Confused? Join the club
NOW that it’s generally accepted that the Premier League and Championship will resume in two weeks time the various clubs at the sharp end of the season’s business are getting their collective heads around the repercussions should the season be halted again. No-one has ever claimed that the everrevolving cast of 20 Premier League clubs are one big happy united family, unless it was to do with all the filthy lucre that comes along with membership of the world’s richest league keeping the smiles on the faces of owners and directors.
But as with most large families, each member is fiercely protective of his own interests and in the case of the clubs in the bottom six understandably so, given what they stand to lose financially should they be relegated, be it by fair means or foul. In this case fair is denoted by a successful completion of the league season though, it’s reasonable to assume that some members of the league family i.e. West Ham, Brighton, and Watford would rather the season was curtailed now than have to play their way clear of the relegation zone over the next two months.
The current bottom three, Norwich, Villa, and Bournemouth at least now have the opportunity to attempt to overhaul the aforementioned trio, but should the restart be curtailed there is no chance in hell that they would support league placings being decided on a game by game basis. Call me cynical but I still feel that the only winners looking ahead may well be the lawyers, even though I would say that the Premier League as a collective is on pretty solid ground should it be taken to court by any of its membership.
Just call me Nostradamus
Last week I posited an opinion that should the Premier League restart then they should prioritise the games between Sheffield United and Aston Villa and Manchester City and Arsenal, in order to ensure that all clubs have played the same amount of fixtures, should the need arise for a points per game scenario if the season can’t be finished. And lo and behold the Premier League duly announced that the two games to be played on the hoped for June 17th resumption date will be those at Villa Park and the Etihad.
High profile?
Plod really can’t help themselves, can they? Well that should read plod and the execrable London Mayor Sadiq Khan can’t help themselves as they are deeming certain Premier League games to be “high risk” with concerns about fans gathering in large numbers outside stadiums and therefore breaking social distancing rules. I have little enough time for the police on this tenuous argument, but it’s a bit rich for the man who chose through the height of the socalled pandemic to cram thousands of Londoners onto shortened tube trains to be now concerned about social distancing among football fans. Their solution to the problem; move the “high risk” games to neutral venues away from the respective club’s home areas. So that means Spurs, for an extreme example, would possibly have to play their all London clashes with West Ham, Palace, and Arsenal somewhere like Newcastle though most likely the Midlands, while presumably their home game against Manchester United will have to be played in Outer Mongolia, because United have supporters everywhere in the world bar Manchester. In the meantime plod will no doubt continue to turn a blind eye to the packed beaches while Khan will keep on spouting anti-Brexit vitriol while denigrating Donald Trump all the while ignoring the needs of working class Londoners. (And don’t get me started on his master plan to turn London’s main thoroughfares into cycle lanes)
Politics and sport
Politics and sport shouldn’t mix, so they say and in most cases I concur with that view; there are though some exceptions, particularly in the case of apartheid era South Africa where the boycott of that country’s sports teams can be said to have made a difference. On the other side of the coin, did some western countries boycott of the Moscow Olympics make the USSR pull out of Afghanistan? I
Brighton- date with destiny coming up? think not, and if countries were going to be blacklisted for questionable military incursions around the globe, UK sports would be confined merely to the home nations. Which brings us to George Floyd, who died while being forcibly detained by Minneapolis police; this resulted in the entirely predictable law and order breakdown as rioting broke out across the USA. It also resulted in the sadly predictable usual suspects marching in London, Cardiff, Manchester, and other cities demanding “Justice for George” and certain ‘woke’ UK sportsmen sticking their proverbial oars in, including the entire Liverpool team. OK each to their own, but then footy’s antidiscrimination body got involved demanding that players should be allowed to protest the Floyd killing in their own way during games and not be sanctioned for it by officialdom. I get it, I really do, but if all of life’s injustices were given vent to on the field of play we’d never get to actually see any sport. The last time I was there I’m pretty sure Minneapolis was 4,000 miles from London and in an entirely different country with its own justice system, so to me it’s a tad pointless bringing London and our other major cities to a standstill as I can’t see the FBI and Minnesota police taking a lot of notice. And yes, with notable exceptions sport should stay out of politics.
And finally
Last week’s question; ‘Whispering Death’ ‘The Galloping Major’ The Big Easy’ whose nicknames are these? The former is the marvelously fluid West Indian quickie Michael Holding, the latter is the oh-so languid South African golfer Ernie Els, while the chap in the middle is the legendary Hungarian footballing maestro Ferenc Puskas. This week; missing from the list of golf major winners is Alfie Fyles who won six Open Championships. Why is he not on the list?
Be very afraid; I have been asked to supply a new picture of myself for this column but despite my suggestions of using something akin to a Richard Gere avatar, I’m afraid it’s going to be my visage heading this page. The only problem is I can’t work out which is my best side. (Still like the avatar idea)
There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that the denizens of Miroğlu Sokak, Karşıyaka have taken up exercise following their outing in last week’s column; there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with putting on a few pounds during the lockdown, it’s completely understandable and in fact, it’s probably a badge of honour. (I lost half a stone, just saying).