Ventured on to a Newcastle forum, they find it all so hilarious that they're cheating and taking the piss. Apparently they can do whatever the **** they like because of Mike Ashley It's not their fault they're abusing the rules because it's not them that make them. Never thought I'd hear northerners acting like a bunch of Tory MP's but hey ho. Cheating ****ing smug scum. Genuinely didn't know their fan base was so ****y
Saints themselves have nine players unavailable/doubtful and willing to play Disgraceful this game isn't happening
The only thing that could make the cancellation worse would be if the decision was suddenly reversed, the game played and we lost. I think we knew it was going to happen, and so it has been. The Brentford manager made a point of saying that he wouldn’t state how many of their Covid cases were playing staff and how many were A. N. Other, because the rules didn’t insist on it, which is plainly ridiculous as it allows for the rule to be abused.
Yeah the Mike Ashley thing is *really* weird. Like they deserve special dispensation for having an owner that spent shedloads more than…*checks notes*…ours ever has (not that they’d know that). Almost as special as Liverpool.
No, the thing that would make it worse is us losing the rearranged fixture to a Ward-Prowse free kick.
Saints fans are going to be disappointed this is postponed because this seems like a free hit against Newcastle. The fear is that they will rebuild a better squad by the time the match is rescheduled. To be honest, Saints would have done the same had we been in the same boat but I think that the current league position Newcastle are in and the money they have available to rebuild the squad makes their case unique in these circumstances. You cannot view it as being anything other than cynical.
It's not beyond the realms of possibility that the PL will have to ditch (or amend) the 13 player threshold at some point - ie because if games continue to get postponed at this rate, there might come a point where there is no spare room in the calendar to move them to. You can't postpone games forever. As I've said previously, with the AFCON just around the corner, this is likely to get worse before it gets better. The problem with that though is the huge unfairness it could cause. For example, what if we only have nine players available when it comes to the rearranged fixture - but by that time, the PL have scrapped the threshold and insist the all matches must proceed? The PL need to be far more transparent and stricter than they have been so far.
Games gone. Premier league is a total farce. But fair play to Newcastle, id want Saints to fo the same in their position. I’ve always liked them as a club and they have proper fans so I don’t hold any grudges against them.
There are some good points in this post. The African Cup of Nations is going to cause havoc with infections. I think we will be out of this mess with Omicron in the spring but there will be a massive fixture backlog to resolve.. It will be interesting to see how things play out with movement of players between clubs in the tranfer market and in international fixtures. The issue of squad size is something that is worthwhile debating. Given the size of squads these days, I cannot see any team esacping from the fact that they are going to have to dig deep in to the academy with the FA Cup now coming up. Therefore, to some extent, I think that Newcastle are fighting off the inevitable. I can see that the squad numbers are going to be a key factor for the reainder of the season. It would be interesting to see how keen some clubs will be to recall loaned players too.
I hope that all of these rearranged games are going to be broadcast on TV. Given they are likely to be rescheduled at short notice and in the middle of the week when many cannot attend.
One thing I do find funny, is the ridiculous media outcry everywhere because of saints getting a couple of questionable decisions against Spurs… but I bet they are all silent about this though.
What I mean is that the infections are likely to get more numerous throughoutJ anuary and everyone will be in the same boat. If 1 in 25 people have the virus and you have R numbers in excess of 5, how long will it be before everyone's playing staff is drastically reduced ?
It was strange that a couple of days later they could put out pretty much a full team in the cup game…. Must have been the dinner ladies that had the Covids cos it certainly wasn’t the players Too much cheating going on
I can't even begin to type how ****ing angry I am with this decision, so I won't bother. Will just say football has lost any little integrity it had left. Happy New Year everyone.
