Shadow Puppets

Really? You can’t see ANYTHING wrong with that? ?

? 100% agree with this, though perhaps the last bolded bit is a touch harsh

For no apparent reason? ? Yes of course, for no apparent reason. You can do one of these "attack Saudi Arabia" (China, Russia, Iran, USA . . . whoever) articles whenever you (BBC etc) want, but WHY NOW ?? It stinks, I'm sure you can see that. If that's a parody I'm liking this Hilarious isn't it!

For no apparent reason? ?

They also wouldn’t tell Caulkin likely timescales by your logic? Which they have throughout.

They have a good idea whether they’ll pass it though. It’s not a submit and wait kind of test...they speak with the PL regularly and supply them with everything they need and converse on any issues. If the buyers are still very confident, then that would be a sign that nothing too worrying has cropped up.

I'm literally 100% confident this is happening. Just a waiting game. I'm frustrated by the time it's taking, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely happening like.

Nobody's bothered about waiting, we're bothered about it falling through. The longer it goes on for, the more likely that is to happen. At this stage, with the new information from yesterday, it's fairly likely.

Fair point but knowing everyone on that pitch with you has tested negative must be fairly reassuring still. A lot more reassuring than a lot of workers who will be coming into contact with dozens of strangers on a daily basis. If they don't come back next month then I reckon that means it's finished for a long time. As the situation will be no different in September for example with no vaccine. The game would implode if it was away for a year or more it's just not sustainable. That's why it has to come back and it will in the next 4 weeks or so yeah i agree, at some point we're either going to have to accept that there's a risk and do what is necessary to mitigate it or lockdown until there's a vaccine (which isn't practicable) if i was being tested multiple times a week and knew the others players and staff involved all were (down to everyone, bus drivers, cleaners, cooks whoever) then i'd personally consider the risk acceptable And as soon as one person tests positive? Isolate and trace no? Just like real countries are doing for normal people. Well yeah, but tell me who is going to want to train in an environment, or play against opposition, where people they're playing with or against have recently been in contact with a teammate who's got the virus. I don't really know why it needs repeating... normally when people go to work in an office or a supermarket or a shop, they don't sweat all over each other, wrestle opponents in the penalty area etc etc. The list is endless. It is not a normal job. And not to mention the well publicised unreliability of the tests. All it's going to take is for a player to get seriously ill, and then it's all off again. It doesn't " need repeating" I made the exact same point. It's about risk analysis. So one player tests pos? Isolate him and his teammates until they're eligible to test to see if they have it. Game postponed until clear. I'm the least Tory person there is but I honestly think at some point mitigations are going to have to be accepted. If we wait 12-18 months, then so many footballers and staff in lower leagues and are going to lose their jobs across Europe because we haven't got going again and they'll be no parachute payments etc. Also I suspect many players will be wanting to take a small risk to get going again if all the measures are implemented properly to protect their safety. Honestly don't think it's reasonable to ask for 100% mitigation because that won't happen until there's a vaccine. I agree with you...I just think it’s far too early. Maybe when there’s 100 new cases a day. Not when there’s 4000.

Exactly. It's an absolute minefield. If there was anyway for it to be financially viable, really the best solution is just to wait as long as necessary, even if that's 18 months. I know that's not really going to be likely though, so they at least need to let the country get it massively under control before they even consider starting up again. This situation is in no way under control yet.

Fair point but knowing everyone on that pitch with you has tested negative must be fairly reassuring still. A lot more reassuring than a lot of workers who will be coming into contact with dozens of strangers on a daily basis. If they don't come back next month then I reckon that means it's finished for a long time. As the situation will be no different in September for example with no vaccine. The game would implode if it was away for a year or more it's just not sustainable. That's why it has to come back and it will in the next 4 weeks or so yeah i agree, at some point we're either going to have to accept that there's a risk and do what is necessary to mitigate it or lockdown until there's a vaccine (which isn't practicable) if i was being tested multiple times a week and knew the others players and staff involved all were (down to everyone, bus drivers, cleaners, cooks whoever) then i'd personally consider the risk acceptable And as soon as one person tests positive? Isolate and trace no? Just like real countries are doing for normal people. Well yeah, but tell me who is going to want to train in an environment, or play against opposition, where people they're playing with or against have recently been in contact with a teammate who's got the virus. I don't really know why it needs repeating... normally when people go to work in an office or a supermarket or a shop, they don't sweat all over each other, wrestle opponents in the penalty area etc etc. The list is endless. It is not a normal job. And not to mention the well publicised unreliability of the tests. All it's going to take is for a player to get seriously ill, and then it's all off again.

They've changed their tune now though, kind of.

Probably, TBH

Fair point but knowing everyone on that pitch with you has tested negative must be fairly reassuring still. A lot more reassuring than a lot of workers who will be coming into contact with dozens of strangers on a daily basis. If they don't come back next month then I reckon that means it's finished for a long time. As the situation will be no different in September for example with no vaccine. The game would implode if it was away for a year or more it's just not sustainable. That's why it has to come back and it will in the next 4 weeks or so yeah i agree, at some point we're either going to have to accept that there's a risk and do what is necessary to mitigate it or lockdown until there's a vaccine (which isn't practicable) if i was being tested multiple times a week and knew the others players and staff involved all were (down to everyone, bus drivers, cleaners, cooks whoever) then i'd personally consider the risk acceptable And as soon as one person tests positive?

Yes... "The Premier League refused to comment when contacted by the Guardian. Sources close to the deal continue to maintain they remain “very hopeful” of a confirmation this week and claim Project Restart is the only possible delaying factor."

They're supposed to be essential workers though. Football isnt essential. Not anymore. It's not just essential workers at work now it's anyone who can't work from home. Also football has a big effect on the economy it's a mass employer of all kinds of people for starters It was never just essential workers at work.

I dunno like... safer, probably. Doesn't mean they should be happy to start doing it... especially considering the amount of false results the tests give.

They're supposed to be essential workers though. Football isnt essential. Supposed being the operative word there - I can't say too much about my situation, but my workplace hasn't shut down and the work we do is far from essential. It doesn't matter if your work is essential or not... if a business has work for you to do they can't furlough you. That's just the rule, sadly. The government are only paying out money (understandably) to business that have had to furlough people due to a complete lack of work for those people.

He'll be doing the podcast tonight so I'm sure we'll hear more then.

I’m guessing those people aren’t sweating all over each other, going in for challenges etc etc.

The original Guardian article still says that the buyers expect it to go through this week still. It’s a storm in a tea cup.

Surely they do though? Aren't the owner's test conducted within a specific time-frame? Also the exclusivity supposedly ends mid-May. Do they not have a deadline to get it done by? Exclusivity isn’t a thing now that contracts are signed, according to Caulkin, so that’s not a problem. There’s no deadline.

They are saying this evidence shows a direct link to them, not supposed involvement but direct. They said that in the French court also and didn't win the case Yep exactly. It’s a last minute scare story. Last throw of the dice. If you think it through logically... the buyers are still saying they’re confident, the PL definitely won’t be sharing info with journalists, so this story is coming from whoever is trying to derail it.

They are saying this evidence shows a direct link to them, not supposed involvement but direct. I highly highly doubt that is new information. Just all of a sudden come to light days before a takeover is due to go through. It will all have been a part of the french criminal investigation. I just don’t buy it. Plus, the two journalists saying it are STILL saying it’s expected to go through this week regardless.

I literally don’t see how anything has really changed. The evidence of their involvement has been there since day one. It seems like a last minute scare story to me. Even the story itself says it’s still going to go through this week.