There have been a few developments on the Premier League restart so I thought I would give another update which encapsulates the player feedback and some other mutterings from the Government
Premier League restart – Another update on Project Restart
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Very basic background
Also see my article from earlier in the week which dealt principally with the meeting of the Premier League Clubs
The Premier League clubs met on Monday to discuss a number of issues relating to the resumption of the Premier League which has 9 gameweeks to go.
You’ll remember there are 3 key dates:
- Full training commences – May 18
- Games commence – June 12
- League completes – end of July
Premier league player consultation
It’s hard to believe that this week is the first time players have been consulted over Project Restart but that appears to be the case. The main outputs from the players meeting is that there appears to be unspecified issues with the training protocols which move the training from individual training to full team non contact training.
Secondly there were issues with the timetable between the start of full training and the first week of fixtures. This was timetabled to be 3 weeks after May 18 and the consultation feedback indicated that 4 weeks were required. That seems to signal a potential delay to gameweek 1 to June 19.
The fact that the protocols can’t be agreed until Monday when training is supposed to start but pre training testing will start then also means June 19 is looking more realistic. Worryingly the 2nd lot of training protocols for contact training don’t seem to have been drafted yet.
There was also a managers meeting which again focused on the training protocols.
Further meeting with the Government
Another meeting with the Government seemed to reinforce the desire for the Premier League to return in principle but it subject to:
“It is now up to the football authorities to agree and finalise the detail of their plans,”
However the Government seemed to have slipped in a requirement that the Premier League must show some matches on free-to-air TV and put more money into the Football League and grassroots game as a condition for restarting this season.
The government’s preferred solution is that the remaining 45 matches not already covered under the terms of existing TV deals are shown either on freely accessible TV channels or via a streaming platform such as YouTube.
Remembering the other issues
Neutral grounds
There seems to be a belief that the Government can be persuaded to allow games to be played home and away
UEFA deadline
The Uefa deadline seems to be May 25th to say whether your season has been cancelled or not. That deadline appears to be relaxed and now “some indications as to a potential way forward”
TV compensation
Doubtless this will rumble on but will be agreed you would think as the full compensation mooted of £762m will want to be mitigated even if the final figure is around the £300m given out.
What Next?
A meeting on May 18th to agree the return to full training protocols and discuss the other issues. I’ll give another update after this.
Players will return to full training after the testing has taken place.
Bundesliga
Starts on May 16 and will be a great guide as to whether the Premier League will be able to go ahead.
The difference is though that players in the Bundesliga clubs have been quarantined in a hotel rather than allowed to go back to their homes. Something I can’t believe hasn’t been required here. If it’s good enough for care home workers and nurses to do it then surely Premier League players should be able to do it.
FFGeek is running a Fantasy Bundesliga League by the way.
Other posts
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Each Teams top PPM player – Bournemouth and Brighton
Each teams top PPM player – Burnley and Chelsea
Each teams top PPM player – Palace and Everton
Each teams top PPM player – Leicester and Liverpool
Each teams top PPM player – Man Utd and Man City
Each teams top PPM player – Norwich and Newcastle
Each teams top PPM player – Southampton and Sheffield
Each teams top PPM player – Watford and Spurs
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