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The feature is about 28:15 in on iPlayer. Unmistakable.

Some truly depressing statistics today. In amongst it all, one figure stands out to me - new infections: https://data.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/detail.html#new_infections With a mean estimate of 12,050 new infections per day against actual positive tests of 1,429 on 14th of October (both figures will have risen since then), how effective can contact tracing be when 7/8 of cases go undetected?

I hope you're right - particularly with the tie being in Aberdeen! The Portuguese league doesn't start until 20th if September and the Dutch league just a week earlier. Hopefully their not fully up to speed. The Viking game could also go either way.

It'll be worse next season! They'll get pumped out of the champions league qualifiers -> a second bite in the Europa League -> pumped out of Europa League -> a third bite in the Europa Conference League -> …………...

I think a bigger barrier than age would be Jim Fairlie seniors relationship with the current SNP http://jimfairlie.blogspot.com/ No chance of him becoming their candidate again.

Not quite! Jim Fairlie senior used to post on here. Jim Fairlie junior is seeking the SNP nomination

Strangely, this game has been re-scheduled for Saturday. Not sure why Lincoln Red Imps haven't been awarded the tie?

It's much more than that to me and European places are very much secondary. Football should be about competing for (and hopefully occasionally) winning trophies. I'd rather finish bottom six with a League Cup win than third and qualify for Europe. Club honours lists prioritise trophy wins for a reason. To take away one of only two slim chances from many clubs of winning a trophy would be a sad day for Scottish football.

This incident is worse than what happened in Aberdeen and strong words already from Scot Gov.: "If confirmed as another serious incident within Scottish football, where protocols have been breached at the risk of wider public health, then the Scottish government will have little choice but to consider whether a pause is now needed in the resumption of the game in Scotland." Scottish football really is a shambles.

could be 2 out of those 3....... https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/aberdeen-fc/2391688/update-second-positive-coronavirus-test-at-aberdeen/ What’s the point in training in a ‘biosecure’ environment if they act like this at the weekends?!?!

This advice is pretty clear. No quarantine required from 23rd of July if arriving from Spain: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-public-health-checks-at-borders/pages/exemptions/

I was also surprised about Spain and would love to know where Scot Gov. get their stats from as I can't find anything to corroborate. Think they based the decision on estimated current infections (not past or projected) and gave the figures as Scotland = currently 28 out of every 100,000 people infected and Spain 330 out of 100,000 The UK as a whole was less than half Spain. Would be interested to see the estimated current infection rates in all countries.

Disappointing, but there's bound to be the odd case still appearing. Not sure of the full implications, but as full contact training in small groups commenced at the start of this week, surely that whole group will have to go home and isolate for 14 days - not even allowed outside for exercise - as per the govt. Test & Protect strategy?

This appears to be a big breakthrough: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53061281#

I think it's the other way around. Clubs are crazy not to sell season tickets. How else are clubs going to finance a team for season 20/21? Cormack said he hopes some spectators can attend from November / December and is preparing for that, which is prudent. He's also said that realistically it will be 2021 before fans attend. Even with season ticket sales it's likely that the turnover at Pittodrie will fall from about £16m to £10m for 20/21. The 6,500 who have bought already are under no illusion about the chances of actually attending games. Personally, we are in the fortunate position that could renew and have done so. The main reason being I want to ensure there is a club follow at the end of all of this. The streaming announcement is welcome and gives some value to the season tickets bought... I'll be able to see every league match at Pittodrie - whether in person or virtual. No season ticket = no access to the streams (legally).

That’s what the press releases say. The ‘virtual season tickets’ can only be given / sold to existing season ticket holders. There will be no PPV for home games.

I suspect the UK has already passed Belgium. They count suspected cases in the official numbers, the UK only count those with a confirmed positive test. In terms of excess deaths, the UK is certainly ahead of Belgium per million.

There was a wee anomaly in the reporting today and Sturgeon explained it that of the 53 new positive cases, 40 were older test results only received today. That may skew the active cases.

No. https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/#category=nations&map=rate Even by the suspect way the UK govt. count the data: England - 32,979 death. Population 56million = 589 deaths per million Scotland - 2,273 deaths. Population 5.5 million = 418 deaths per million. Still horrific.

The French government have taken the decision away from the football authorities and announced that season 19/20 is over. The league body will however get to decide whether to call or void the season. Not sure how UEFA will like the political involvement.

Unless the new TV deal was signed in the last three weeks, there should be a force majeure clause - rendering the contractual August start unenforceable. Then, legally there can’t be any penalties. I’m involved in renegotiating several contracts at the moment and you also mention ‘other contractual reasons’. What are they? IMO... This season should be concluded - whenever that is.

Even training can’t take place before that date. Mid-July at the earliest before matches.

22 games then split is probably the best option if we're shortenings the season. The league cup could also be binned for a year if need be. Loads of options domestically. The trickiest bit for me is deciding who the representatives would be for the 20/21 European competitions. The qualifying rounds would likely commence before the current domestic season is completed. I suppose the European qualifying rounds could be single matches - home advantage decided by the toss of a coin - which could delay the point they need to start by a month or so.

Agreed. Finishing the season at some point is a must and with the English, Spanish and Italian leagues are already pushing for that. It's easy to shorten the next domestic season to suit. Transfer windows should cease for a year or so - go back to the old system temporarily.

Who knows if there will even be European competitions next season - at least in the current format. The government advises that peak infection is 10-14 weeks away, suggesting it will be six months before we are back to infection levels as low as they are today. The early qualifying rounds could well be too soon.