Four out of five home games at night (10 Viewers)

[wantageskyblue]

Five home matches left this year.
Four of them are at night.
Tuesday night forecast is zero degrees.
Motorways likely to include lane closures and disruption.
Elderly, disabled and children find these games difficult for a number of reasons.
Fans with jobs and family commitments will struggle with the timing.
This is draining much of the enjoyment away for me.

Ps. It looks possible that we wont have a home game on a Saturday at 3pm til February.

Cheesed off.

I agree with you Oakey. Saturday games mean I can get to see my parents on a regular basis but not easy when I have work/family stuff during the week. The thought has crossed my mind about not renewing but I probably will. I hate night matches now I live away, 2 hours to get there and not back until after midnight (not helped by the fiasco that is car park C.) When I was younger this wouldn’t have bothered me but I’m an old git now and need my sleep.

 

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[wingy]

Fooking hell it's like covid back, get up there and drink /view to help out.

 

[SBbucks]

Works for me, just need to get on the blower to my lads headteacher then

The additional “rearranged for TV” games will likely be within the Friday-Sunday period so hopefully not too bad from a school perspective. I guess there is an outside chance that they might use Thursday nights as part of the “weekend” fixtures. There will be the usual number of scheduled Tuesday/Wednesday games that won’t be affected.


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[clint van damme]

The additional “rearranged for TV” games will likely be within the Friday-Sunday period so hopefully not too bad from a school perspective. I guess there is an outside chance that they might use Thursday nights as part of the “weekend” fixtures. There will be the usual number of scheduled Tuesday/Wednesday games that won’t be affected.


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I think using Thursday is inevitable, as is a late Sunday evening kick off

 

[shmmeee]

Does nobody like watching football under the lights? Although I appreciate the difficulties mentioned by posters, for me, football under the lights is always adds something.

I love it. But I love a Saturday afternoon as much if not more, the whole routine, before and after. Night games I often come home wired and need to go straight to bed for work Also the kids can’t go.

The balance could definitely be better. Feels like we’ve had hardly any home games on a Saturday and we’re almost in December.

 

[SBbucks]

I think using Thursday is inevitable, as is a late Sunday evening kick off

You might be right. A lot depends on whether Sky are going to show PL & Championship games in parallel or not. They have been generally reluctant to do this until now, but the sheer quantity means they might have to double up. If they don’t double up then Thursday night and Sunday night (18:30?) will be inevitable.
Other interesting bottle necks will be the bank holiday games when every championship game will be shown live.
The 5 lower EFL games every weekend will have to run in parallel with PL & championship games and will get minuscule audiences.


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[MalcSB]

The OP was complaining about the international breaks - that’s what I said happens every season.


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Was he?

 

[SBbucks]

Was he?

Yes, in post #20. Before that he was complaining about the number of night matches.


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[oakey]

It sounds like you think this is unusual - it happens every season


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I have been watching for 50 years and it is only 'recently' the norm and not set in stone. International breaks are a negative development and need a rethink.

 

[oakey]

Was he?

She

 

[SBbucks]

I have been watching for 50 years and it is only 'recently' the norm and not set in stone. International breaks are a negative development and need a rethink.

What do you mean by “recently”? A quick check on our fixtures shows that there were international breaks in the Championship at least as far back as autumn 2010 and that has been consistent for PL & Championship since at least that time. It obviously didn’t affect us in Leagues 1 & 2, but this is the 4th year in a row that it has been part of our season. It looks set in stone to me, unless you think they are going to abolish the World Cup and Euro qualifiers in the near future?


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[Earlsdon-Loyal-Blue]

It’s shit for Kids who have school too.

Growing up, we all had to miss certain midweek night games that were in term time. Thats nothing new

 

[rob9872]

The answer imo is to have a proper mid-season break and all the internationals together for a month and extend the season by a couple of weeks. Most I'm sure prefer watching in the warmer weather.

 

[ccfc1234]

Next year we’ll be lucky if 10 out of 23 home games are on Saturday 3pm. But if people want to cling onto that as being the only time for football then I assume they would have been happy for us to stay in League 1 or 2? That’s the only way it’s going to happen and no amount of complaining is going to change it.


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You underestimate the power of people if you think no amount of complaining will change anything. Leaving football to one side for a moment, that is often how populations are often controlled by making people feel their voice doesn't count.
With regards to Sky I took the direct approach and have been speaking with a person in the CEOs office and they have explained why our games were chosen and I think they will look to move away matches going forward as balance (of which we have not had in terms of game moves) is something they try and make fair across all clubs.

Next year might actually be easier as the slots will be known and there will be more Saturday games albeit some will be 1230 and 1730 Saturday.

 

[MalcSB]

Yes, in post #20. Before that he was complaining about the number of night matches.


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Ahh, sorry - Thought you meant Original Post

 

[MalcSB]

Growing up, we all had to miss certain midweek night games that were in term time. Thats nothing new

True, but it’s the moving of Saturday 3 pm home matches that is the issue, and we seem to have been disproportionally affected.

 

[Flying Fokker]

I have a cunning plan…Move the midweek games to 3pm Saturday? Problem solved.

 

[Flying Fokker]

I love it. But I love a Saturday afternoon as much if not more, the whole routine, before and after. Night games I often come home wired and need to go straight to bed for work Also the kids can’t go.

The balance could definitely be better. Feels like we’ve had hardly any home games on a Saturday and we’re almost in December.

Absolutely. It feels like we are in Northampton or Birmingham this season : /

 

[Earlsdon-Loyal-Blue]

True, but it’s the moving of Saturday 3 pm home matches that is the issue, and we seem to have been disproportionally affected.

In context - in December before Christmas, 3 out of 4 weekend games were scheduled to be away from home anyway, but we have been given our Boxing Day game at home for the first time in a while.

The only game that has been brought forward is Birmingham which was always likely to be moved, I would have thought to a lunchtime kick off - so Friday night isn’t the worst in the world.

After last season, the football we played, the players we had and the late charge - Sky were always likely to want to show us more. Thanks to our summer signings, I can’t imagine Sky will want to show us much more in the second half of the season.

If we went to the premier league, we would play barely any Saturday 3pm kick offs. As another poster has said, the only way to keep the Saturday 3pms is to be relegated back to League 1 and 2.

N.B Leicester at home is likely to be moved to a lunchtime kick off if anyone wants to get the moaning in now.

 

[Nuskyblue]

I have a cunning plan…Move the midweek games to 3pm Saturday? Problem solved.

 

[SBbucks]

You underestimate the power of people if you think no amount of complaining will change anything. Leaving football to one side for a moment, that is often how populations are often controlled by making people feel their voice doesn't count.
With regards to Sky I took the direct approach and have been speaking with a person in the CEOs office and they have explained why our games were chosen and I think they will look to move away matches going forward as balance (of which we have not had in terms of game moves) is something they try and make fair across all clubs.

Next year might actually be easier as the slots will be known and there will be more Saturday games albeit some will be 1230 and 1730 Saturday.

Good for you. Leaving aside the power of the people nonsense, can you share their explanation of why our games were chosen? 3 of them were/are midland derbys so that might have something to do with it or is it deeper and more complicated than that?
Agree next season will be better pre-Christmas (Sky have already said this), but post-Christmas will be a very similar situation to now where they chose the most interesting games, with shorter and shorter notice periods.
As per previous posts, I’m not sure there will be more Saturday matches, as they will be stretched across the extended weekend in order to fit all the live games in (potentially from Thursday evening to Sunday evening).


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[SBbucks]

In context - in December before Christmas, 3 out of 4 weekend games were scheduled to be away from home anyway, but we have been given our Boxing Day game at home for the first time in a while.

The only game that has been brought forward is Birmingham which was always likely to be moved, I would have thought to a lunchtime kick off - so Friday night isn’t the worst in the world.

After last season, the football we played, the players we had and the late charge - Sky were always likely to want to show us more. Thanks to our summer signings, I can’t imagine Sky will want to show us much more in the second half of the season.

If we went to the premier league, we would play barely any Saturday 3pm kick offs. As another poster has said, the only way to keep the Saturday 3pms is to be relegated back to League 1 and 2.

N.B Leicester at home is likely to be moved to a lunchtime kick off if anyone wants to get the moaning in now.

A very rational explanation


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[Terry Gibson's perm]

The answer imo is to have a proper mid-season break and all the internationals together for a month and extend the season by a couple of weeks. Most I'm sure prefer watching in the warmer weather.

Or leave it as it is and shove the international rubbish out of the way at the end of the season when people can fill their time watching our fine summer sport.

 

[oakey]

What do you mean by “recently”? A quick check on our fixtures shows that there were international breaks in the Championship at least as far back as autumn 2010 and that has been consistent for PL & Championship since at least that time. It obviously didn’t affect us in Leagues 1 & 2, but this is the 4th year in a row that it has been part of our season. It looks set in stone to me, unless you think they are going to abolish the World Cup and Euro qualifiers in the near future?


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You seem to want a debate.
I put 'recently' in inverted commas to indicate that this is debatable. To you 2010 is not 'recently'. To others it's like yesterday. It's an age thing.
Your second point has overlooked that just like football existed before the Premier League so also international qualifiers existed too.
They managed to fit them in somewhere without depriving us of so many Saturday fixtures. They (football authorities) can so again. They probably don't want to because they are not interested in the fans as long as the money rolls in and the players are happy.

 

[Skyblueweeman]

Next year we’ll be lucky if 10 out of 23 home games are on Saturday 3pm. But if people want to cling onto that as being the only time for football then I assume they would have been happy for us to stay in League 1 or 2? That’s the only way it’s going to happen and no amount of complaining is going to change it.


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We'll only have 19 home league games next season mate

 

[SBbucks]

You seem to want a debate.
I put 'recently' in inverted commas to indicate that this is debatable. To you 2010 is not 'recently'. To others it's like yesterday. It's an age thing.
Your second point has overlooked that just like football existed before the Premier League so also international qualifiers existed too.
They managed to fit them in somewhere without depriving us of so many Saturday fixtures. They (football authorities) can so again. They probably don't want to because they are not interested in the fans as long as the money rolls in and the players are happy.

I don't want to have a debate, but this is nonsense. If 2010 isn't recent to you, how about 2003? Or 1998? Our games were disrupted by international breaks in both of those years and no doubt those years in between, so to say international breaks are only ""recently" the norm" is just plain incorrect.
It's certainly not an age thing (I've being watching the City since 1964). The world has moved on and the authorities are not going to go back to midweek international qualifiers with elite football carrying on as normal each Saturday, not least because in your halcyon days there weren't 13 midweeks dedicated to European club football (a number that will only increase in coming seasons).

 

[oakey]

Well, let's see. Now you have moved the goalposts by adding two new points. I mentioned 2010 as 'recently' but now you have added that international breaks preceded 2010 so why was that date cited, unless it got more frequent at that point?
You have also added a new element, European competitions, which have expanded in the time that we both have been fans.
Correct me if I'm wrong but these competitions barely affected the domestic programme in the past.
If you want to argue that times change and we must all just put up with it go ahead. But your final point about the football authorities not going to go back is likely true. It doesn't make it right though.

 

[SBbucks]

Well, let's see. Now you have moved the goalposts by adding two new points. I mentioned 2010 as 'recently' but now you have added that international breaks preceded 2010 so why was that date cited, unless it got more frequent at that point?
You have also added a new element, European competitions, which have expanded in the time that we both have been fans.
Correct me if I'm wrong but these competitions barely affected the domestic programme in the past.
If you want to argue that times change and we must all just put up with it go ahead. But your final point about the football authorities not going to go back is likely true. It doesn't make it right though.

You still haven’t said what you think is recent. The 3 specific years that I’ve quoted were selected at random as I knew international breaks have been a fixture for at least 15-20 years, it’s clearly even longer than that. Please check any of the other years in between and I’m sure you’ll find the same, I’m not going to.
I quoted the massive expansion of European football as one of the reasons we won’t be turning the clock back; the champions league and other European competitions take up many more midweek dates than the old knock out competitions.
I admire your optimism that we will return to the good old days but I think you’ll be disappointed.


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[oakey]

You still haven’t said what you think is recent. The 3 specific years that I’ve quoted were selected at random as I knew international breaks have been a fixture for at least 15-20 years, it’s clearly even longer than that. Please check any of the other years in between and I’m sure you’ll find the same, I’m not going to.
I quoted the massive expansion of European football as one of the reasons we won’t be turning the clock back; the champions league and other European competitions take up many more midweek dates than the old knock out competitions.
I admire your optimism that we will return to the good old days but I think you’ll be disappointed.


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I expressed no optimism.

 

[Seymour_East]

It looks set in stone to me, unless you think they are going to abolish the World Cup and Euro qualifiers in the near future?


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Great idea!

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[Ashdown]

Indeed. There will be a maximum 7 Championship games at 3pm Saturday, the other 5 will be live on TV over the weekend. I would expect plenty of Saturday & Sunday lunchtime games and probably Saturday evening games, as well as the Friday night slots. It wouldn’t surprise me if they introduced 18:30 games on Sunday too.


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Lunchtime kick offs are the worst of all, especially for people travelling any distance.

 

[Ashdown]

Great idea!

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The qualifiers can be a bit of a joke to be honest, you only need to see the scores at the Euros and the league tables. Perhaps they should save the planet a bit by automatically putting through the bigger countries anyway and getting all the minions to have a separate league to try and claim the remaining places, hence cutting out a lot of unnecessary travel.

 

[hamertime]

Growing up, we all had to miss certain midweek night games that were in term time. Thats nothing new

Just have football in the summer makes total sense.