I mean, it’s not as if they have got anything else to do right now do they?
Whilst some of us are going to have to fill our time with something new given the latest shutdown that is going across the country right now, to some extent, it should be business as usual for members of the football club in my mind.
Now obviously whilst it isn’t going to be completely smooth given that the team have put the training ground ‘on lockdown’ in light of the Coronavirus outbreak, if they’re smart enough, they can at least find a way to do it remotely, I’m pretty sure that is what Skype and FaceTime were invented for.
Now is the perfect time for those at the club to start looking ahead to the summer transfer window. To really dig deep and hopefully get a head start when it comes to scouting players that can be of help to us next season, that is of course assuming that next season goes ahead unscathed, but better to be safe than sorry.
You know how people talk about panic buys on the final day of the transfer window? Well, I don’t think you’re going to be given much of a warning and a head start than the one we have been given by the Prime Minister and the rest of the government gave us yesterday.
What would you rather?
Villa up, Hogan stays
Villa down, Hogan gone
There really can be no excuses for how the club approaches the summer transfer window now, get the work done early and then we won’t have to worry about chasing players around at the last minute.
Not only does that extend to just scouting players that the club can buy, but also who they can keep hold of. We’ve got a number of players whose contracts are up at the end of the season, and it would be nice to know if the club plans to keep hold of them or let them go.
That goes for the young players in the academy too, now is the best time for those promising youngsters that Pep Clotet has spoken so highly about in the past to get their contracts signed, sealed and delivered and have the foundations laid down for us all to see.
Hmmm you can hardly scout players during a lockdown. As you can’t see them training you can’t see them playing. You can just gather the general info on those players.
I would imagine that the club I’ve already done the Scouting during the playing time of the season well before for the Outbreak caused the lockdown. And they will know what type of player they want and they will have numerous players for particular positions.
Doing that and getting them are two different things.
So it will be no easier than any other season and when operating on a budget as we have at Birmingham it’s a lot harder to get what you need for the price you can pay or afford.
Regards to contracts during the closed season once the clubs are aware of a time frame for the the lockdown which is Nationwide not just Birmingham.
They will be able to initiate free monthly extensions as an emergency. I don’t believe players can dispute it they will get three months contract with 50% pay cut. It is my understanding that this is across the entire football community this is an insurance policy put into every contract in the event of the season can not take place or a prolonged suspension of a season where it is out of the control of the club or the player.
So even a player such as David Stockdale he will be out of contract most likely before the season restart automatic 3-month extension so it also protect the player from being without a club.
I also believe that in regards to signing new players the EFL have the right to suspend international transfers and open domestic transfers only so player from Club to club will be England only I believe that that will be across the entire world all domestic transfers will take place but there will be no international transfers. But it may not come to that point.
You can go on the EFL website and read all of this it’s not really worded for the average person to understand it’s a lot of jargon and go to section B and section A and that sort of thing so I may be completely wrong as I am not a solicitor. There could be something I’m missing.
KRO