Maybe if we've still got 48 clubs left for those 2, do 4 groups of 12 and play each other 4 times not 2. Top team wins their region and playoff against each other for overall title. (Winner = L1 champion, loser in final = L2 champion) or whatever that just keeps clubs able to function cheaper.

You're alright, Luke. I'm in row K above the tunnel.

Or even regional, NW, NE/E, SE, SW, Midlands or something similar.

And back to football - if clubs struggle etc I can see a suggestion being made to keep EPL and Championship as they are then merging L1/L2 into L1 North and L1 South to cut costs etc.

Us normal folk need to pay our mortgages/rent and the virus has made that both harder and more important so that means many will take lower paid/skilled jobs just to try and get by. Capitalism wins.

Sorry about that Luke although you're one of the people who nicked all the seats in the back two rows ;)

The fact it impacts worse the older you are makes you more likely to end up in hospital and potentially die. Doesn't mean your group are the ones flouting the rules or spreading it. That's like saying it was the fault of the natives when they all died from Western diseases - not the fault of the westerners who brought the diseases with them. I mean potentially you're victim blaming here.

A4E, look at Figure 5 here then shut the fuck up [Link]

I can see Luke and Tim being best buddies

I’d also agree with Trigg when he said “I don’t think the virus has harmed capitalism at all....” - I’m hearing that many wealthy folk are scooping up a lot of shares when companies’ stock falls dramatically, and of course they can afford to sit on them for a while (a few years even) and then cash in big time when a recovery comes, thereby becoming even wealthier. I don’t think that’ll change too much over the next year though.

Hash Vallence said yesterday that Zthe Govt have acquired rights to six vaccines. The Oxford vaccine was making good progress albeit the US have concerns, and there is hope that it will be available about six months into 2021 with an outside chance of being ready before Christmas. The first group to be vaccinated will be healthcare workers followed by vulnerables

Ah, it's your fault I am stuck in the middle then. 106 O 16 for me

Trebor - History tells us people flock back to sport after an 'interregnum'. Not worried about our crowds after this season. I share your concerns about the hospitality side. What is the plan for fitting it out?

Ultimately we are going to have to live with this virus - either managed with vaccinations and treatment or managed through really disciplined and honest track and trace with individual or if necessary local lock downs. We cannot continue these restrictions indefinitely. Smallpox is the only virus that has ever been eliminated completely. Elimination is not going to happen. Hopefully they are closer to a vaccine / treatment than they are letting on and that would justify keeping restrictions in place. Humanity has advanced for the last several thousand years through some form of human socialising. It cannot be a new normal to end human socialising.

I'm in much the same situation Luke. I did get an aisle seat to be able to make a quick escape.

mad/Lurks - the real “retro-blaming“ was surely Hancock saying it was young people to blame, and I happen to disagree with that summation, as do many other even on here (you’ll have read their comments too, so you must reply to them as well....), and whilst it is indeed spiking in certain groups (partly, but of course by no means only because there’s a lot more testing in those age groups), the overwhelming hospitalisations and deaths are (as two restaurateurs pointed out earlier today) still in much older groups and usually in care homes/settings, very often with comorbidities. If it’s politicising to say the govt hasn’t handled it too well, you’ve got to call out Tim Martin (who I thought was a big Johnson fan) for politicising it as well, since he obviously agrees - I’m calling it as I see it..... remember, “the scientists advise, but the govt decides.....“.

When does everyone think we’ll be able to have our first full-capacity-no-restrictions match at NPL? My guess is at the start of the 2021/22 season, with test events over the spring and summer. At the earliest, maybe later, depends on a vaccine. Sorry to be pessimistic. (Repeat post from a month ago.)

Well done sutton residents only 24 new cases last week, 1 every 8300.

Have to admit I'm more twitchy about next season. If we've budgeted and cut back OK this season and we get enough in through debentures and NRSTs, I presume we'll survive. But even if crowds are back next season, how will the economy be? If everyone who goes to a match cuts back their spending just a little bit, what will be the cumulative effect? How will the conferences/hospitality side of the new ground be affected? Could be a challenge to the assumptions that underpin our business plan for repaying our debt.

Simmie, fair point. I only go to the Petrol Station to get milk and see most young people not wearing a mask. Have been to a pub 3 times outdoors (one indoors with hardly anyone there) for lunch.

I note no widespread shielding for oldies. Can't be that bad then.

Realistically I doubt much bailout money will reach us. Need those debentures and NRSTs to keep rolling in. Maybe the club could also set up some sort of monthly donation thing for those who might be able to afford a monthly donation but not a larger one-off donation?

A4e all you’re expressing is a politicised view. You’ve got scientists stating it’s spiking for positive tests in those age groups and then people like you still playing the political response. That’s why some groups don’t listen in the first place. Too many people with an agenda deflecting and hijacking.

*DCMS*.

Picking up on something mad said, oddly the biggest “group” I see not wearing masks in the petrol stations and Sainsburys local, which is as much as I do, are the minority ethnicity groups that were subject of massive concern about higher death rates. Some people won’t learn until it’s too late. Having said that all of the ones not wearing masks will be in the 15-30 age group (roughly).