The reds, up or down?

I agree we don't deserve to stay up. Not Struber's fault - he's done a decent job with a bad bunch - but the fault of the board from last summer

I personally like the idea of promotion and relegation playoffs to finish the season - makes everyone's fate determined on merit

 

surely some form contract roll over should be considered if the season is restarted ?

 

God almighty. "We don't deserve to stay up" . WHAT ABOUT THE EFFING CHEATS. HOW MANY MORE TIMES DO YOU BUGGERS NEED TELLING. Not all's fair in love and war.and till they sort the cheats out I'll take anything we can get.

 

Not too sure they can tbh. Footballers contracts seem to be locked in and probably rightly so especially the ones further down the chain .
Think it’s gonna be hard to keep a player above his contract if he’s chance to earn lots more elsewhere just as it’ll be hard to get rid of a player we don’t want if he’s nowhere to go .

 

how many do we have out of contract this summer and who are they.

 

Not too sure tbh , I don’t think there’s many but I’m sure some other clubs will have lots

 

How on Earth are some clubs are going to extend contracts when they are literally going to the wall.

 

dunno Hooky. But if some do go under it would be a real shame for the sport in general. Hopefully our club has been run well, as we often being told , and will be OK.

 

You're right in a broader sense - everyon else is cheating and it's ridiculous that this hasn't been punished. We should be able to compete at this level without this going on

...BUT in terms of this season, we were terrible for lots of it. And a big part of that is our own (board's) doing, as well as the cheats.

I'd obviously love us to stay up via the season being cancelled - we'd all take it, and it's not more of an injustice than the financial cheating. But do this team deserve to stay up? Not really, unfortunately

 

Personally if some go under it would be manna from heaven for me.
Let all them cheating Barstewards like Birmingham Reading massivs Derby etc. go out of existence. It's of their own doing so in the words of the immortal bard,
"**** EM"

 

As I’ve said all season, we will stay up. If the current positions are taken as the finishing ones it will be a heinous crime.

 

One thing that isn't being considered is the effect of COVID on the health of players. Even minor cases have been found to have significant lung scarring on x-rays later, so some clubs could find that players have been ill and recovered, but can't ever perform at the same level again.

Other than that. They will try to play behind closed doors, and probably after the first big game when 10000 turn up to stand outside the stadium it will be chalked off again - unless they play in mystery locations...

 

The only way forward seems to be just scrap this season and write it off. Don't think lockdown restrictions will be lifted in time to get the season finished behind closed doors and then have adequate time to start the new season. If the season is stopped with current results standing everyone will be sueing everyone because they were relegated or not promoted so I reckon the entire season will be chalked off and start again whenever that maybe. Feel sorry for liverpool but that's the fairest way......

 

But these aren’t normal times. Where do you draw the line? Someone, somewhere, will feel hard done by. I’m not saying any option is right and would bite your hand off for a null & void outcome, but just don’t think we could have too many complaints if we were relegated as it stands.

 

Even if mystery locations you’d still have mass gatherings around televisions ,
Not on as grand a scale granted but you’d still have outsiders in others homes (pubs illegally) etc .

 

Like I say, I couldn’t give a monkeys what they do. From a personal perspective.

But it would be very harsh to relegate clubs with 27 points to play for.

 

I don't really mind. If we still have a club to go and watch after all this I'll be happy.
I won't feel too bad from a sporting point of view if we are relegated without playing again as we have been truly awful this season.
If games start again it wont feel like a natural conclusion to the season anyway, although who knows this could give us a chance?
If we stay up without playing I would feel we had got away with one.
But as I opened with, i don't really care I'll just be happy to be able to go back to Oakwell with my mates. Some people won't be able to do that again. Either through the tragedy of the virus or clubs no longer existing.

 

Which immortal Bard was that then. ?

 

My level of confidence is low. Seven points is a big gap when there are only 27 left to play for. I went to the game at Reading and felt then that our upturn was at an end and relegation was coming. I was in Krakow for the Cardiff game but the result firmed up that view. My view now is that our chances are perhaps 20% at best.

What would be frustrating and unfair is if the investigations into Wednesday, Derby, Reading and Birmingham aren't completed and we go down only for them to receive points deductions next season. I suspect that will be what happens though.

Having said all of that, I wonder if the make up of the entire EFL next season might be less about promotion / relegation and more about how many clubs go to the wall.