Peterborough United: 'Season of Vengeance' - Div 3 2020-21

[DCI Harry Batt]

Does anyone know yet what your reduced capacity will be when the gates open come October, if things happen as planned?

I'm told that of the assessments completed so far, no football ground has come out at higher than 31% of its nominal capacity, and the average is mid-to-low 20s.

[Satchmo Distel]

I'm also wondering:

What happens with the League Cup and Associated Members Cup

If clubs will try to avoid playing home fixtures before crowds come back? Clubs have a vested interest in dragging their feet until October.

[Patrick Thistle]

I think this will be the end of the Associated Members Cup. The clubs don't seem to care about it. Most fans don't like it. I doubt the league will start in mid-September unless fans are able to attend and they will need all available match dates to fulfil league fixtures.

[DCI Harry Batt]

In its current guise, I hope it dies. Awful competition.

[Patrick Thistle]

I've defended it before and it could be a good competition. But it has deteriorated since the B teams have been in it.

[DCI Harry Batt]

The B teams thing is a farce, and an embarrassment, and while that remains, the competition is of less than zero value to me.

[Foot of Astaire's]

It's like the league cup in that nobody cares about it until they get to the semis. Restricting sides from fielding too many fringe or youth players has been counter productive too

[nmrfox]

The B teams thing is a farce, and an embarrassment, and while that remains, the competition is of less than zero value to me.

At least one minor consolation is that it did give us the HMHB's very excellent Swerving the Checkatrade track.

[DCI Harry Batt]

So do we talk about new players here, or in the transfers thread?

[Ray de Galles]

Tends to be in the transfer thread, I mentioned Woodyard there when his signing was rumoured at the weekend.

[DCI Harry Batt]

What about salary caps?

https://www.efl.com/news/2020/august...nd-league-two/

Clubs in League One and League Two have today voted for the introduction of new financial controls in the form of ‘Squad Salary Caps’ into their respective divisions which take effect immediately.

The decision follows extensive and comprehensive consultation with all Clubs in respect of addressing sustainability and wage inflation issues across the EFL which were initiated prior to the suspension of football in March following the COVID-19 outbreak and have continued during the course of the summer.

Those discussions culminated in today’s divisional vote, with representatives of League One and League Two Clubs opting to implement the new measures in place of the existing Salary Cost Management Protocols (SCMP), with fixed caps of ?2.5million and ?1.5million respectively.

[DCI Harry Batt]

So, fixtures are out. All clubs play all other clubs, once at home and once away.

https://www.efl.com/#skybetleagueone

Since Plough Lane won't be ready for the first game, we're excited to find out who will be the first visitors. And if that's before any crowds are in, who will be first in front of a crowd?

[Ray de Galles]

I thought the groundshare at Loftus Road was going to last until at least some fans were allowed in?

[Capybara]

I thought the groundshare at Loftus Road was going to last until at least some fans were allowed in?

Woah, hang on. Wimbledon are sharing at Loftus Road? That one completely passed me by.

[Ray de Galles]

It's not been announced as yet but seems to be an open secret.

I think the other possibility was that New Plough Lane could accommodate BCD games before it is fully finished but I don't think anyone really wants that.

[DCI Harry Batt]

It's kind of an open secret yeah. Expecting an announcement today, maybe. Depends when crowds are let in, but you'll notice that we don't clash with the Rs until sometime in December, I think.

It's definitely Plough Lane, not New Plough Lane. And very good news that we don't have a sponsor for it before it opens.

[Ray de Galles]

I was wondering about the "New". It is redundant I suppose (and it still annoys me when people refer to the club as "AFC") but there are still a lot of people outside the club who think the ground is on exactly the same spot as the previous one.

[DCI Harry Batt]

It's quite a thing among some, the "New" thing. At first I wasn't bothered, but I'm fully on board now, and will police it like a third-rate marketeer insisting on the use of the sponsor name. Like matey with his "Cherry Red Records" at KM.

As the crow flies it's bloody near. And more definitely on Plough Lane. But yeah, I'm sure there are plenty who think it's a rebuild. Shame we never got to do that. I found the plans we had drawn up back in 2001-02 just the other day.

[Ray de Galles]

I'm more than happy to fall in to line with the directive.

[Guy Profumo]

And Arrerget playing in Donny until they finish relaying the pitch.

[Satchmo Distel]

"Charlton’s game against [Doncaster] Rovers at the Valley on 19 September has been put forward as a test event."

https://www.bt.com/sport/news/2020/a...to-let-fans-in

[Greenlander]

So in a more perfect world Wimbledon would have opened the new stadium against us. As ever, our London fixtures suck.

[Patrick Thistle]

I feel so disconnected from football at the moment I'm not even looking at the fixtures.

[Greenlander]

I feel so disconnected from football at the moment I'm not even looking at the fixtures.

Unsurprisingly, there's an awful lot of Tuesday's.

[Jumbo McGinnis]

I feel so disconnected from football at the moment I'm not even looking at the fixtures.

This is how I feel. As someone who isn’t exactly a fan of any club anymore, I find it hard to get excited when the prospect of me getting in a ground at league level looks very slim for the foreseeable. Normally, I’d have a look at places I fancied going and looked at fixtures I had a chance of getting a ticket for.

I had a brief look at the opening dayers but that was as far as it went.