is the big breaking news
in the Premier League and that is the plan for the festive
period. We've had a statement from the Premier League after
a meeting of all 20 clubs to discuss the
recent covid-19 outbreaks, the protocols that respondent, what
next? And the statement has revealed that all 20 clubs have
decided to keep playing on wherever it's possible. There
will be no break, no
circuit breaker and they're going to follow these
emergency, protocols, the Rules, of course, so that you
need 14 fit players to play a game and they're going to
handle any more purse Parliament requests
on a case-by-case basis
from each Club around each game. So, of course, we know
the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly in the UK.
There's record numbers there every single day. So there's
more government restrictions on fans entering the stadium. They
have to be fully vaccinated or have negative test. So
everything's tight enough. And there's some
other things to keep an eye on as well. The FA Cup that we
know replays and a third and fourth round early in January.
With some fixture congestion,
there's talk of The League Cup. Semi-finals only having one
leg. So they're being very flexible the authorities in
England, but what we know right now is that the premier league
has said, we are going to
go on the message was keep calm and carry on. That was, what
was being said? And yes, some of the statement is really
interesting because
the Premier League does obviously admit there's been
plenty of challenges, but it's the League's Collective
intention to continue. The current fix the schedule
where safely possible.
Also, to bring a new two guys here.
Nick. What do you think about this decision? It was talk
about maybe some games or match week being taken out
the schedule and left a later in the season, but for right now,
things will stay
as they are. Do you agree with that?
Oh boy. Yeah, I do. I do. I think that the challenge here
is are the are the players and has been the staffs and
the coaches in the club's themselves. The people inside
the clubs, are they following the same rules and guidance
that we've been told to follow for a couple of years? And
I honestly believe the onus is on them. The product if you will,
has taken a step to a point where the reason it's so big
and so popular. And so Global
is because they've
All this in the past and you can argue that just as
when the Premier League in the Bundesliga came back
from for project restart that the fact that they did it. So
responsibly put them front and center and gave them a positive
reputation. So I think trusting the same decisions and decision
makers that got them. There is the right move for now. And of
course, we all
know that if things take some sort of major downturn
client, you adjust as it goes, but as for the time being,
I think your roll with the punches, so to speak and just
make sure you're telling everybody to be As healthy and
careful as possible.
Yeah, great point there about the protocols because they
emergency protocols that were in place during project.
Restart their back in the Premier League right now around
Club testing and wearing masks and all of the other
restrictions that worked really well.
During the early stage of the pandemic. They're back, just to
help Safeguard or coaching staff the players and everyone
else around the club's now because the stadiums are still
fall. There's more risks you would say
for obviously outbreaks to take place, but as Right now
outbreaks happen at certain clubs. They managed to
contain a lot of those and
hopefully fingers crossed.
It's a short-term situation and things will improve over
the coming weeks. Andy, what's your Takeaway on this situation?
Because it's very difficult to way up all 20 clubs, right?
What's best because it's certain clubs. The situation is
worse than others, but it seems like at the moment. This
is the correct way to go
and it's such terrible timing to as well. When you've got
the busiest part of the Season. You've got the busiest part of
life as well. People are traveling. People are getting
together for the holidays. And so now that we've got multiple
variants of the of Cobra that are out there that are eat more
easily. Transmissible. You had all those things together
and you get this kind of explosion, it seemingly out of
nowhere, over the last couple weeks where so many players
have tested positive. And number of games had to be
postponed already. It's probably going to continue for
a bit longer until we get out of this holiday period. But
I think that they're
there isn't really another great option because if you
shut down, Extending the season into the summer. The next
season is already going to start sooner because of
the World Cup being next winter. So
you're up against time a little bit and it with regards to
having a pause or a shutdown of any kind this season. And so
the only thing that you really really hope
is that it doesn't
directly affect or change or alter or decide
possibly even the title race this season. And we've already
seen a little bit of impact on that with Chelsea having some
players out. Unavailable key players at the attacking
Trio of Lukaku Verner and Albert's being unavailable.
They've had some poor results of late. Manchester City
continue to cruise right along, they've been
largely healthy,
Liverpool largely healthy as well until the last couple of
days. And so there's just, there's a lot of factors at
play right now all at once, and that's what makes it so
difficult. And for the Premier League to come to actually
a consensus agreement from all 20 clubs. I think it's actually
pretty impressive that there was
nobody, you know, The other side demanding that we do this,
so
it just kind of is what it is right now at this point and
it's not enjoyable for everybody to have to deal with
all of these things and we're all tired of it at this point
after almost two years,
but it's a situation that we are in
absolutely. So we'll keep you updated on Prost. Look a tool
on NBC Sports, don't comb all the latest Premier League new
schedule changes
proponents that hopefully there aren't any more to report on.
But it seems that the situation is very fluid, but as of right
now, Now the premier league has released a statement saying
that the league and the clubs and all its stakeholders have
agreed to
continue with the schedule as normal.
And in have any issues pop up with other covid-19, outbreaks,
they'll be dealt with on a case-by-case basis in terms of
more games office phone, but Jen's right now, we can look
forward to the festive schedule as we were planning to. And as
I said, any
more changes will keep you updated with the latest on pro
soccer. Talk on NBC sports.com.