The fixture list normally comes out in June for an August start. As of yet there is no sign of it.

Notwithstanding training beginning I am beginning to wonder whether the season beginning in September behind closed doors is feasible.

League 2 alone has 24 teams. With a match day squad of 18, team officials, match officials, ball boys and medics, even the coach driver, 80+ people per game, x 12 games so 1,000 people involved every Saturday. Unless you put in a 27/7 bubble for 1,000 people for the period until there are no restrictions some of these people are going to test positive for Covid19.

And then matches will be postponed and it will only require a handful of people to test positive and the whole season grinds to a halt. Even with elite sport we saw Jofra Archer decide to break the bubble. He wasn't infected. Does anyone really imagine that amongst the athletic young men who comprise tier four football there won't be a few who chance it? And if a couple pick up the virus, but keep their mouths shut, chaos.

I might be wrong, I hope I am. But for me the EFL have misjudged this badly.

I suppose the EFL may be delaying the fixtures announcement until the Macclesfield situation is decided. The appeal is heard next Tuesday (11th). There may already be a set of fixtures ready to go, with the possibility of simply scrubbing Macc from the list. Travel arrangements without away fans is a less pressing concern. Anticipation of where and how I would be going always kept me on the edge.

I think all the EFL fixtures come out together so probably waiting for Championships play off result.

excessbee wrote:I suppose the EFL may be delaying the fixtures announcement until the Macclesfield situation is decided. The appeal is heard next Tuesday (11th). There may already be a set of fixtures ready to go, with the possibility of simply scrubbing Macc from the list. Travel arrangements without away fans is a less pressing concern. Anticipation of where and how I would be going always kept me on the edge.

You may well be right, as may Amberbhoy. Although it would show how inept the EFL are.

Back in the day the Football League produced fixture lists before the outcome of reelection was known. And whilst the FA are not exactly renowned for competence even they have realised that Newport County or Middlesbrough will play Manchester City, doesn't exactly cause confusion.

amberbhoy wrote:I think all the EFL fixtures come out together so probably waiting for Championships play off result.

Meanwhile the new ball for next season looks great.

https://www.efl.com/news/2020/august/mitre-launch/

Re-election ended a mere 34 years ago.

A provisional fixture list with one club from A,B,C or D possibly going out of the league and (up to 1977) one from up to a dozen possibly coming in, then one from two for a few years, would have been insanely complicated.

Well, the ten day wait for the outcome of an FA Cup replay is an irrelevance in terms of league fixture announcements. Assuming the re-election process took place at the league AGM, are you saying that, back in those times, the next season's fixtures were announced before the AGM took place?

excessbee wrote:Well, the ten day wait for the outcome of an FA Cup replay is an irrelevance in terms of league fixture announcements. Assuming the re-election process took place at the league AGM, are you saying that, back in those times, the next season's fixtures were announced before the AGM took place?

Yes.

Back in the late 60's I remember reading a story in the Argus under the headline Hope for County. The details were, that in the fixture list Newport County, who were applying for reelection were named. In previous years those clubs applying for reelection were named W,X,Y and Z.

Even as a child I had worked out this was nonsense as Bradford PA discovered later that summer.

Edit.

I'm quite sure that a Championship fixture list which had an opening day fixture of Fulham/Brentford v Cardiff wouldn't cause most of us too much lost sleep trying to work out what it meant. Or for that matter Newport v Playoff Winners.

Is any fan currently disadvantaged by not knowing who their team is playing on (possibly) September 12th? Under normal circumstances, it would be important as travel, and possibly accommodation, arrangements would be required.

excessbee wrote:Is any fan currently disadvantaged by not knowing who their team is playing on (possibly) September 12th? Under normal circumstances, it would be important as travel, and possibly accommodation, arrangements would be required.

No. Of course not. However travel arrangements still need to be made, and indeed hotels for overnight stays etc for the teams playing. And if say we were to book an overnight stay in Carlisle only to cancel the day before because two of our players have tested positive I can see that causing problems also.

My main point remains. Sport at an elite level is commercially viable. (Just) I just don't see how at our level it is sustainable. If you can suggest reasons I might be wrong I'd be interested.

Amberexile wrote:

amberbhoy wrote:I think all the EFL fixtures come out together so probably waiting for Championships play off result.

Meanwhile the new ball for next season looks great.

https://www.efl.com/news/2020/august/mitre-launch/

I had a look. Their caption read. 'Prepare to be mesmerized'.

The ball doesn't look too bad, I quite liked it. But mesmerized? It's a ******* football.

At the moment in the championship hull are the only definite going down Wigan are appealing their deduction Charlton are considering legal action against sheff wed not receiving their penalty this season and Barnsley waiting to see what happens so the possibility of a fixture list before this is sorted which pits sheff wed v Barnsley first game would **** it all up

phil crump wrote:At the moment in the championship hull are the only definite going down Wigan are appealing their deduction Charlton are considering legal action against sheff wed not receiving their penalty this season and Barnsley waiting to see what happens so the possibility of a fixture list before this is sorted which pits sheff wed v Barnsley first game would **** it all up

Why?

We know from the 1960's that W,X,Y&Z worked without causing any problems.

And even if Sheffield Wednesday v Barnsley became Wigan v Charlton it's no problem. You simply release the fixture list as things now stand and change if necessary.

A typical Saturday circa 1980.

And today's changes to the programme. At number 3 in place of John Relish, Richard Walden. At 7 replacing Neil Bailey, Nigel Vaughan. At 10 in place of David Gwyther, Tommy Tynan. And today's substitute, replacing Tommy Tynan, at 12 John Relish.

We coped Phil, we coped.

My point is, unless there is any significant necessity to announce fixtures now, why bother. The question is, does it matter? If the announcement is made in the middle of next week, will Newport be able to make travel and accommodation arrangements for a match in Carlisle on 12th September?

excessbee wrote:My point is, unless there is any significant necessity to announce fixtures now, why bother. The question is, does it matter? If the announcement is made in the middle of next week, will Newport be able to make travel and accommodation arrangements for a match in Carlisle on 12th September?

If only you'd asked that straight away. It might help travel plans for clubs to a degree. But it's not perhaps of huge significance. I do though wonder if it might not be an indication that the EFL don't really believe we will kick off on 12 September.