2 days without sport – it felt like a lifetime

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Is this what it is like to have no sport in your life?

I probably underestimate how much time I spend watch sport. Not just football, but rugby, cricket, 1, boxing. Add in darts, snooker, athletics, the Tour de France.

It has only been 2 days. A single weekend. But the boredom set in at around lunch on Sunday.

I’d been for a walk at 7am. I’d done some cleaning and tidying. Gave the grass a mow and had multiple cups of tea. Then it was 13:26 and I had no clue what else to do. It felt like I was just waiting for night to draw in when I could go to sleep and be up for a new day.

I have no idea how people who do not like sport cope. What do they do at weekends? How do they fill their time?

With Brighton cancelled, I met up with most of the lads I go home and away with in Kings X at noon on Saturday. We were all stuck for something to do.

Non-league was an option – but Barnet and Borehamwood has their games cancelled. Shall we go Sutton or Dulwich Hamlet? How about going to Richmond; watch an amateur game game of rugby.

Kempton Park was mooted, but some of us were still sore after Cheltenham losses.

Instead we sat in the pub, watching the horse racing on our phones, losing more money. Then a decision was made.

Let’s go Hurricane Rooms and play some pool. At least that’ll kill a few hours.

A few hours later we were exited the dark and dingy place just off Grays Inn Road to bright sunshine.

Hit up a few pubs towards Farringdon (which were fairly empty) then off home for a curry.

With no sport for the forceable, I imagine most weekends will be the same.

Pick an area of London. Hit a few pubs. Home for some dinner. Sunday’s spent gardening.

Maybe I should use the time and go to the gym? I have one in my loft!

Hopefully we do not go into a full lock down. That will be completely over the top. At least whilst we can wander the streets we can stay partially occupied.

A full lock down and no sport will not be good for the mental health. Neither will spending the time on social media taking about not very much.

We will get through this next few weeks, or months. Everyone stay safe. And hopefully some sport returns soon

Keenos

Football authorities have 2 choices: Extend or Cancel

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Well yesterday we warned of short notice cancellations to games, and within a couple of hours of our blog going live it was announced that the next 2 weeks Premier League fixtures would be suspended.

This means there will be no Premier League football until 4th April – after the international break.

After the international break, there are 6 weeks of football left if the authorities still want the league season to finish on 17th May. That simply is not enough time to complete every game.

Having been knocked out of the Europa League by Olympiakos, Arsenal have no games currently scheduled for mid-week. That leaves 6 mid-week slots where games could be re-arranged.

We already have to re-arrange Manchester City, Brighton & Southampton. It is likely the FA will follow the Premier League’s lead and postpone next weekends FA Cup ties. This leaves us with 4 games to be re-arranged.

If Arsenal beat Sheffield United, the fixture against Leicester will also need to be re-arranged.

5 games re-arranged with 6 available mid-week slots. It is doable. But Arsenal are out of Europe.

Manchester City are still in the Champions League.

They already have 4 league games that need re-arranging: Fixtures against Newcastle, Burnley, Chelsea and Arsenal. The FA Cup game against Newcastle will make it 5.

On top of that they also need to re-arrange the Champions League 2nd leg tie against Real Madrid.

So that is 6 games they need to re-arrange, with 6 mid-week slots. But those 6 mid-week slots are only available if they are knocked out of the Champions League.

If Manchester City make it to the Semi-Final, that means they only have 2 mid-weeks with no football. 6 into 2 does not go.

They would have 17 games to play (excluding finals) and just 42 days to play them. That is a game every 2.5 days.

Manchester United face a similar fixture pile up.

They already had the games against Sheffield United and LASK in the Europa League to re-arrange. With this weeks game against Tottenham and Norwich in the FA Cup set to be cancelled.

That is 4 games that need to be re-arranged. If they make the Europa League semi-finals and beat Norwich in the FA Cup, they will have 9 games needed to be played in 4 mid-weeks.

Chelsea also face a similar situation.

Even if they use the mid-weeks prior to the FA Cup & Champions League final, there are simply not enough days in the calender to complete the season before the end of May.

Unless they are expecting Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United to play a game every 2-3 days, the Premier League will have no choice but to either extend or cancel the season.

Keenos

Fans need to be prepared for last minute game changes

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Tomorrow we play Brighton. Maybe.

With all the Coronavirus hysteria, things are changing almost hourly.

We could wake up tomorrow to find a decision has bene made to play the game behind closed doors, or that it has been postponed.

Arsenal’s mid-week game against Manchester City was postponed following the Olympiakos owner being tested positive for coronavirus earlier in the week.

This resulted in the self-isolation of anyone that had come into close contact with him within 14 days of the positive test. Numerous Arsenal players and staff members who told to self-isolate, which came to an end yesterday.

According to the BBC, just 5 players went into self-isolation, having been in contact with Evangelos Marinkis in the tunnel after the match. No player was tested.

We are in a fluid situation and things are changing quickly.

Whilst the UK has not followed France and Italy’s lead by banning mass gatherings, it will not be too long until this happens as cases continue to rise.

My advice is do not book trains for away games.

In 9 days time, we play Sheffield United away in the FA Cup. Anyone booking trains now must be prepared to lose the cost of their ticket if the game is postponed, or played behind closed doors.

It might be frustrating, but the train companies have no right to refund people for cancelled events, and clubs also have not liability towards fans who have paid out for trains or hotels.

For the foreseeable, plan to take private transport rather than public.

Get together with your mates and drive to games, or hire a mini bus if there are more than you. Alternatively contact The Mini Bus Crew, they always have seats available.

Staying away from public transport at least means if a game is cancelled, you do not lose the cost of a train ticket. Even f it means driving to a game and not being able to drink.

If you do decide to book trains, flights or hotels, that is your choice. You have accepted the risk. And you can not really moan if you end up losing your money.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be getting on a train to Brighton (will buy train tickets on the day) and the disruption this week does not affect the players too much.

Victory would see us go just 2 points behind Manchester United in 5th.

(Note: This blog was written prior to the Mikel Arteta news)

Keenos