How many points were Newcastle ahead of Manu at this stage of the season when they lost the title?

In the National League North, Darlington are in 19th place (out of 22) and 1 point above (what was) the relegation zone and have enough games in hand to go top.

If the euros are cancelled it would allow everyone more time to fit fixtures in.