It is becoming more obvious that this season is going to be completely different to any season any of us have ever experienced in our lifetimes......professional athletes...in this case footballers have situations before them that will go far beyond the norm that has been part of their normal expectations of playing and recovering from injuries .....that have been part of a footballers career for well over a 100 years. The F L management need to get a grip of what is happening and work out a formula that is fair for all clubs and players alike. Okay Accrington for example have eight players tested positive....that is an easy one....game canceled.....but where does that leave them....footballers are young athletes and the virus hopefully will only effect them a little....in 10 days time they should be clear and healthy....but it doesn't mean that automatically they are up and running and fit to play 90 minutes of pro football....we don't really know how the virus effects each person.....so will the F L be telling them to get out there and play ? Argyle Tuesday afternoon.... they know that Grant is positive and out of the squad so is self-isolating....they also know that Canavan and Wootton are okay from "there test at that given time"....until that moment they had stayed away from the rest of the squad...and traveled to Lincoln independently for the match. They get their negative results and join the squad for the build up for the match....Lowe chats to the F L and is told that although negative they cannot play and must go home. So Lowe has to re-jig his team with only three and a half hours to kick off. So does that mean any player who has had contact with a positve player...must isolate for 10 days whatsoever.....yes it does.....does it mean that although negative "at that time" could they at a later time show symptoms of Covid and a re-test show them positive....it seems so.....and remember they had joined the whole squad and management for pre-match preparation....now if either Canavan or Wootton go down with the virus (we assume they've caught it from Grant ?) where does that leave the whole squad ? Going back to Accrington having 8 players positive....enough to lockdown the whole of the town.....there are more questions then answers being thrown up.....and the FL need to workout how to deal with Covid-19 in a fair way for clubs..staff...and of course players. Counting a "positive result player" as being injured is not the right approach in my thinking....Covid-19 although a physical ailment...which fortunately is not normally fatal to young healthy people....it is also a mental issue and also the fact that you can be fit and well and not showing any symptoms but can pass it on to others is the fear of the unknown....and the thought of passing it on to an elderly person or a person with other underlying health problems is rather unnerving. The reason they're out of the team is not in my thinking a normal injury.... and how many players do you need with the virus before the match is called off....and will it also depend on the size of your squad ? This season might be very long...or might not go the distance for the second year running. The FL need to ponder all of this and as I said workout a fair approach for every club......Argyle I feel got the short end of the stick Tuesday afternoon....and although they played well for 50 minutes....the poor penalty decision undid them....and showed that mentally they were probably not in the right frame of mind.
Scunthorpe playing at Exeter with six players out with Covid....and if that isn't bad enough no Manager or Assistant Manager...because there also at home with Covid. We need some rules that are more balanced....does seem crazy.....no talk of Exeter having Covid problems ?
I see Swindon v Accrington is a Tuesday game......the question is....can they find eleven players between them to make one team up...and will they change the venue to a specialized Covid-19 hospital ward.
