Contracts

[bigdonnybob]

How  do the club stand with these players, Matty Blair Kieran Sadlier etc, whose contracts expire at the end of June when it is seemingly more than likely that the season will not have finished by then.

[deebee]

You are asking a question that nobody has the answer to yet. I would imagine they will have to wait until the EFL have decided what to do.

[karldew]

Think it’s the main reason they’ve said they want the season finished by June 30th. If it goes by then there may have to be another break for teams to sign players? How many were we left with last season after June 30th, we wouldn’t of been able to play games!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Think it’s the main reason they’ve said they want the season finished by June 30th. If it goes by then there may have to be another break for teams to sign players? How many were we left with last season after June 30th, we wouldn’t of been able to play games!

No chance whatsoever of the season being completed by 30 June. Very earliest imaginable time for football to start again will be August and even that is stretching credibility to breaking point.

[rich1471]

Their is know way the season will end at the end of June , the virus is not due to peak until mid may 

[selby]

I tend to agree with you Billy,  I cannot see this season being finished, or even being allowed to try and finish it with supporters being present before next season would normally start, Strange and unusual times, and with different clubs having their own agendas, on promotion and relegation, and some possibly not in a position to even start up again if the the situation carries on for some time.
   The fall out to come is going to be interesting.

[deebee]

There is one thing for sure, none of them will be going off on holiday the world is shut.

[NewDonny]

Think it’s the main reason they’ve said they want the season finished by June 30th. If it goes by then there may have to be another break for teams to sign players? How many were we left with last season after June 30th, we wouldn’t of been able to play games!

No chance whatsoever of the season being completed by 30 June. Very earliest imaginable time for football to start again will be August and even that is stretching credibility to breaking point.

Make your mind up BST, yesterday it was 2022, now its August 2020 lol.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/football/contracts-pizza-resolving-season-and-more-your-doncaster-rovers-questions-answered-2481884

[BillyStubbsTears]

Think it’s the main reason they’ve said they want the season finished by June 30th. If it goes by then there may have to be another break for teams to sign players? How many were we left with last season after June 30th, we wouldn’t of been able to play games!

No chance whatsoever of the season being completed by 30 June. Very earliest imaginable time for football to start again will be August and even that is stretching credibility to breaking point.

Make your mind up BST, yesterday it was 2022, now its August 2020 lol.

It's not hard ND.

2021/22 is a best guess based on the likelihood that we will need to keep some form of lockdown in operation until a vaccine is found, and no-one thinks we'll have a vaccine within a year.

According to the Imperial College modelling, August is the earliest date before we get the current outbreak under control. Thye suggested that we might, tentatively, reduce lockdown then. But only for a month because then the infections would start to rise exponentially again.

So, in theory, you might be able to squeeze in a month's worth of football in late summer. Which is why I said "Very earliest imaginable time for football to start again will be August and even that is stretching credibility to breaking point." It is theoretically possible, but it will be a long way down the list of priorities.

I assume you have some skin in the game, the way you're picking over my posts. If so, you'd do well to think about these predictions, because they have huge consequences for football.

[NewDonny]

Think it’s the main reason they’ve said they want the season finished by June 30th. If it goes by then there may have to be another break for teams to sign players? How many were we left with last season after June 30th, we wouldn’t of been able to play games!

No chance whatsoever of the season being completed by 30 June. Very earliest imaginable time for football to start again will be August and even that is stretching credibility to breaking point.

Make your mind up BST, yesterday it was 2022, now its August 2020 lol.

It's not hard ND.

2021/22 is a best guess based on the likelihood that we will need to keep some form of lockdown in operation until a vaccine is found, and no-one thinks we'll have a vaccine within a year.

According to the Imperial College modelling, August is the earliest date before we get the current outbreak under control. Thye suggested that we might, tentatively, reduce lockdown then. But only for a month because then the infections would start to rise exponentially again.

So, in theory, you might be able to squeeze in a month's worth of football in late summer. Which is why I said "Very earliest imaginable time for football to start again will be August and even that is stretching credibility to breaking point." It is theoretically possible, but it will be a long way down the list of priorities.

I assume you have some skin in the game, the way you're picking over my posts. If so, you'd do well to think about these predictions, because they have huge consequences for football.

Whether I have "skin in the game" or otherwise is not important. Football is no different from any other industry sector in terms of the impact that this virus is having or will have because no one actually knows what is going to happen, least of all you or I.

As a Director of a small to medium sized 22 Year old business employing 65 people across the UK, I am staring the possibility of us losing our business and destroying 65 other families lives. A responsibility that weighs heavily on me before I even turn my attentions to my own family or my wife's elderly parents, or indeed the elderly and less fortunate people with health issues that live locally to me and helping them get food and supplies so they don't have to step outside of their homes.

What I do object to however is you picking over what you read online and hear on the news and prophesying your own spin on its impact on football and the worlds public. Everything that is being predicted is based on computer models and statistics, because in reality no one actually has the answers, no one actually knows what is actually going to happen. The WHO, NHS, The Government and Universities researching this virus are all basing their decision making and predictions on complex formulas and not through any experience of this virus.

So your'll forgive me for wanting to believe the best possible scenarios and vaccine or no vaccine, which I do get is many months away, but I am clinging on to the hope this virus will burn itself out and disappear as quickly as it has arrived. Personally I am still struggling with the fact that a virus that will manifest itself in 90+% of us as a little more than 3-4 days of feeling a bit rough is having such wide scale consequences. However the fact that it can and is killing the elderly and or those with pre-existing heath issues is I understand very good reason for us to take it very seriously.

If I am honest BST, I find your posts extremely hard to read and I am being polite there, just as I find it very difficult to get my head around these people that are clearing our shops shelves of food and supplies and stockpiling. Because both are unnecessary when just dealing with the challenges of every day life right now are more than enough!

 

[RoversAlias]

Very well said ND.

[BillyStubbsTears]

ND

I'm not taking any pleasure from this. I have my own company which o have run successfully for nearly 20 years, and I'm looking at a very long period without income.

My sole purpose in any of these posts is to inform people. I deal with complex data and I make my and my company's reputation by seeing the big picture through lots of detail.

In the case of C-19, it was patently obvious from a month ago that we faced a choice between 3 months of hell with the NHS collapsed, and people dying at a rate that would have made the Blitz look like a tea party, or an extended period of lockdown and economic carnage.

We are going for the latter. It will be brutally hard, and we all need to be making very sensible long term decisions where we can.

Just hoping for the best is not a good policy. There is no mechanism by which the virus burns itself out other than scenario 1 above.

The positive is that, even though I am no fan of this Govt, I do think they broadly understand what to do to minimise the economic damage. It is their job to pour money into us as individuals and businesses to see us through. We can spend the next fifty years sorting out the consequences, just as we did during and after WWII.

I wish you good luck.

[Metalmicky]

BST - sent in peace...

To be fair, although I appreciate your posts and acknowledge your undoubted knowledge, you can come across as quite condescending at times.  I also think it might help if you prefixed comments with IMO occasionally - it can make you appear rather autocratic and dismissive of others opinions...

No offence intended.

[the vicar]

The only way is to say the transfer window will not reopen till the last game of the playoffs.  These are unusual times and call for unusual rules to compensate

[BillyStubbsTears]

BST - sent in peace...

To be fair, although I appreciate your posts and acknowledge your undoubted knowledge, you can come across as quite condescending at times.  I also think it might help if you prefixed comments with IMO occasionally - it can make you appear rather autocratic and dismissive of others opinions...

No offence intended.

Taken in the spirit intended.

Yeah, I can see what you are saying. I personally think it's obvious that when someone states something without reference to a source, they are giving their opinion. I read that into everything I ever read on here or elsewhere. So I've genuinely never seen much need for regular  IMO comments.

That said, if you look at my posts, I'll regularly try to weigh up evidence and say "My take is..." or "As I see it..." to make it clear that's what I am reading into the evidence.

Similarly, I never use winkies or anything like that to indicate humour. My take is that it devalues discussion. But that's just my opinion.

I dunno. Maybe I'm on the spectrum and don't see how I come across to other folk, but I can promise you, I rarely, if ever, intend to belittle or upset anyone who hasn't had a pop at me first.

In the current situation, I entirely accept that I've been tetchy. In mitigation, I'd suggest that I was one of the ones who saw how serious this was going to get from early on, and I've been trying to get that message across. Sometimes saying the right thing forcefully is better than worrying about upsetting people. In my opinion, of course.

[NewDonny]

BST - sent in peace...

To be fair, although I appreciate your posts and acknowledge your undoubted knowledge, you can come across as quite condescending at times.  I also think it might help if you prefixed comments with IMO occasionally - it can make you appear rather autocratic and dismissive of others opinions...

No offence intended.

Taken in the spirit intended.

Yeah, I can see what you are saying. I personally think it's obvious that when someone states something without reference to a source, they are giving their opinion. I read that into everything I ever read on here or elsewhere. So I've genuinely never seen much need for regular  IMO comments.

That said, if you look at my posts, I'll regularly try to weigh up evidence and say "My take is..." or "As I see it..." to make it clear that's what I am reading into the evidence.

Similarly, I never use winkies or anything like that to indicate humour. My take is that it devalues discussion. But that's just my opinion.

I dunno. Maybe I'm on the spectrum and don't see how I come across to other folk, but I can promise you, I rarely, if ever, intend to belittle or upset anyone who hasn't had a pop at me first.

In the current situation, I entirely accept that I've been tetchy. In mitigation, I'd suggest that I was one of the ones who saw how serious this was going to get from early on, and I've been trying to get that message across. Sometimes saying the right thing forcefully is better than worrying about upsetting people. In my opinion, of course.

But BST, even now after today's feedback from other people than me on this forum, you are still trying too take some morale high ground in suggesting that you have been right all along - I'd suggest that I was one of the ones who saw how serious this was going to get from early on.

You are no better or worse informed than anyone else and your posts are and have been shear supposition at best, guess work at worst, please stop!, there is no message to get across because NO ONE ACTUALLY KNOWS what is going to happen!

[Alan Southstand]

You’re right ND, no-one knows what is going to happen, but if we do know one thing, it’s the facts and figures from around the World that tells us what has happened already. Those facts, at least, gives the normal man-in-the-street some idea of how bad it could get here. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will, and we are going to some lengths to mitigate, but nevertheless, we have been duly informed and warned of the consequences.

I can’t work out what the PM was saying today, in that he said we’ll beat this thing and he put a 12 week timescale on it. That is either foolhardy, or he knows more than he’s letting on, hopefully for the good of everyone.

Take care everyone.

[Bentley Bullet]

One of the big side effects of this virus is anxiety. Many people are seeking assurance from optimism in order to control their personal anxiety. They don't need over-optimism, but they need over-pessimism even less.

I would have thought that a big part of Boris's job is to instil a bit of the former as opposed to the latter, otherwise, he'd be blamed for causing an anxiety epidemic.

[sheffield exile1]

You’re right ND, no-one knows what is going to happen, but if we do know one thing, it’s the facts and figures from around the World that tells us what has happened already. Those facts, at least, gives the normal man-in-the-street some idea of how bad it could get here. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will, and we are going to some lengths to mitigate, but nevertheless, we have been duly informed and warned of the consequences.

I can’t work out what the PM was saying today, in that he said we’ll beat this thing and he put a 12 week timescale on it. That is either foolhardy, or he knows more than he’s letting on, hopefully for the good of everyone.

Take care everyone.

People in general are often naively supportive of reassurances. Unless you are heavily involved in politics and have a defined view often (not always) you look at things from what the state /Sun says. Unfortunately  that is not my view. I see a PM who doesn't have a clue how to resolve this. He has just come out and said private renters will have eviction rights and its still very unclear what zero hours/gig economy workers rights are. This despite his useful fool promoted beyond his abilities chancellor just having announced a budget.
If you want an example of this naivety consider this. In WW2 my mum and dad and all the population (they were at school) carred gas masks in case of a Nazi gas attack. Reassured. I bet they wouldn't have lasted 10 seconds on a full on gas attack. Point is  it "reassured" the public- no mass panic. This is just the same in terms of the current reassurances - not correlating the two in terms of scale/gravity, just the public desparately need an orderly state resumed. This will not happen for months but we don't need panic just a strategy- popular or not to deal with the situation. How much bog roll, beans, dried pasta are in some people's possession is staggering- are they selling it on e-bay yet?

[NewDonny]

You’re right ND, no-one knows what is going to happen, but if we do know one thing, it’s the facts and figures from around the World that tells us what has happened already. Those facts, at least, gives the normal man-in-the-street some idea of how bad it could get here. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will, and we are going to some lengths to mitigate, but nevertheless, we have been duly informed and warned of the consequences.

I can’t work out what the PM was saying today, in that he said we’ll beat this thing and he put a 12 week timescale on it. That is either foolhardy, or he knows more than he’s letting on, hopefully for the good of everyone.

Take care everyone.

People in general are often naively supportive of reassurances. Unless you are heavily involved in politics and have a defined view often (not always) you look at things from what the state /Sun says. Unfortunately  that is not my view. I see a PM who doesn't have a clue how to resolve this. He has just come out and said private renters will have eviction rights and its still very unclear what zero hours/gig economy workers rights are. This despite his useful fool promoted beyond his abilities chancellor just having announced a budget.
If you want an example of this naivety consider this. In WW2 my mum and dad and all the population (they were at school) carred gas masks in case of a Nazi gas attack. Reassured. I bet they wouldn't have lasted 10 seconds on a full on gas attack. Point is  it "reassured" the public- no mass panic. This is just the same in terms of the current reassurances - not correlating the two in terms of scale/gravity, just the public desparately need an orderly state resumed. This will not happen for months but we don't need panic just a strategy- popular or not to deal with the situation. How much bog roll, beans, dried pasta are in some people's possession is staggering- are they selling it on e-bay yet?

Cannot disagree with any of that.

Personally I would rather hear encouraging supportive news than pessimistic news, if only to keep me going, focused and optimistic and able to deal with the now daily challenges of work.

[Colin C No.3]

I have to be careful what I say here in case it is misconstrued by either the reader or the poster.

I’ve had cause to cross swords with BST in the past & undoubtedly will do so in the future however, that being said, in the main, I hope it is done so because we have one thing in common (a passion for Rovers) but often come at ‘that passion’ from different sides of the spectrum without malice a forethought.

That apart (the Rovers) I often find your (his) comments very much based upon statistics which, given that is very much part of how you have made a living (something I only recently became aware of) could be seen as a strength (your strength) or could equally be perceived by others as an arrogance &/or a refusal to understand, accept or concede posts that are ‘spoken’ from the gut, from the heart.

With nearly 21,000 posts to your name on this forum you clearly see it as an important conduit ( we’ve been here before ) on which to air your views.

There are times that ‘you cloud’ your posts with so many statistics & rhetoric that I feel you sometimes forget that what you post (in the main) are just that, your views, imo.

[donny dave]

What happens when the season is extended, do players play on a month to month contract if they are in the last year of there contract?

[Dutch Uncle]

BST - sent in peace...

To be fair, although I appreciate your posts and acknowledge your undoubted knowledge, you can come across as quite condescending at times.  I also think it might help if you prefixed comments with IMO occasionally - it can make you appear rather autocratic and dismissive of others opinions...

No offence intended.

Taken in the spirit intended.

Yeah, I can see what you are saying. I personally think it's obvious that when someone states something without reference to a source, they are giving their opinion. I read that into everything I ever read on here or elsewhere. So I've genuinely never seen much need for regular  IMO comments.

That said, if you look at my posts, I'll regularly try to weigh up evidence and say "My take is..." or "As I see it..." to make it clear that's what I am reading into the evidence.

Similarly, I never use winkies or anything like that to indicate humour. My take is that it devalues discussion. But that's just my opinion.

I dunno. Maybe I'm on the spectrum and don't see how I come across to other folk, but I can promise you, I rarely, if ever, intend to belittle or upset anyone who hasn't had a pop at me first.

In the current situation, I entirely accept that I've been tetchy. In mitigation, I'd suggest that I was one of the ones who saw how serious this was going to get from early on, and I've been trying to get that message across. Sometimes saying the right thing forcefully is better than worrying about upsetting people. In my opinion, of course.

But BST, even now after today's feedback from other people than me on this forum, you are still trying too take some morale high ground in suggesting that you have been right all along - I'd suggest that I was one of the ones who saw how serious this was going to get from early on.

You are no better or worse informed than anyone else and your posts are and have been shear supposition at best, guess work at worst, please stop!, there is no message to get across because NO ONE ACTUALLY KNOWS what is going to happen!

I try not to involve myself in arguments, but this one time I would like to try and play peacemaker if possible here.

New Donny - BST has posted IMHO a very frank, honest reply addressing your message, and including an apology. I hope you can take it in the same spirit in which BST says he received your message, that would be fair and positive IMHO.

I am also (according to my wife) 'on the spectrum', and like to try and back any point or argument I make with some data (usually far to much for most readers), and I also often forget to say IMHO of something similar. She says it can make me sound pompous when she knows I am trying to be anything but. I have been a professional mathematician all my life.

I value reading BST's posts, and afterwards often feel better informed about various issues, and better able to make my own opinion, not always agreeing with BST.

We are in truly extraordinary times, and it would be great to see a positive community spirit on here from everyone.....



Except when talikng about L**ds 


Edit: No criticism of anyone implied or intended.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Dutch.

Blessed are the Peacemakers!

ND. You are right in saying that no-one can know with certainty what's going to happen. That's how the world works. There is uncertainty in our every action.

You can't know for certain when you cross the road that someone won't come round the corner down there at 150mph and wipe you out. But you still cross the road.

You can't know for certain that you'd die if you jump off a 50 foot cliff. But you still choose not to.

On the topic of the virus, no, I agree, we cannot know for certain what will happen. But we CAN look at the scientific indicators.

They say that there is no known mechanism to stop the virus, once it is widespread, other than allowing 60+% of the population to catch it and developing herd immunity, or severely locking down the country until we are able to vaccinate the population.

They say that typically 1% of the people who catch it will die.

They say that, typically, maybe 5% of the people who catch it get very, very ill and need serious medical attention.

We knew all that in early February. From late February, when we saw it spreading seriously out of China, we knew that the early attempts to contain it had failed. And from then on, we KNEW as well as we can know anything that we were facing a choice between 100s of thousands of deaths in the UK, or the most extreme shock to our social and work lives, and or economy that any of us could ever imagine.

You may not like that story, but it is undeniable, based on what we know of this virus and typical epidemiology.

It MAY be that something we haven't thought of comes along and stops the virus. But that hasn't happened in the past. So expecting it to do so this time is based on nothing but hope.

Now let me explain why I have been so vocal about this.

I saw this coming from late Feb. I was looking at the rate of spread and doing my own calculations as to where we would be by April.

Those calculations scared the bejaysus out of me.

And then I sat down with the lads who work for my company and I shared the calcs with them. We had three major contracts, all of which were due to be completed at the end of April. No income for us until we'd submitted the final reports. I told them, bluntly, that if the country hit a crisis in April without us completing those contracts, we'd have enough money to pay salaries until June and then that was it. So I asked them to work evenings and weekends throughout March to get the work finished early. We've just submitted the last of the reports and we can now invoice for sums that will allow me to pay salaries until past Xmas, even if the Govt does nothing to support us.

What sort of a hypocrite would I have been if I'd been doing that in my own life and not sharing the understanding that drove us to do that with other people?

I'm not trying to win any debates here. I'm not goin gout of my way to upset anyone. I've just been sharing what was blindingly obvious when you sat down and looked at the facts. I've tried to set out bluntly what is coming so that people can make their own decisions. I don't want to have an argument with you about this and I don't WANT to upset anyone by my posts, but if my posts DO upset people, I won't lose much sleep over that. If they have helped one person prepare for what we are now facing, then that's worth 50 people deciding they don't like me.

[deebee]

You’re right ND, no-one knows what is going to happen, but if we do know one thing, it’s the facts and figures from around the World that tells us what has happened already. Those facts, at least, gives the normal man-in-the-street some idea of how bad it could get here. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will, and we are going to some lengths to mitigate, but nevertheless, we have been duly informed and warned of the consequences.

I can’t work out what the PM was saying today, in that he said we’ll beat this thing and he put a 12 week timescale on it. That is either foolhardy, or he knows more than he’s letting on, hopefully for the good of everyone.

Take care everyone.

People in general are often naively supportive of reassurances. Unless you are heavily involved in politics and have a defined view often (not always) you look at things from what the state /Sun says. Unfortunately  that is not my view. I see a PM who doesn't have a clue how to resolve this. He has just come out and said private renters will have eviction rights and its still very unclear what zero hours/gig economy workers rights are. This despite his useful fool promoted beyond his abilities chancellor just having announced a budget.
If you want an example of this naivety consider this. In WW2 my mum and dad and all the population (they were at school) carred gas masks in case of a Nazi gas attack. Reassured. I bet they wouldn't have lasted 10 seconds on a full on gas attack. Point is  it "reassured" the public- no mass panic. This is just the same in terms of the current reassurances - not correlating the two in terms of scale/gravity, just the public desparately need an orderly state resumed. This will not happen for months but we don't need panic just a strategy- popular or not to deal with the situation. How much bog roll, beans, dried pasta are in some people's possession is staggering- are they selling it on e-bay yet?

You say the PM doesn't have a clue. Show me, someone who does, this is a new virus and has taken over the world. They have to learn as they go along and adjust accordingly. The announcements made so far are the best of any other country and I am sure the measures put in place wiil have an effect on beating this virus, but only if people abide by them. Unfortunately, there are thousands of selfish and ignorant folk out there that are not helping.

[Bentley Bullet]

Hear hear!

[sheffield exile1]

You’re right ND, no-one knows what is going to happen, but if we do know one thing, it’s the facts and figures from around the World that tells us what has happened already. Those facts, at least, gives the normal man-in-the-street some idea of how bad it could get here. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will, and we are going to some lengths to mitigate, but nevertheless, we have been duly informed and warned of the consequences.

I can’t work out what the PM was saying today, in that he said we’ll beat this thing and he put a 12 week timescale on it. That is either foolhardy, or he knows more than he’s letting on, hopefully for the good of everyone.

Take care everyone.

People in general are often naively supportive of reassurances. Unless you are heavily involved in politics and have a defined view often (not always) you look at things from what the state /Sun says. Unfortunately  that is not my view. I see a PM who doesn't have a clue how to resolve this. He has just come out and said private renters will have eviction rights and its still very unclear what zero hours/gig economy workers rights are. This despite his useful fool promoted beyond his abilities chancellor just having announced a budget.
If you want an example of this naivety consider this. In WW2 my mum and dad and all the population (they were at school) carred gas masks in case of a Nazi gas attack. Reassured. I bet they wouldn't have lasted 10 seconds on a full on gas attack. Point is  it "reassured" the public- no mass panic. This is just the same in terms of the current reassurances - not correlating the two in terms of scale/gravity, just the public desparately need an orderly state resumed. This will not happen for months but we don't need panic just a strategy- popular or not to deal with the situation. How much bog roll, beans, dried pasta are in some people's possession is staggering- are they selling it on e-bay yet?

You say the PM doesn't have a clue. Show me, someone who does, this is a new virus and has taken over the world. They have to learn as they go along and adjust accordingly. The announcements made so far are the best of any other country and I am sure the measures put in place wiil have an effect on beating this virus, but only if people abide by them. Unfortunately, there are thousands of selfish and ignorant folk out there that are not helping.

My post about not having a clue is based on him not addressing fundamentals of the more vulnerable the Tory's don't usually care about such as gig economy/zero hours and private renting. To be fair he has now declared measures to help struggling pubs/bars/restaurants as he was handing a business death wish by saying don't go into them - that was grossly unfair without a sweetener. Tories never help the working class so to say i am suspicious of any measures after the Thatcher years is justified. Yes Ii agree aboutthe selfish not helping but that is a social not a political argument.

[NewDonny]

Dutch.

Blessed are the Peacemakers!

ND. You are right in saying that no-one can know with certainty what's going to happen. That's how the world works. There is uncertainty in our every action.

You can't know for certain when you cross the road that someone won't come round the corner down there at 150mph and wipe you out. But you still cross the road.

You can't know for certain that you'd die if you jump off a 50 foot cliff. But you still choose not to.

On the topic of the virus, no, I agree, we cannot know for certain what will happen. But we CAN look at the scientific indicators.

They say that there is no known mechanism to stop the virus, once it is widespread, other than allowing 60+% of the population to catch it and developing herd immunity, or severely locking down the country until we are able to vaccinate the population.

They say that typically 1% of the people who catch it will die.

They say that, typically, maybe 5% of the people who catch it get very, very ill and need serious medical attention.

We knew all that in early February. From late February, when we saw it spreading seriously out of China, we knew that the early attempts to contain it had failed. And from then on, we KNEW as well as we can know anything that we were facing a choice between 100s of thousands of deaths in the UK, or the most extreme shock to our social and work lives, and or economy that any of us could ever imagine.

You may not like that story, but it is undeniable, based on what we know of this virus and typical epidemiology.

It MAY be that something we haven't thought of comes along and stops the virus. But that hasn't happened in the past. So expecting it to do so this time is based on nothing but hope.

Now let me explain why I have been so vocal about this.

I saw this coming from late Feb. I was looking at the rate of spread and doing my own calculations as to where we would be by April.

Those calculations scared the bejaysus out of me.

And then I sat down with the lads who work for my company and I shared the calcs with them. We had three major contracts, all of which were due to be completed at the end of April. No income for us until we'd submitted the final reports. I told them, bluntly, that if the country hit a crisis in April without us completing those contracts, we'd have enough money to pay salaries until June and then that was it. So I asked them to work evenings and weekends throughout March to get the work finished early. We've just submitted the last of the reports and we can now invoice for sums that will allow me to pay salaries until past Xmas, even if the Govt does nothing to support us.

What sort of a hypocrite would I have been if I'd been doing that in my own life and not sharing the understanding that drove us to do that with other people?

I'm not trying to win any debates here. I'm not goin gout of my way to upset anyone. I've just been sharing what was blindingly obvious when you sat down and looked at the facts. I've tried to set out bluntly what is coming so that people can make their own decisions. I don't want to have an argument with you about this and I don't WANT to upset anyone by my posts, but if my posts DO upset people, I won't lose much sleep over that. If they have helped one person prepare for what we are now facing, then that's worth 50 people deciding they don't like me.

BST - I am a seasoned business professional just like you and from the sounds of things have the very same business challenges than you do with this virus, albeit on a larger scale by the sound of things but then again I might be wrong.

I just don't accept your hypothasis I am afraid. Forgive me but I deal in hard facts, always have and always will do and there are just not enough facts available at the moment that enable us to form a proper opinion or properly plan. In fact what we do know about the virus and the worlds reaction at the moment are at complete odds.

You say there is uncertainty in everything we do and use examples, saying that we could be killed whilst crossing the road or jumping off cliffs. But there are varying degrees of uncertainty, in fact we can reduce our chances of being killed by being sensible and following rules and guile's or simply using common sense. So use a pedestrian crossing or pedestrian lights or the proper places available for us to cross a road and don't jump of 50 foot cliffs (I mean why would you) and you significantly reduce your chances of being killed to practically zero - those are the facts.

Unfortunately there are no such facts available at this moment to help us in dealing with this Corona Virus. Everything we are being told and fed is based on statistics, formula & mathematics, there are no facts that help us with how we beat it, or how long its going to last. So for me you and others are guessing but putting your opinions out there masqueraded as facts when they are not, they are just your personal opinions and guess work.

But we can keep going at the and we are not going to agree, so let's shake the debate up a bit. So here are a few questions for your theories BST, I am interested in your answers:

Why have China, Italy & Iran seemingly been hit hardest with this virus, both in terms of the reported number of cases and number of deaths?

Why are there twice the number of reported cases in Italy than there are in China, a country that is much, much larger than Italy?

Why is Italys' mortality rate now far in excess of Chinas when it has almost half as many reported cases?

[sheffield exile1]

Dutch.

Blessed are the Peacemakers!

ND. You are right in saying that no-one can know with certainty what's going to happen. That's how the world works. There is uncertainty in our every action.

You can't know for certain when you cross the road that someone won't come round the corner down there at 150mph and wipe you out. But you still cross the road.

You can't know for certain that you'd die if you jump off a 50 foot cliff. But you still choose not to.

On the topic of the virus, no, I agree, we cannot know for certain what will happen. But we CAN look at the scientific indicators.

They say that there is no known mechanism to stop the virus, once it is widespread, other than allowing 60+% of the population to catch it and developing herd immunity, or severely locking down the country until we are able to vaccinate the population.

They say that typically 1% of the people who catch it will die.

They say that, typically, maybe 5% of the people who catch it get very, very ill and need serious medical attention.

We knew all that in early February. From late February, when we saw it spreading seriously out of China, we knew that the early attempts to contain it had failed. And from then on, we KNEW as well as we can know anything that we were facing a choice between 100s of thousands of deaths in the UK, or the most extreme shock to our social and work lives, and or economy that any of us could ever imagine.

You may not like that story, but it is undeniable, based on what we know of this virus and typical epidemiology.

It MAY be that something we haven't thought of comes along and stops the virus. But that hasn't happened in the past. So expecting it to do so this time is based on nothing but hope.

Now let me explain why I have been so vocal about this.

I saw this coming from late Feb. I was looking at the rate of spread and doing my own calculations as to where we would be by April.

Those calculations scared the bejaysus out of me.

And then I sat down with the lads who work for my company and I shared the calcs with them. We had three major contracts, all of which were due to be completed at the end of April. No income for us until we'd submitted the final reports. I told them, bluntly, that if the country hit a crisis in April without us completing those contracts, we'd have enough money to pay salaries until June and then that was it. So I asked them to work evenings and weekends throughout March to get the work finished early. We've just submitted the last of the reports and we can now invoice for sums that will allow me to pay salaries until past Xmas, even if the Govt does nothing to support us.

What sort of a hypocrite would I have been if I'd been doing that in my own life and not sharing the understanding that drove us to do that with other people?

I'm not trying to win any debates here. I'm not goin gout of my way to upset anyone. I've just been sharing what was blindingly obvious when you sat down and looked at the facts. I've tried to set out bluntly what is coming so that people can make their own decisions. I don't want to have an argument with you about this and I don't WANT to upset anyone by my posts, but if my posts DO upset people, I won't lose much sleep over that. If they have helped one person prepare for what we are now facing, then that's worth 50 people deciding they don't like me.

BST - I am a seasoned business professional just like you and from the sounds of things have the very same business challenges than you do with this virus, albeit on a larger scale by the sound of things but then again I might be wrong.

I just don't accept your hypothasis I am afraid. Forgive me but I deal in hard facts, always have and always will do and there are just not enough facts at the moment to form a proper opinion or enable us to properly plan. In fact what we do know about the virus and the worlds reaction at the moment are at complete odds with each other. You use examples like crossing the road and jumping off cliffs but its simple, use a pedestrian crossing or pedestrian lights or the proper places available for us to cross a road and don't jump of 50 foot cliffs (I mean why would you) and you drastically reduce your chances of being killed to practically nothing - those are facts.

Unfortunately there are no such facts available at this moment in time to help us in dealing with this Corona Virus. Everything we are being told and fed is based on statistics, formula & mathematics, certainly no facts that help us with how we beat it, or how long its going to last. So for me you and others are guessing but putting your opinions out there masqueraded as facts when they are not, they are just your personal opinion.

So here's a question for your theories BST, I am interested in your answer: Why have China, Italy & Iran seemingly been hit hardest with this virus, both in terms of the number of cases reported and the number of deaths?

Another question for you: Why has Italy twice the number of reported cases than China, a country that is much, much larger than Italy and why is Italys' mortality rate now far in excess of Chinas when it has almost half as many reported cases?

ND - I bow to your knowledge as a "seasoned profssional" who is not interested in scoring points. However you seem to be missing a fundamental perspective. In China the state keep order in  things like this. No deviation you do as the state tells you. If they can build 2 hospitals in 6 days that is an amazing achievement. So yestersday no new cases announced. That should be a plateau we should aspire to. Italy a more laid back people, (my favourite holiday destination) but very more ingrained in a more touching society-which normally is a virtue. I understand that even priests have been done for holding funerals outside of guidelines, so what I am saying is this. Not all cultures in the world are same. Whether you agree with the Chinese or Italian culture or political system it is asking whole nations to change major way of life is always difficult in a short timescale. That is the crux really-hope that answers your point?