By now, we can spare ourselves too much of a recap. This wretched COVID-19 virus has wrought havoc across the globe and one of the very many consequences has been the cancellation of live sport, including Premier League football. Only this week, the National League that oversees all the UK’s non-league sides decided to scrap their season.
Ornstein’s piece for The Athletic makes for a compelling read, setting out the two opposing viewpoints over the morality of striving to wheel millionaires out to fulfil commercial obligations, at a time when most normal people are left wondering not just about their financial security, but their actual mortality.
As far as morality goes, I guess it’s down to each individual to decide what they view as agreeable or disagreeable in their own lives. Personally I find this unnamed CEO’s faux moral outrage very difficult to take seriously. Premier League clubs are brimming with unprecedented amounts of cash and yet their contributions to society are comparatively minuscule.
That said, the corporations who really ought to be in the firing line during these unprecedented times are those that have offloaded staff onto the dole queue without a second thought – and there are plenty of them *cough cough* Tim Martin.
Returning Premier League football, even behind closed doors would have a tangible benefit to not just the nation but the world. Worries over miscreant fans seeking to show up outside stadiums are surely dwarfed by the good mental health playing the games would have.
It is also difficult to imagine which fans would bother to embark upon such stupidity during a nationwide state of lockdown that would offer no pubs, no public TV screens – and the only guarantees being a swift arrest and an equally nasty fine.
English football needs to find a safe path through this dreadful minefield. Simply shouting “we can’t go while people are dying!” may be well-meaning, but ultimately, the two could be mutually exclusive.
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Wuhan is nowhere near Russia either.
The the growth of the ultra wealthy elite, and things like offshore banking and corporate dominance of world markets has changed the worlds economy starkly over the last few decades. Most of the world’s wealth is being held by an ever decreasing number of wealthier people.
These are trends that make the idea of ‘Bolshevism’ (communism) taking hold behind the scenes as not only absurd but completely unprovable.
The world is becoming less equal and you’re claiming a new Bolshevism taking hold? Have you been drinking?
While some of these things stand up to an extent (of course things are being controlled by corporations etc), people start bolting on extra conspiracy theories off the back of the solid stuff. It becomes a narrative in the end…
Well your theory about the official line and the reality in Russia might not be standing up. They’ve just gone to a partial lockdown…
Are you going to tell me that Salisbury was a hoax and Litvenenko wasn’t murdered by the Russian state next?
Lots of Tories are very wary of Russia, these are among the ‘Marxists’ you’re referring to I take it?
Having spent a little time in Russia myself I know how corrupt to the core the whole country is. You can bribe cops on the street ffs…
Sounds like a plan.
Took Woolwich Wanderers 10 years to pay for theirs and they’d won the league shortly before they moved and were in the Champions League every season of that 10 years.
Back of fag packet sums aren’t going to convince anyone, we are in debt to the tune of about quarter of a billion quid I reckon.
St Petersburg Russia. Fabergé. Yes please🌚
Das vidanya. I’ve worked on sites/shipyards with nuff Russians. Great workers. Wicked dry sense of humor. Russian man kool man. 🌚
Haringey had 2 hospitals once. The prince of wales hospital and St Ann’s. Got none now. The Whittington is Islington’s and the north Middlesex is Enfield’s.
I wonder why st Ann’s hospital ain’t being utilized now. Could get nuff beds in there. Had a A&E section once. Big place. Some massive trees on the grounds.
N6 Highgate got the woods.
The N8 and N22 people got the new river walk. Which as you know ain’t and never was a river and it aint new🌚
Lovely morning for a (distanced responsible aware walk around Tottenham rec, through downhills park then back on to the farm. I know you know the manor. Them lucky Tottenham hale man have got the lovely marshes and the Lea. Can stroll along it and distance chat with the barge boat people.
Morning. £25 million a year. Couple academy players a year will pay that. And that’s only from our other £50mil investment. I’m sure the stadium sponsorship money can cover that little bit of chang@€ too. £600 million a year coming in. Don’t worry about our debt man. MINOR.
If we’re talking about being foolish, that must be right up there…
For sure, and then tagged and monitered and then forced to do time working on the front line with the nhs and 600,000 volunteers.
Yes.
In the money? We’ve got loads of debt because of the stadium, shall we just pretend that isn’t there then?
We’re here now. 20 odd years. You gotta give the man some time to work with all this money coming. We’ve only been in the money a year and the big money ain’t even here yet. At least give him a chance to do what you think he’ll do. He can’t/won’t sink us. Forget about the last 20 years man.
I’m happy to have the best club in the world on my doorstep. I’ll take whatever happens. Gonna enjoy the journey to glory. No matter how long it takes.
The keep on keeping on and stay safe and those around you mate, I’ll do the same. Just gonna keep the ENIC out fing alive until footballs start getting kicked again…
No gloom, just truth. There’s far bigger problems to think about I agree.
Not going to make me want new owners any less though…
Anyone grouping together and taking advantage of the situation need to be nicked…
Yep, worst peacetime global crisis since WW2 (albeit without 56m dead) and the people at the top can’t put their hands in their pockets? I mean show a bit of solidarity for your lower league fellow pros ffs! I’m sure it won’t affect the breaks in Dubai or buying the 6th Bentley this year…
Prem clubs should be forced to do it…
No time or room for foolish gloom. Not now away. Tell me a joke man. Make me smile.
You’re seriously going to believe the statistics coming out of Putin’s Russia?
I guess no £ucker wants to go to Russia anyway so they might dodge the bullets a bit more… 😂
Cha. You’re miserable man. Move from me with that. No time for your nonsense. Man trying to be upbeat out here.
The testing kits will be the game changer. South Korea are way ahead of everybody else on it. Much less stringent lock downs but far less spread and fatalities down to testing and tracking it.
Sonny clearly not the only good thing to come out of South Korea!
The Liverpool fans will be lauding it but let’s be honest, Citeh are in a bit of transition, Manure are still way off, Cheatski are just Cheatski between a spend up, and we have gone to $hit because of Levy.
There’s nobody else around to even make a go of it, good luck to them, their owners backed their management. Ours didn’t…
ENIC OUT.
When it comes to faceless venture capital groups i’m pretty sure any notions of ‘peace and love’ are out the window.
Why not hate an organisation? It’s not people, it’s a bank balance, securities and loans. Let’s get all cuddly and warm about relentless profiteering… I mean why not, man.?! 😂
Any Spurs fan who makes them any less than an enemy needs to wonder exactly what they want from their club…
Some people waste their energy on things they hate. Not me. That’s stupid.
They’re not my mates but they are your enemy.
One League Cup in over 20 years and no free meals, from the 8th richest club in the world. That’s your mates ENIC for ya… 😂
I agree with HH on this, we should find a way, once testing for Covid 19 has been sufficiently rolled out, to get matches back on somehow. I also believe that this Is faux outrage too.
However, from a purely selfish point of view, the less matches I have to endure of a Jose managed Spurs the better… 😂
Yeah I’m not arguing that alot more could’ve been done feel like we have been left out to dry and just hope we are ok
You delusional? Close the borders from day one, so lock out everybody who is on holiday and leave them homeless in another country?
Bearing in mind is contagious about a week before symptoms show then when we noticed day one it was probably day 12
Who cares what they do as long as football is back. who cares, Just start blowing whistles
Finishing 14th isn’t the end of the world. No Euro commitments should help our domestic aspirations and have no discernible effect on our recruitment. Plus Levy would have extra nights for non-footballing entertainment that will probably be a lot more exciting than our football is at the moment.
Throw in a spouse, kids and pets into the mix.
Urban dynamite.
Makes me laugh how certain man can’t do a bit a “bird in their own drums😂 tell you what. Spend a whole day in your bathroom then release yourself back into the rest of your home. 🌚.
I doubt watching the team limp to 14th, getting humiliated in the first NLD at the new lane, etc, would boost many spurs fans’ morale. A boost would only come from voiding the season, denying Liverpool the title and restoring our CL place. Tbh there is going to be little alternative now unless they want seasons to be thrown out of sync until 2025. Getting a reprieve might even prod enic into taking bold action against the anti-football now being served up in their colosseum.
Any legal challenges to cancelling the season could be forestalled by introducing legislation in parliament. A bill could be debated and passed in one afternoon.
And will continue to do so unless Levy can make some coin out of it.
Certainly wouldn’t want to be responsible for anyone dying. Two people I work with who are now working from home indefinitely as they have health issues that would put them at greater risk of dying if they contract it. So far, I feel healthy and am more mindful of coughing into my sleeve or elbow (our age group were never taught that in school – put your hand over your mouth. Yeah, thanks for that) and thoroughly washing hands and being mindful of what I’m touching. I have limited my outings to walking the dog and essential trips to the supermarket. At the end of the day everybody needs to be in lock-down, what we are doing here at the moment isn’t going to work.
Massive kitchens at the lane doing fk all. Our lodge should be doing something too.
The situation is scary man stay at home if you can.. Its like a zombie/virus movie. Those covid 19 heat maps and graphs show how bad it is. 4 per cent death rate is high and everyones getting it. You may get it and show no symptoms, then set off chain reaction by giving it to 4 or 5 people, who give it to more.. Being responsible for deaths is horrendous.. My uncles in oz in either perth or melbourne, hes isolating, retired now though… England is in lockdown and muppets here are still meeting in groups, robbing, coughing at emergency staff, and some degenerates have even robbed and torched supermarket delivery vans.
“He has come out to say this is the worst thing to happen at the club in his tenure.”
Correction – He is the worst thing to happen to this club in his tenure.
Sad but true. Title is pretty much a foregone conclusion.
😆 tough one man.. They deserve it though. Jobs already done really.
Alot of rich people have given millions. Mgregor gave a million…. Levy would be doing the same if he had any good in him whatsoever… There’s no chance, scrooge mcduck is sat in his vault, counting up the debts of the club, whilst also counting his own millions. He has come out to say this is the worst thing to happen at the club in his tenure. But not what he’s going to do.
My daughter got home from a shift at a baby supplies store this arvo and what she told us just staggers belief. The number of customers that wanted to get right up in her face, without any sort of protective wear on, and while she kept backing off was incredible. Some segments of the community just do not get the whole social distancing or self-isolation thing. A guy came into the store and spoke to one of the other salespersons and it turns out he only got back into Australia the day before from overseas (mandatory 14 days self-isolation period). He was ordered out of the shop but his English was not too good so who knows if he got the message. Utter t.w.a.t.
Which is the lesser of two evils – having to endure the gloating from the scousers when they eventually win the title or the whining (wailing) if the season is voided and goes back to start again?
AFL players in Oz are taking a 50% pay cut while the game is on hold (the lower paid players do not have to). Over 1m people in Oz have had to apply for the dole as businesses shut, causing the Ccentrelink computer system to crash and massive queues outside Centrelink offices. I will be trialling working from home but, to be honest, it isn’t really viable for me but I do still have the option of working at the office.Most of my work is to do with NZ and the country’s closed down for 4 weeks.
Well said the Boy. They all got enough money to afford testing kits. Test the players constantly before matches, then play behind closed doors.. The UFC will be showing Khabib vs Ferguson with no crowd. They have had an event already. It’s rather strange with no atmosphere, but fair shout to them the show must go on…. If any season should be declared null it should be next season. Or the euros. Liverpool deserve to finish it, whenever or however that may be.
This is shining a light on football everywhere, some German teams are taking wage cuts. So far the discussion in the Premier League seems to be about deferring wages. Wage cuts by multi millionaire players could mean non playing staff get a wage. It will be interesting to see if the players are willing to waive contractual obligations for the greater good. I know certain players have donated money, goods, eg Alderweireld, I’d like to see our chairman set a good example and take a wage cut.