"Television rights has an increasing influence on Premier League football. They affect all areas of the game, from the amount of money clubs have to spend on transfers and salaries, through to moving the dates fixtures are played on â often irritating supporters" So starts this interesting article. We do okay it seems but, oh dear, Stoke. Mind it's not that surprising when you consider that in the Reading v Stoke game the ball was in open play for only 52% of the time! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2278949/Premier-League-table-TV-appearances-Is-club-star-attraction-turn-off.html Our next game of course is being televised, ironically against Stoke.
I Hate it when games are moved for SKY/ESPN as it fu(ks ups the travel etc for the supports especially the away supporters. It’s a pain when they are moved to an early/late kick off or from a Saturday to a Sunday but it pi55es me off no end when a game is moved from a weekend to a Monday night as the QPR game has been. Usually you would meet up have a few beers go to the game followed by a few more beers and make a day out it. But when it’s moved to a Monday night all you might get a pint in before the game but that’s it. Some supporters (like the couple who sit next to me) can’t even make the week night games so they miss out altogether. I know money talks in football but SKY (in my opinion) have far too much power. It makes it virtually impossible to book travel/accommodation in advance to take advantage of cheap deals as there is a rick the game may be move. If you’re a football fan you go and watch your team play... Simple. If you can’t watch your team as you not local or can’t afford it then you go and see your local side play. You can do this for less than the SKY subscription so people who say “I’d love to go but can’t afford it” are talking b0llox. It really pi55es me off when games are moved for Arm Chair fans who can’t pull themselves away from the comfort of their living room get preference over supporters.
Whilst I certainly agree with the general feeling here, the fact the Stoke game has been moved earlier is actually good for me as now I can be in a pub in plenty of time for the England v France 6 nations game.
Fortunately I live locally so transport is rarely an issue. I take exception to the early kick offs because they stifle pre-match boozing. The Thursday night Europa League games were my favourite, I like a late weekend kick off too. It must be quite frustrating for the club to have this one televised- it's a harder game to shift tickets for regardless- I've got 2 neutral seats for £10 (£12.50 inc. booking fee).
It's all gets a B frustrating, and yet again I have to change plans. Having moved Stoke to 12:45, Chelsea is now 3:30 on Sunday (Mothers Day Lunch is a hot dog?) and QPR is now Easter Monday evening. 3 home matches, but none of the away matches are affected ones, so the sooner Sky move to another favourite ground to visit the better - perhaps a senior production manager lives nearlby?
Pretty good chance the Chelsea game will get moved Surly, since that weekend clashes with the 6th round of the Cup. Always supposing they beat Middlesborough of course.
