IanScott

Not to stir the pot, but you *can* get vaccinated privately if you have the money: "It was revealed last week that super rich Brits are paying a concierge service to be flown overseas to get private vaccines. Knightsbridge Circle, a £25,000-a-year private members club, is flying its clients to India and UAE, often on private jets, for luxurious vaccination holidays. But the club claims it will only prioritise people who ‘really need it’. And a London-based luxury property firm was found to be offering GP surgeries £5,000 per dose of the jab in order for its staff to jump the queue." https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/19/can-i-pay-to-get-the-covid-vaccine-13928123/ That info is from January, so its probably even easier now. Fit, healthy young men dont have much to fear I guess: but if I was a club manager or board member of a big, wealthy club, I would want my squad vaccinated pronto to avoid damaging our trophy chances and to avoid paying 1000s per week to ppl with long covid.

Granted, I saw an article before saying you couldn't pay for a vaccine, but then its pretty clear that you can get anything medically if you are willing to pay. As long as any players not vaccinated is only down to their place in a queue - and not refusal - then that would be fair enough.

The club should not tolerate players refusing to have a jab any more than they would tolerate them refusing to go for a routine drugs test, or other medical procedure. There is individual liberty, yes, but the players are part of a larger playing squad and organisation which must be protected. (as an aside, I cant believe vaccines are still an issue in this day and age: vaccines which eliminated stuff like smallpox and polio etc FFS) Good point that this will rumble along all season and likely affect many clubs.

A number of concerning things here, reading the thread: - people speculating the players are not fully vaccinated? WTF - why not? If not, that is complete negligence from the club regarding protection of individual playing assets and also the entire squad and non playing staff. The club could get vaccination done privately too, instead of waiting for the NHS. I know its only speculation, but that people could even think this is possible is a worry. - you wonder how it has managed to affect multiple players, as is claimed. I would be disappointed if the club did not have more stringent safeguards in place and was only relying on whatever pish Sturgeon comes out with. If it was me, I would have the players each taking a lateral flow test every day before being allowed to mingle with the rest of the squad. And a temporary ban on socialisation "out of work" would also be in place. Football is serious shit, after all. - the guy quoted from FF sounds an eedjt. Not heard of him before, but if he was genuinely concerned about ppls privacy, he would have just said nothing instead of saying "I know something you don't know". As it stands, I would be reasonably confident of progressing on thursday even with a weakened team. Its sunday which is the worry but at least then there are still 3 more bites at the cherry to make it up, should the worst happen.

Imo some of the players feel they have nothing to prove after last season and are resting on their laurels. Quite obvious I suppose.

Difficult to decide who is more stupid, those doing it or those filming / posting it. Too close to call! As well as bad press for the club, employers could feel its bad press for them too - with bad consequences!

What do they mean with "people trying to gain entry without a valid ticket"? Is the suggestion that ppl were trying to use forgeries, or simply turning up and trying to pay at the gate?

No idea mate, but its a good question: I would say their general profile / visibility has dropped off massively in recent times.

The first half!

Too many roundabouts for one thing.

Weve heard a lot about the loss of champs league money - £30m etc - but whats the earning potential of the Europa League? Obviously its less, but we will still make something: especially as I would expect us to progress somewhat in that competition. The point is, the loss in our expected revenue might not be as large as first seemed: could this not tide us over, or at least give a stay of execution before having to jettison players?

Agreed that is far better - I had that. Not a big fan of the new one at all.