HUDDERSFIELD Town face a football league points reduction if the match against Hull City is not shown live on Sky Sports. Hull City fans are furious West Yorkshire Police are making them travel to the derby next month on official coaches from the city â even though some fans live in Huddersfield. The Tigers' have also only been given 1,500 tickets, when 4,000 can normally be accommodated in the away end. Huddersfield Town chief executive, Nigel Clibbens, said the club, like Hull City, has a contractual obligation as a member of the league to facilitate Sky TV games under the Football League contract. He said: "If we couldn't fulfil this, we could be subject to sanctions â including a possible points deduction. "The Football League approached us in January to inform us our game against Hull was selected for live Sky TV coverage. "We contacted the West Yorkshire Police to inform them as usual, but they requested a meeting and subsequently two days later they informed us they would not sanction the change in kick-off time to 5.20pm due to their risk assessment and the additional financial burden this would place on them." However, following a meeting between both clubs and the police, it was agreed the kick-off time could be changed from 12.30pm to 5.30pm if the capacity for away fans was restricted, it was the highest price category for match tickets, the travelling restrictions were implemented, it was an all ticket for home and away fans and only home fans with ticket purchasing history could buy home tickets. Mr Clibbens said: "Being faced with the unenviable prospect of not fulfilling the Sky TV contract and the huge potential implications for the club, we are just very relieved the game is to be staged. "The real people who suffer are the normal everyday Hull fans who just want to support their team but have to abide by the restrictions. "We are really grateful for the support of Hull City in helping us deal with the issue and agreeing to the conditions, which mean that WYP was willing to move from its original position to sanction the game. "The Football League also told us that no club in the history of all the Sky agreements had failed to fulfil its TV obligations â every team must have one live televised home game. At the same time, we recognise the issues and difficulties faced by the police." No ****ing wonder the Udders agreed, they'd be deducted points if they declined!
There is no blame attached to HTFC in all this, in fact they and their fans have pushed the boat out to support us. Also a lot of Huddersfield people and businesses will be losing out because of the West Yorkshire Stasi.
Calm down and look at the facts. Huddersfield signed a contract with sky and took the money fully knowing the terms and conditions. If they breach that contract they will be asked to return a percentage of that money, if they fail to do that then a point deduction is one of a few possible punishments (more likely some money will be witheld from next seasons tv payments). Its sensationalist reporting designed to provoke exactly the reaction its getting on here. They will not recieve a points deduction for anything other than going into admin, it just doesn't happen at the tail end of the season when it can effect promotion or relegation, look at QPR when they won the league.
Do you honestly, hand on heart, think Sky would ever enforce this even if they legally can? Just think about what you're saying for a minute before fyling off the handle. Give the man a coconut.
The only difficulty WYP face is they are a bunch of pansies. I for one hope the supporters Fed do take then to court for this. Christ it is not as if it comes out the ****ing budget, they charge the clubs for the privilege. G4S where hauled over the coals and had to pay back a percentage of their fee when they couldn't provide the service required for the Olympics. Will this happen to WYP, hell will freeze over first.
On that note, could clubs theoretically hire a private security company to oversee matches or must it be the police?
private companies have no powers of arrest. In the event of trouble the police would still have to attend
I assume they aren't allowed otherwise they would have done by now. It's widely known to be a complete rip-off for clubs.
Could pay for a few token officers and the rest a private company? I'm sure the police have sorted it so that can't be done, football is a nice little earner for them.
But a few token officers couldn't cope in the event of a full scale riot between, say, 1,500 drunken hooligans from Hull (or Goole) and the population of Huddersfield
Good stuff from When Saturday Comes http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1158...e-are-imposing-draconian-measure-on-hull-fans
Good thread but the comments on there are a bit unfair, they're making out like we're a set of thugs.
The whole problem lays at the door of WYP. Nobody else. They are not fit for purpose and have proved it this week. To blame sky or the FL is just crazy. FFS, with the extra revenue that ticket sales and the sky live fee will bring just get extra coppers over to the ground from other forces. Maybe ask the **** wits from Humberside Police to look after Hull City fans. The solution is a simple one. I do expect it all to change by matchday.
None of the comments are incorrect, let's not pretend we're the most innocent set of fans in the world. I know that's not what you're saying but the point is all of those incidents happened a long time ago and like all of football, our minority of thugs has shrunk even more. The WYP are still not justified by that evidence, all clubs will have a bad incident or two in their past.
When was that Bradford match when we allegedly fought their fans on the pitch? We've only played them once in about 20 years haven't we? It must have been bloody decades ago if true. As for causing trouble at every York match for 20 years? Christ I remember going to a few of them when I was little and I don't recall any bother, but I was very young I suppose. And that recent one at York in the pre-season friendly was blown out of all proportion.
Last time we played Bradford was 2005, away, won 2-0. I'm fairly sure I'd remember us having a brawl on the pitch, even if I was 10. The last time before then (according to t'internet) was in 1996. I had only just turned 1, so I wouldn't know.
I don't know, I'd have been 3 then. Was it a cup game? Surely they were a league (or more) above us back then?
That's the one I meant by the only one in the last 20 years or so. There was certainly no brawling that day.
