{"id":859,"date":"2020-05-29T11:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T10:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=859"},"modified":"2020-07-08T11:20:06","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T10:20:06","slug":"tentative-schedule-put-in-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"Tentative Schedule Put in Place"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1210992143\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1210992143?et=EuLQHhAITs9zGZRkbGSwFA&amp;tld=co.uk&amp;sig=WAs45jSTpn5o_YTHFM0PSIxN33H7BW-5DvzhrYoTiiA=&amp;caption=false&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It&#8217;s back&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Today we have provisionally agreed to resume the Premier League on Wednesday 17<sup>th<\/sup> June.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>With that announcement the PL confirmed\nmany Gooners may once again be able to watch The Arsenal play football &#8211; on TV\nat least as all games will be behind closed doors. The provisional of course\nrelates quite rightly to health and safety concerns, of which more anon but\nfirst what about our own beloved club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Arsenal, leading the way as ever, will\nopen the revised schedule with our delayed fixture away to Manchester City. A\nfull slate of fixtures will then take place starting from the weekend of 20<sup>th<\/sup>\nJune. The media friendly Pep vs. Mikel aspect is no doubt just a scheduling\ncoincidence but will certainly be a talking point as the game draws closer and\nStar Wars quotes abound, let us hope the pupil will indeed prove to be the\nmaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, the current plan, and keeping\nfirmly in mind that all current plans are really just tomorrow\u2019s fish and chip paper,\nis to finish the remaining 92 fixtures by 25<sup>th<\/sup> July with the FA Cup\nFinal to follow on 1<sup>st<\/sup> August. An ambitious plan and one fraught\nwith related points of risk and fixture congestion &#8211; perhaps we may even hear\nthe first plaintive cries of the egotistical football manager complaining about\nthe unfairness of the fixture list, and yes I mean you Maureen. Were The\nArsenal to reach the FA Cup Final, as is often our wont, that would mean 13\ngames in 45 days. &nbsp;Which brings us to the\nfar more important point of the risk. Can this be done safely? In truth no one\ncan guarantee safety at any time especially now and I fully understand and sympathize\nwith those who may see this whole scheme as mad, bad and dangerous. 12 of 2,572\nvirus tests for club staff being positive to date show the risk to be very\nreal. &nbsp;However, and this is just a simple\npersonal view of a complicated issue, football is an industry and like many\nother industries and individuals for that matter it is simply seeking a way to\nsurvive. Whether it is a garden centre, hair salon or tattooists, to name three\nother possibly \u201cnon-essential industries off the top of my head and with no\ndisrespect intended, I think it is simply human nature to try and carry on. We\nfind heart in the attempt. People in many countries are now tentatively\nreturning to their workplaces with it is to be hoped the best possible safety\nprotocols in place and I see no reason to exclude sport from those efforts to\nrecover. There is also a fair argument that the return of football will lift\nthe national mood and partly to that end the TV companies have agreed to\nprovide some matches on a free to view basis \u2013 simple goodwill or a free fix\nfor returning addicts is a moot point really as I don\u2019t doubt many will just\nenjoy the game. However, my view is I must admit mainly driven not by concern\nfor owners or even players and supporters but the many, many others who do not\nearn millions but do depend on football for their livelihood. I hope that\nsomewhere amongst all the discussion the Government has pushed a small point\nabout continued support for the myriad match day workers who will not be\nreturning to work whilst games remain behind closed doors. So far I think clubs\nhave in general behaved well and been supportive to their match day staff,\nhowever the longer games are unable to start as of old the more difficult this\nmay be. Do it anyway, now you are getting some revenue remember these are the\npeople who supported you to make lots of money in the past, support them now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To more hardheaded matters, there are sound\nfinancial reasons to restart the PL, and it is certainly better than nothing\nfinancially for the PL clubs. The 340 million pound rebate to their TV masters\nhas concentrated thinking at a number of clubs bringing forth the latest\nproposal to repay the sum over two years. The burden of repayment will fall\nmore largely on the top 6 finishers \u2013 around 30 million each as opposed to 11\nmillion each for the other 14 due to the structure of the deal. Let\u2019s hope our\nmoneymen will be fully behind MA in his attempts to get us into the top 6. The\nChampionship will also return, though it is a different story in the lower\nleagues and I fear for the future of many of the smaller clubs, at least in\ntheir current professional form. Many will no doubt say that England has long\nbeen an anomaly with 92 professional clubs in a country roughly the size of\nStan\u2019s ranch but many people have long and deeply felt ties to their local team\nand I for one wish them all the best in their fight for survival. Early\ndiscussions have been proposed with a view to government support in return for\nminority shareholdings but whether these proposals are feasible remains to be\nseen. Perhaps, looking on the bright side (I know, I know) it will be an opportunity\nto increase shared fan ownership of clubs, a grass roots revolution so to speak\nas some owners sell-up and move on to pastures new. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of bits of other Arsenal news to\nfinish \u2013 firstly two Arsenal players Jordi Osei Tutu and Dino Mavropanos have\nin fact already returned to action in Bundesliga Two. &nbsp;Osei-Tutu, usually a right back, played wide\nright and scored for Bochum this week, his third in five games I believe. Their\nrespective clubs Bochum and Nurnberg will meet this week and the best of luck\nto them both and I may even watch if I can find somewhere showing the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, Sir Chips, I\u2019ll resist the cashed\nin pun, has announced his retirement as Chair of the Board. In summary Sir\nChips, who seems to have been in isolation for some years now due to his\nfoot-in-mouth proclivities, said\u2026\u2026 \u201cIt has been an honour to be the chairman of\nthis great football club. Arsenal has always held a special place in my life\nand that will remain the case in future. The club is in safe hands with Stan\nand Josh, the board and executive team\u201d\u2026.. I will make no comment on that\nstatement or on his occasionally controversial tenure other than to wish him\nall the best in his retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the club has already said it\nintends to go ahead with only the existing board members many admirable\ncandidates for his replacement as Chair have already been suggested. I will add\none with another admirable person for the role &#8211; Alex Scott, once of this\nparish as an excellent right back, would be a welcome breath of fresh air. I\nrealize of course that the chances of this happening are about the same as a\nsmall furry animal prospering in a very hot place but her appointment would be\nwell-received by the vast majority of Gooners, something I suspect will not be\ntrue of the actual expected appointee as our new Chair. Who knows though, not I\ncertainly, the club may surprise us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time to finish and as always I wish all of\nyou all the best in these difficult times.&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images It&#8217;s back&#8230; Today we have provisionally agreed to resume the Premier League on Wednesday 17th June. With that announcement the PL confirmed many Gooners may once again be able to watch The Arsenal play football &#8211; on TV at least as all games will be behind closed doors. The provisional of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1055,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/1055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}