The Next 6 Months?

Under local government reorganisation there is an amalgamation of the Somerset District Councils so all will be in tier 3 along with Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Parliament has to vote on these new rules and the computer says no along with the website which has given up the so the virus will go on holiday to satisfy Government wishes for Xmas.

The Oxford / AstraZenica vaccine looks promising for we pensioners and hopefully some sort of "normality", with City at the top of the division, will return in April 2021.

Interesting to see the arrangements in place for Chelmsford fans when we visit on Saturday. I guess these are the sort of things we can expect when we return to TP although of course there are different local authorities and the two grounds are not at all alike.

https://www.chelmsfordcityfc.com/news/chelmsford-city-fc-v-bath-city-ticketing-informati-2588947.html

YIKES! So complicated.  

Fortunately I won't be going anywhere near any football stadium, pub, restaurant or any non essential shop until the infection rate can be counted on the fingers of one hand, such as is the case in New Zealand and a few other countries.

PS: I feel for Bob and Shane.

Interesting the different rules that clubs are putting in place. Seemed to be more social distancing at Concord last night (apart from when they celebrated the third goal) than at Dorking, but there were less people there - would be interesting to see how it worked at Dulwich with 1000+.

I see Chelmsford are insisting that everyone wears a mask, which didn't seem to be the case at either Dorking or Concord. As a glasses wearer I seem to spend a lot of time being 'steamed up' when I wear one, so will be interesting to see what requirements are in place at TP.

I suffer with the same problem, LB, but have read glowing reviews of Foggy Wipes. I’ll let you know if they work!

And apparently there were over 1000 at Dulwich last night....

Reference glasses getting steamed up. Try polishing your specs with washing up liquid. Also what works very well for me is to make sure that the mask is worn high up so that the specs rest on the outside of the mask with the mask just touching the lower eyelid.

miker wrote:Reference glasses getting steamed up.  Try polishing your specs with washing up liquid. Also what works very well for me is to make sure that the mask is worn high up so that the specs rest on the outside of the mask with the mask just touching the lower eyelid.

Agreed!!!!

comrade powell wrote:Interesting to see the arrangements in place for Chelmsford fans when we visit on Saturday. I guess these are the sort of things we can expect when we return to TP although of course there are different local authorities and the two grounds are not at all alike.

https://www.chelmsfordcityfc.com/news/chelmsford-city-fc-v-bath-city-ticketing-informati-2588947.html

"You MUST wear a mask, refusal to wear a mask will result in you not being allowed entry to the ground and no refunds will be permitted."

So anyone exempted - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own - from wearing a mask is banned from attending.

Will City follow Chelmsford's Draconian rulings or allow everyone.

Chelmsford's instructions may see draconian but it is simply ensuring all COVID requirements are met. Chelmsford are like us (to use a term) a proper non-league club. They may have had problems but those of us who have been to matches there, in recent years, get the sense the Club is run (like us ) in a professional manner.

I would be surprised, therefore, if our procedures and guidance etc will be much different.

Interesting insight on getting fans back from the Chipp chairman...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWklwKJkHuM

And the wait goes on...

https://www.bathcityfc.com/club-statement-about-return-of-fans-to-twerton-park/

The fact that fans are returning to the Rec tomorrow really twists the knife. If the meeting on Tuesday brings no joy I hope the Club encourage fans to bombard Banes with requests for explanations.

comrade powell wrote:And the wait goes on...

https://www.bathcityfc.com/club-statement-about-return-of-fans-to-twerton-park/

The fact that fans are returning to the Rec tomorrow really twists the knife. If the meeting on Tuesday brings no joy I hope the Club encourage fans to bombard Banes with requests for explanations.

I don't think they will need much encouragement!

Hmm...2000 rugby fans, from different parts of the UK, converging in the city centre on the penultimate Saturday before Christmas, amongst 1000s of local residents doing their Christmas shopping, is less of COVID risk than a few hundred people, from the local area, on a damp cold Tuesday night in Twerton.

Er well, as an exile, I (and others) I suspect, would be travelling to TP. That said, it would be far less than those going to the rec and no impact on the city centre.
The fact that Bath is now run by incompetent tw**ts was one reason we moved away.

2weirdtown wrote:Er well, as an exile, I (and others) I suspect, would be travelling to TP.  That said, it would  be far less than those going to the rec and no impact on the city centre.
The fact that Bath is now run by incompetent tw**ts was one reason we moved away.

It may be advisable to listen to the their arguments first!!!

Chippenham given the go ahead to admit home supporters for our visit on Boxing Day.

comrade powell wrote:https://nonleaguedaily.com/nine-clubs-call-for-national-league-chairman-barwick-to-resign/


“Despite rumours of matters being discussed at sub-committee level of the National League, we have received no meaningful communication regarding our request for an independent panel review of the allocation.    

Never!

This has appeared on the BBC Sport website today and was tweeted by Ollie Bayliss earlier:

"Former FA chairman David Bernstein has condemned the National League over their handling of the funding row that has left some of its clubs furious and described the decision to set up the independent panel, which he led, to look into it as "pointless".

The league was given £10m by the government to ensure the season started as planned in October by helping to cover the costs of clubs while matches are indefinitely being played behind closed doors.

It was generally accepted the money would be distributed on a pro-rata basis in order to cover lost gate receipts.

However, to the frustration of some clubs, the National League board, headed by chairman Brian Barwick, a former FA chief executive, came up with a different funding method.

Clubs in the National League's three divisions have received payments ranging from £30,000 to £95,000 per month, but while the best supported clubs have been placed in the higher bracket, they feel the move has disadvantaged them.

Amid the anger, there were demands for Barwick to resign, whilst chief executive Mike Tattersall has confirmed he will leave the organisation on 31 December.

The National League subsequently launched an independent review, led by Bernstein, but despite receiving its recommendations last week, has neither acted upon them nor communicated them to their clubs.

Senior National League officials have said some of them are "unworkable" and Tattersall wrote to the clubs on 18 December saying that, after taking legal advice, the third central payment would following the same procedure as previous ones.

This has prompted an angry response from Bernstein.

In an open letter to Barwick, he says the independent panel is "profoundly disappointed" its report has not been shared "in line with open and proper good governance", adding that it was "in the public interest" given the source of the funding.

Bernstein also said the plan to make December's payment using the same model as previous months was "concerning" and that there was a "lack of concern" around potential conflicts of interest.

Given the panel's only brief was to deal with the payments covering this year, Bernstein said the National League's conduct made the entire review "pointless".

"We note the lack of courtesy in acknowledging our efforts and in responding to our correspondence and can only interpret that as an attempt to undermine the credibility of the independent panel," he wrote.

The National League has been contacted for comment."

Looks like the National League are acting as you might expect!

I'm not at all surprised to read this. Seemingly totally lacking in transparency.

Given the spiralling increase in Covid infections I doubt the season will continue much longer at any level anyway.

Certainly the levels below us, the non elite ones, look doomed with the huge fixtures backlog building up. Deciding to extend them into summer will simply impact on next season. It seems that all levels are trying to keep up with the PL and Championship which are both in the hands of the television contracts they greedily sign.

Perhaps the thread should be renamed “ The Next 6 Months” or even “6 Hours”.
For non-league (and the lower levels of the Football League ) most clubs must be facing a financial nightmare.

Although there always seem to be a number of Clubs that seem to defy economic logic this can only occur with significant input from seemingly wealthy backers/owners. These Clubs may be continuing to receive this support but the way matters are proceeding there may well come a point, in the not too distant future, when those backers begin to experience a downturn in their own financial position.

For years and years, I (and others) have predicted that, at some point, financial reality would hit home for non-league football but somehow it has never actually happened. It is still a mystery as to how so many clubs at our level are more full than part time. Perhaps the current situation will be the lever that forces that financial reality.

Interesting there was some discussion on Premiership Rugby and the negative financial effect of the virus meant there was real concern for the future. Perhaps a ” Joint Stadium for Bath” might have to come up for consideration.

By the time I have posted this we may be in a different tier anyway– As long as it’s the one where you can only have a meal alongside a substantial drink!

Staying in 2 a surprise

Peter Newman wrote:Perhaps the thread should be renamed “ The Next 6 Months”  or even “6 Hours”...

"The next 6 months and 12 months more" would be more appropriate the way the government and their Whitehall lackeys  are incompetently handling every issue.

I see that 5 games in our division are off today because of positive Covid tests. Presumably this means games on Monday and next Saturday will be off as well if there has to be a 10 day 'quarantine' period.

Reading this evening on Twitter that the £11million that the DCMS is allocating to the NL clubs to get them through the season will be in the form of loans and that grants will only be made in ‘exceptional circumstances’

Quite a few club chairmen feel that the clubs have been misled because they started the season in October in good faith on the basis that there was a £20m ‘rescue package’ to see the clubs through to the end of the season. This as we know materialised as £10m from the National Lottery for the first 3 months of the season with the rest to be allocated at a later date, which now seems to have happened.

Whether or not the Government should have ‘bailed out’ non-league football is another matter, but it does seem that the goalposts have been moved!

One of the chairmen (Concord I think) has apparently suggested that the clubs should refuse to play on Saturday in protest!

With most of the clubs in debt, seems unlikely that many will want to increase this further just to get to the end of a season that some of them didn’t want to start.

Will be interesting to see how this runs.