Apparently anyone who plays in Europe and progresses in the FA Cup and League Cup will be playing twice a week well into 2023.

Saw some talk that there may not be rematches in the FA Cup this season. They did the same during Covid and it should be a permanent change in my opinion.

goon wrote:

Games cancelled this weekend. Find it an odd move to be perfectly honest, but like everything this day and age I suspect it was decided to go with whatever is the safest course of action from a PR standpoint.

I think it's quite cynical to view it as a PR move, it's more than that in my opinion.

It might seem odd or excessive when viewed through the tiny lens of organised sports, but I think it seems more reasonable when you consider what the Queen meant to a overwhelming majority of the country. This is a very big deal to a great number of people.

Its a bit silly to add this much extra pressure on players for basically no reason. Cricket and Rugby are still going ahead.

goon wrote:

Games cancelled this weekend. Find it an odd move to be perfectly honest, but like everything this day and age I suspect it was decided to go with whatever is the safest course of action from a PR standpoint.

Yeah would be real irreverent for a bunch of 20 year olds to kick a ball couple days after some irrelevant royal hag passes.

Qwiss! wrote:

Its a bit silly to add this much extra pressure on players for basically no reason. Cricket and Rugby are still going ahead.

Nothing to do with football either. Even when Marc-Vivien Foé, Miklos Feher or Piermario Morosini died on the pitch they didn't suspend any games afterwards.

The relevance is subjective.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Saw some talk that there may not be rematches in the FA Cup this season. They did the same during Covid and it should be a permanent change in my opinion.

Largely agree but that's from our perspective as fans of a bigger club. Part of the magic and romance of the FA cup is the importance it has for smaller teams both in competing into the knock out rounds proper and the financial benefits it brings, including getting replays. I suspect, and I'm sure I've heard it said, that some would rather get a draw and a replay away to a big team because of the payday it brings to their club. One good cup tie, replay or mini-run can give a club financial security for years and it's a shame we'll lose that opportunity.

Nothing better than watching the early rounds of the cup and seeing how much it means to the supporters of the small clubs just to be there. I'd take that over a Champions League final containing clubs I don't care for any day. 

jones wrote:

goon wrote:

Games cancelled this weekend. Find it an odd move to be perfectly honest, but like everything this day and age I suspect it was decided to go with whatever is the safest course of action from a PR standpoint.

Yeah would be real irreverent for a bunch of 20 year olds to kick a ball couple days after some irrelevant royal hag passes.

I'm no royalist, but what good comes from being a disrespectful knob to others? There are lots of British people on here, as you well know, to whom the Queen was certainly not irrelevant.

Like someone said earlier, mourning should be voluntary. Those who didn't want to go to PL matches this weekend wouldn't have gone, not sure why the rest shouldn't. If it's about the police then fine, but it doesn't seem like it.

Maybe, maybe not. I don't know what the will of the country is on the subject, though I suspect most would be in favour of a period of mourning that reflects the importance of this to most British people.

Regardless, disrespect, especially in the wake of death, is distasteful, unpleasant, and unnecessary.

cricket is still going on and they probably have a higher percentage of royalists in their supporter ranks than football.

@Ricky Wasn't referring to Jones's comment but the postponed matches. If the will of the people is that those who don't want to mourn and/or would want to go see a football match should stay at home and mourn instead then that's something that doesn't make sense to me.

Also, people obviously exist in this world who deserve to be disrespected when they die, some people are straight up bad. Not saying the queen is necessarily one of those, but in any case unless your issue is with disrespect to all dead people then it's rather that you and Jones have different opinions about this person. I imagine many in previously colonized countries find it sickening that she's even celebrated, or the family of Prince Andrew's victim who she probably paid off.

Anyway not PL related, but this will always be a controversial death with widely different views. I'm not enough of a history buff to have a strong opinion. 

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

@Ricky Wasn't referring to Jones's comment but the postponed matches. If the will of the people is that those who don't want to mourn and/or would want to go see a football match should stay at home and mourn instead then that's something that doesn't make sense to me.

Also, people obviously exist in this world who deserve to be disrespected when they die, some people are straight up bad. Not saying the queen is necessarily one of those, but in any case unless your issue is with disrespect to all dead people then it's rather that you and Jones have different opinions about this person. I imagine many in previously colonized countries find it sickening that she's even celebrated, or the family of Prince Andrew's victim who she probably paid off.

Anyway not PL related, but this will always be a controversial death with widely different views. I'm not enough of a history buff to have a strong opinion. 

their victims feelings would just cause a majority of the british population to double down on the lizzie love because it would be a way of sticking it to these woke pansies as they see it. remembering the good old days of colonialism and empire.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Like someone said earlier, mourning should be voluntary. Those who didn't want to go to PL matches this weekend wouldn't have gone, not sure why the rest shouldn't. If it's about the police then fine, but it doesn't seem like it.

It's been reported that this weekends fixtures have nothing to do with the police. I also doubt you would have seen any empty seats this weekend if it went ahead. 

Conversely would anyone who wants to mourn be seriously offended by the games going ahead with a mins silence/ applause and the national anthem being sung etc?

The reaction from journalists and high profile pundits to the suspension seems to be overwhelmingly on the side if it being a mistake, while the vast majority of fans seem to be annoyed.

Rugby is going on, Cricket is going on, Horse racing is going on, Cinema's are open, restaurants are open, people still have to go to work, the official guidance was very light touch especially with regards to this weekend. But the dinosaurs at the PL/FA decided that even kids and grassroots football had to be cancelled to properly show respect.

Was Lizzie not known for getting on with it and also a fan of sports? I think in that regard it also would have made more sense to have the games.

Clrnc wrote:

Assume you guys saw Trevor Sinclair tweet about the queen

Yeah. I seen the reaction first, then the tweet. Was genuinely surprised how tame it was. Although maybe Irish Twitter today has skewed my perspective a bit.

Clrnc wrote:

Assume you guys saw Trevor Sinclair tweet about the queen

Shocking.

Talk sport have suspended him and rightly so.

Anyway, at least Saka gets a weekend off for the first time in 3 years!

Also, we can play the big guns v PSV and I suspect next weekend will be off too.

goon wrote:

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Like someone said earlier, mourning should be voluntary. Those who didn't want to go to PL matches this weekend wouldn't have gone, not sure why the rest shouldn't. If it's about the police then fine, but it doesn't seem like it.

It's been reported that this weekends fixtures have nothing to do with the police. I also doubt you would have seen any empty seats this weekend if it went ahead. 

Conversely would anyone who wants to mourn be seriously offended by the games going ahead with a mins silence/ applause and the national anthem being sung etc?

The reaction from journalists and high profile pundits to the suspension seems to be overwhelmingly on the side if it being a mistake, while the vast majority of fans seem to be annoyed.

Rugby is going on, Cricket is going on, Horse racing is going on, Cinema's are open, restaurants are open, people still have to go to work, the official guidance was very light touch especially with regards to this weekend. But the dinosaurs at the PL/FA decided that even kids and grassroots football had to be cancelled to properly show respect.

they might also be afraid of the disrespect that could have been shown like what happened at the hearts games in scotland. the dinosaurs at the PL/FA might view their supporter base with a bit more contempt than those in rugby and cricket, etc.