No to games being stopped. Now we have all our players back I think I agree.
www.telegraph.co.uk
The Premier League will strongly argue against a festive firebreak to combat Covid-19 at a meeting of all 20 clubs this lunchtime.
Despite six of the 10 matches in the weekend’s round of fixtures being called off due to the high number of positive tests the league will insist that games over Christmas and New Year should carry on.
Ultimately the decision will be taken by the 20 clubs as to whether they want to take a break although the league will maintain that, instead, they need to continue managing the situation. Fourteen of the 20 clubs need to agree.
No dates have been proposed for a circuit-break but, clearly, the round of fixtures on Boxing Day and on December 27 and, separately, the next set of games on December 28, 29 and 30 will be discussed.
One argument put forward by the Premier League will be that to call off games now could create even more problems in the coming weeks if the Government imposes further restrictions and the Omicron variant becomes even more prevalent leading to a shutdown or games being played with limited capacities or behind closed doors.
The football calendar for 2022 is already extremely congested and there is little room for rescheduled games. The Premier League clubs are likely to suggest the Carabao Cup semi-finals being played over one leg, and not two, and will question the need for FA Cup replays. There will also be a discussion as to what kind of assurances they can get should the African Cup of Nations go ahead in Cameroon in January.
Because of the loaded agenda it means that two other meetings originally proposed for today – one involving managers, the other captains and senior player – will now take place later in the week.
At today’s meeting the case will be put forward for having to accept that young fit and vaccinated players may get Covid but will also not get seriously ill – but also that getting them fully vaccinated is morally and medically important.
The Premier League is due later this week to release figures showing the vaccination rates among players. The latest data was published in mid-October when it was revealed that only 68 per cent of players were double-jabbed with 81 per cent having had one dose of the vaccine. Since then the figures have gone up encouragingly, it appears, but there is also now the issue of receiving the booster jab.
It will also be stressed that clubs will have to accept the rules they signed up to at the start of the season covering the criteria under which games will be called off.
All clubs have been explained the rules and voted on them. They are set out in Appendix 17 of the Premier League’s 2021-22 handbook and while each decision is taken on a case-by-case basis, clubs are guided that if 14 or more players are available then permission will not be granted to postpone.
Clubs will be expected to utilise under-21 players with suitable experience in the Premier League, the English Football League or overseas. However the board do also consider medical advice from clubs on whether it is deemed to be an uncontrollable outbreak, in which case it is seen as unsafe to bring players together.
Some clubs, however, believe the ‘case-by-case’ approach is leading to a lack of consistency while the Premier League is frustrated that managers appear to have tried to manipulate the situation to suit their own needs.
An improved picture could be announced this week but anything below 90 per cent would look terrible. As well as experts agreeing unvaccinated people are at greater risk of catching and spreading Covid-19, those not double-jabbed must self-isolate for a full 10 days if deemed a close contact of someone to test positive.
With maximum protection from the Omicron variant requiring a booster, anyone yet to have a first jab would be months away from minimum risk of catching the disease.
Premier League clubs appear to have ruled out following other countries by docking the pay of unjabbed players who test positive but, as Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear warned on Sunday, Monday’s meeting could decide they need to face some kind of consequences.
Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, alluded to such arrangements when discussing the prospect of signing an unjabbed player next month. He said: “From an organisational point of view, it gets really messy. We’d have to find different scenarios. He has to change in a different dressing room, he has to eat in a different dining room, he has to sit in a different bus, he has to drive in a different car.”
The Premier League has already ramped up testing since the current wave of postponements began, as well as returning to the strict training-ground and match-day protocols in place before the vaccine was even available.
Short of asking players to stay at home when not playing or training – something clubs have no power to enforce – it is hard to see how much more could be done beyond singling out the unjabbed. What the Professional Footballers’ Association, the players’ union, would make of that is another matter.
As revealed by Telegraph Sport, Chelsea had a request for Sunday’s game at Wolverhampton Wanderers to be postponed rejected by the Premier League board. That infuriated manager Thomas Tuchel, who said forcing what remained of his squad to travel to the match had put them at risk of catching Covid.
The rules used to deny the request were agreed by clubs last year and will be discussed again at Monday’s meeting amid accusations they are not clear enough and could be open to abuse.
The Football Supporters’ Association has also demanded an end to games being called off a few hours before kick off after two suffered that fate last week.
Malcolm Clarke, the FSA chairman, told Telegraph Sport the decision-making process by the Premier League board on postponements needed to be sped up so that such calls are made, at the latest, on the morning of a match, even if that meant a game being called off that could be played.
Amid the possibility of further Covid disruption throughout the winter and few guaranteed spare midweek dates in the calendar, clubs will need to decide whether to reschedule any fixtures during the so-called winter break at the end of January and start of February.
So-called because that fortnight has already been designated an international window for the climax of the Africa Cup of Nations and for postponed World Cup qualifiers in every other region except Europe. Would Premier League clubs want to play rearranged matches without their non-European stars?
The fixture congestion could be compounded if any of Tuesday and Wednesday’s Carabao Cup matches are postponed. As revealed by Telegraph Sport, that could force the English Football League to stage the semi-finals over one leg instead of two due to the latter ties being scheduled to begin on week commencing January 3.
Premier League 'festive firebreak' rejected but fears grow for fan shutout after Welsh ban
All sporting events in Wales will be held behind closed doors from Boxing Day due to the surge in coronavirus cases
www.telegraph.co.uk
Premier League to argue against festive football firebreak at lunchtime meeting
The decision on whether to take a break will, however, be made by the Premier League clubs, with 14 of the 20 needing to agreeThe Premier League will strongly argue against a festive firebreak to combat Covid-19 at a meeting of all 20 clubs this lunchtime.
Despite six of the 10 matches in the weekend’s round of fixtures being called off due to the high number of positive tests the league will insist that games over Christmas and New Year should carry on.
Ultimately the decision will be taken by the 20 clubs as to whether they want to take a break although the league will maintain that, instead, they need to continue managing the situation. Fourteen of the 20 clubs need to agree.
No dates have been proposed for a circuit-break but, clearly, the round of fixtures on Boxing Day and on December 27 and, separately, the next set of games on December 28, 29 and 30 will be discussed.
One argument put forward by the Premier League will be that to call off games now could create even more problems in the coming weeks if the Government imposes further restrictions and the Omicron variant becomes even more prevalent leading to a shutdown or games being played with limited capacities or behind closed doors.
The football calendar for 2022 is already extremely congested and there is little room for rescheduled games. The Premier League clubs are likely to suggest the Carabao Cup semi-finals being played over one leg, and not two, and will question the need for FA Cup replays. There will also be a discussion as to what kind of assurances they can get should the African Cup of Nations go ahead in Cameroon in January.
Because of the loaded agenda it means that two other meetings originally proposed for today – one involving managers, the other captains and senior player – will now take place later in the week.
At today’s meeting the case will be put forward for having to accept that young fit and vaccinated players may get Covid but will also not get seriously ill – but also that getting them fully vaccinated is morally and medically important.
The Premier League is due later this week to release figures showing the vaccination rates among players. The latest data was published in mid-October when it was revealed that only 68 per cent of players were double-jabbed with 81 per cent having had one dose of the vaccine. Since then the figures have gone up encouragingly, it appears, but there is also now the issue of receiving the booster jab.
It will also be stressed that clubs will have to accept the rules they signed up to at the start of the season covering the criteria under which games will be called off.
All clubs have been explained the rules and voted on them. They are set out in Appendix 17 of the Premier League’s 2021-22 handbook and while each decision is taken on a case-by-case basis, clubs are guided that if 14 or more players are available then permission will not be granted to postpone.
Clubs will be expected to utilise under-21 players with suitable experience in the Premier League, the English Football League or overseas. However the board do also consider medical advice from clubs on whether it is deemed to be an uncontrollable outbreak, in which case it is seen as unsafe to bring players together.
Some clubs, however, believe the ‘case-by-case’ approach is leading to a lack of consistency while the Premier League is frustrated that managers appear to have tried to manipulate the situation to suit their own needs.
Four key Covid issues on the agenda at Premier League meeting
Vaccination
The number of Premier League players refusing to be vaccinated against coronavirus is arguably the biggest reason so many top-flight matches have been postponed compared to those in Europe’s other major leagues. The most recent figures show almost a third of players in the world’s richest league have not been double-jabbed, compared to eight per cent in La Liga and the Bundesliga and just two per cent in Serie A.An improved picture could be announced this week but anything below 90 per cent would look terrible. As well as experts agreeing unvaccinated people are at greater risk of catching and spreading Covid-19, those not double-jabbed must self-isolate for a full 10 days if deemed a close contact of someone to test positive.
With maximum protection from the Omicron variant requiring a booster, anyone yet to have a first jab would be months away from minimum risk of catching the disease.
Premier League clubs appear to have ruled out following other countries by docking the pay of unjabbed players who test positive but, as Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear warned on Sunday, Monday’s meeting could decide they need to face some kind of consequences.
Covid protocols
Those consequences could be felt in the form of beefed up Covid protocols in which all unnecessary contact between vaccinated players and those who refuse to be jabbed is banned. Proposals that have been put forward include making the latter change and travel separately.Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, alluded to such arrangements when discussing the prospect of signing an unjabbed player next month. He said: “From an organisational point of view, it gets really messy. We’d have to find different scenarios. He has to change in a different dressing room, he has to eat in a different dining room, he has to sit in a different bus, he has to drive in a different car.”
The Premier League has already ramped up testing since the current wave of postponements began, as well as returning to the strict training-ground and match-day protocols in place before the vaccine was even available.
Short of asking players to stay at home when not playing or training – something clubs have no power to enforce – it is hard to see how much more could be done beyond singling out the unjabbed. What the Professional Footballers’ Association, the players’ union, would make of that is another matter.
Postponements
Clubs were expected to discuss on Monday postponing an entire round of fixtures between December 28-30 amid fears from managers Covid-19 has compounded player welfare concerns during the festive period.As revealed by Telegraph Sport, Chelsea had a request for Sunday’s game at Wolverhampton Wanderers to be postponed rejected by the Premier League board. That infuriated manager Thomas Tuchel, who said forcing what remained of his squad to travel to the match had put them at risk of catching Covid.
The rules used to deny the request were agreed by clubs last year and will be discussed again at Monday’s meeting amid accusations they are not clear enough and could be open to abuse.
The Football Supporters’ Association has also demanded an end to games being called off a few hours before kick off after two suffered that fate last week.
Malcolm Clarke, the FSA chairman, told Telegraph Sport the decision-making process by the Premier League board on postponements needed to be sped up so that such calls are made, at the latest, on the morning of a match, even if that meant a game being called off that could be played.
Rescheduling games
With 10 matches called off in a week at the start of a packed festive period, the Premier League is facing a major headache about when to reschedule the postponed games next year – the year of the November-December World Cup in Qatar.Amid the possibility of further Covid disruption throughout the winter and few guaranteed spare midweek dates in the calendar, clubs will need to decide whether to reschedule any fixtures during the so-called winter break at the end of January and start of February.
So-called because that fortnight has already been designated an international window for the climax of the Africa Cup of Nations and for postponed World Cup qualifiers in every other region except Europe. Would Premier League clubs want to play rearranged matches without their non-European stars?
The fixture congestion could be compounded if any of Tuesday and Wednesday’s Carabao Cup matches are postponed. As revealed by Telegraph Sport, that could force the English Football League to stage the semi-finals over one leg instead of two due to the latter ties being scheduled to begin on week commencing January 3.
