Premier League Suspended - Returns June 17, First Liverpool Game June 21

This is getting more and more serious. Taking off my human compassion and tragedy hat for a moment and looking at this purely through LFC-tinted glasses, here's what I'd like and expect to see, assuming (not unrealistically) that this gets far worse before it gets better:

1. We play Atletico - and qualify for the QFs - in front of a full house at Anfield. Looking very likely on the full house front anyway.

2. We wrap up the league as soon as possible, making us immune (pardon the pun) to any cancellations or postponements. This is hopeful but not certain as to gain the 6 points we need, assuming no more favors from City, the earliest we can do it is March 21st. It's possible, but unlikely, by then that there'll be a lockdown and postponements in place.

3. Continue with the CL, assuming qualification. This is the most obvious competition to take a hit. I can see UEFA and the various country FAs and governments either postponing or cancelling the tournament. The best case scenario might be all games behind closed doors which removes our considerable Anfield advantage.​

 

Don’t be so certain that games won’t be postponed or go behind closed doors in the U.K.

As I understand these matters, the U.K. is now, with infection rates, deaths and new cases, at an almost identical place as Italy was 2 weeks ago.

 

I see the City/Arsenal game has been cancelled - in a harbinger of things to come - which means at the very least we don't claim the trophy at Goodison. Shame. But the sooner we do claim it, the better, because I do think games are going to be postponed which will delay the inevitable.

 

Oops, yes, postponed, not cancelled.

 

Crap. #s1&3 gone and #2 looking iffy now. Looking like our game with The Bitters will be postponed. Arteta and Hudson-Odoi have come down with it and it looks like other clubs are also having problems.

The best case scenario left for us is that the League will be postponed not cancelled and resumed when this clears up.

 

Unconfirmed but likely rumor that season is postponed until April 4th.

 

There is space in the calendar to complete the PL as Euro '20 has been moved to the summer of '21.

I've been saying for a while, I think the CL and Europa get cancelled as they are trans-national competitions and there's more than one entity controlling things. For instance for a hypothetical European game to go ahead between an Italian and Spanish side, you'll need the agreement of the Italian FA, the Spanish FA, the Italian government, the Spanish government and maybe the EU. For La Liga to ahead, all you need is the Spanish FA and government to be on the same page.

 

I was going off the BBC website which said that it had been moved until 2021, but I can no longer find that report now.

The gist of the item was that as the playoffs had not started, not all the finalists had been named, and there have been requests for every playoff game to be either postponed or played behind closed doors. The thinking was that postponement of the playoffs looked very likely and therefore that compressed the timeline for preparations. friendlies, etc. But not only that, gathering players from 24 countries from all across Europe, and beyond in some cases, was also going to be an unnecessary danger; furthermore, the loopy format of having 12+ different venues across 12+ countries was also seen as sheer lunacy in light of travel restrictions.

My guess, (and now it's only that and not from the BBC ), is that it will be moved to next summer, 2021; to have it proceed now would be the height of madness and against best practices. Then again, we must remind ourselves, it's UEFA.

 

With a bit of objectivity, I think it's fair to say that while playing games behind closed doors is laudatory and advisable, it's only a stopgap measure and not a cure-all. Football is not meant to be played behind closed doors. Best postpone, put coronavirus behind us (assuming it's possible) and then return to football as it should be. No more games behind closed doors, postpone them.