Match Day Thread Premier League, Cups & Euro Watch

Watford aren't going to be relegated. Those points saved them. There's your miraculous escape story for the season @Tobes

 

The season's not over?

 

Just trying to get free legal advice.

 

Obviously the season's going to be played out I thought we were all just arguing about if it hypothetically wasn't out of boredom?

 

They’ve played in a lower league, the quality of their football is neither relevant nor comparable.

The salient point, is that the PL season started with every club agreeing to participate as per the PL rules for the 19/20 season, those rules include the full fixture lists that see every club play each other twice. There is nothing within those rules that caters for a season that is ended prematurely by unforeseen circumstances.

Any attempt to relegate clubs based on some previously undefined method that would fall outside of the original contract the clubs agreed to i.e. the rulebook, that was driven by the insistence of the FA who don’t control the PL anyway, would see those clubs sue the **** out of the PL/ FA and likely delay the start of the following season until the case reached its conclusion.

 

No chance it would delay the season. CAS or the courts would rule in about 5 minutes that the PL followed established procedures as best it could. UEFA have already backed PPG.

 

Do you think that Dutch second division team that is suing their premier league because they null and voided their promotion (something some on here said couldn't happen, even though a Dutch law professor said otherwise) would be able to likewise stop the start of their next season by dragging things through the law courts? I mean it might be irrelevant anyway, because if they (or us) can't finish this season because of the conditions, they can't start next season's for a long time either.

Btw, is it okay, in legal terms anyway, to start next season under different conditions than it is finished?

 

Yeah right oh. You’ve assumed that CAS would be the route taken, might be, might not, or could be just one route used. Ultimately in this context, it’d be a contract dispute, between businesses. One side claiming there was nothing in the contract that they signed up to, that should see them relegated after 3/4’s of a season, and the other side saying they had a vote and the majority (all with their own self interest and agendas) made a decision to override that original contract, just because.

Good luck defending that one.

 

They lost that case at the first hurdle.

I’d fully expect next season’s PL rulebook to have a section added for what happens in the event of a curtailed or disrupted season.

 

Like the French one?

 

Yes.

 

tbh I'm surprised they've never thought of including it before. Its extreme arrogance by the PL to think that a long term disruption (of any kind) would never happen.

 

Probably the lesson to be learned from this unprecedented situation - there needs to be clauses for unprecedented situations, even if it's a simple clause to say the relevant FA has the final word, as in the Dutch case.

 

Tbf, if the FA are quick enough to shake their bollocks about and say they're the ultimate power (which they are), they should be taking responsibility for not having clauses in place. Still interested about what happens next season and what clauses are put in - almost certainly it must finish under different conditions than it starts? Is that going to be laid out as a cover-all clause before the start - if you agree to play in this league, it may change as we go along? No doubt though that the French have saved themselves a lot of hand-wringing and shouting by having such clauses. Dunno if there's any legal challenges there though?

 

As long as it says Liverpool lift the trophy in all scenarios...

 

I'll just make-do with it saying the same as the French one does, which is clear and unequivocal, it seems. However, all leagues now need to have a caveat about unforeseen events, and who is in charge and makes the final decision.

 

The one thing that stops any legal action being brought imo will be a failure to prove that the season actually ended. I had thoughts in my head yesterday that didn't translate very well into writing. I will try again.

There is nothing in the rules that specifically states 38 games have to be played. It's taken for granted, has been and always will be and seems obvious but where is it written down? The law is nothing if not pedantic.

There is a printed fixture list and the rules state that the season starts on the date of the first fixture and ends on the date of the last. There is no rule for what happens should war, pestilence, plague or pandemic befall us and the fixtures can't be fulfilled. ( I stated right at the beginning of lockdown that new rules will have to be made now to put in place what will happen if a season can't be completed. ) IF the season cannot be played out then it ended on 9th March. That is not an arbitrary date. It wasn't designed to advantage some and disadvantage others even if that may end up being the case. There was no conscious decision involved in this regard therefore nobody is at fault nor can anybody be held responsible.

IF it's deemed unsafe to play on and the season has ended, all 20 clubs will have to accept that no further games can be played and hence that the season ended on 9th March. It is incontrovertible. The next step is to look to the rules that the PL has in place for the end of the season. The rules dictate the awards for the top team/top 4 teams/5th and 6th place teams/ bottom 3 teams. Every team is where they are on merit, nothing more, nothing less.

In the interests of trying to add some fairness into a very unfair situation ie. pandemic stopped play, the awards won't necessarily default to the table as it stands but they could. Clubs will be asked to draw up their proposals for end of season options which will be voted on much like the French did, I'm guessing. If the 20 clubs cast their votes then any outcome has by definition been voted for collectively. So what kind of legal case could be pursued and by whom, against whom? Did the PL purposefully end the season? Can the PL sue itself? Did the FA purposefully end the season? Can one club sue the others for voting differently?

If a legal case came down to not playing the amount of games 'you signed up to', who do you hold accountable for not playing 38 games?

If it came down to being relegated without having played those 38 games and there being no rule in place that covers awards for a shortened season (although there surely will be going forward). There is no case. Why? No rule exists to relegate you on a shortened season but a rule does exist to relegate the bottom placed teams at the end of the season. All that needs establishing is that the season has ended. IF it is deemed not safe to play on, end of season has already been established as 9th March and will be/will have been accepted by all clubs.

You won't be able to sue anyone for ending the season. Neither can anyone be sued for a relegation process that happens at the end of a season when it will have been established that the season has ended, accepted as ended and relegation process etc. covered in the existing rules. You couldn't sue unless you could prove that the season hadn't ended.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...s_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed_desktop_sport

So here we go: but bearing in mind the Brighton point made yesterday, what now happens if League 1 do play out their season (unlikely)? Is it right to promote teams who didn't finish their league and relegate teams that did in their place? The more this unfolds, the only thing that is fair and doesn't effect anybody else in the chain is that Liverpool are recognised as champions. You could probably say the Euro placings too? Hmm.

 

I (and others) have been saying since #dayone the PL restart has nothing to do with Liverpool lifting the trophy as that was #nailedon and the easiest decision of all. ABLs wasted almost as much time not preparing for LFC to be champions as the Tories wasted not buying PPE.

PPG is fairer than no promotion or relegation. League Two using the weighted PPG is also a good precedent. Unlucky West Ham.

 

It does say each team must play all the others home and away though; thus, thirty- eight games.