Games Moved for TV

[Villafirst]

I see that horrible little oik James Maddison is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. I really hope we smash Spurs next week!

[Pat McMahon]

I think the point is we are already seeing people being inconvenienced as they have already made plans and are out of pocket because of the change. Match going fans should be the priority, not the last thing considered.

Exactly. Add me to the pissed off club.

My sister and husband are down for the weekend for my niece’s birthday and we have stuff organised for the Friday and Saturday, with the understanding I would scoot off to get the train on the Sunday morning from Euston, leaving them a spare set of keys to lock up when they leave.

Deposits paid on restaurants, trains booked (I think I can cancel the latter) but I have a medical appointment on the Friday which would probably take ages to rearrange and that will probably tip me over the edge of not going.  Not having a car means getting back to London after by train is a royal pain, needing everything to work in my favour to get the 10 ;17pm from New Street. If you get trains from Witton you’ll know what I mean. Plus on past form there’s a chance of cancellations or delays on that train anyway. As PW says, we the match going fans, are an afterthought on this. 10 days notice is an absolute piss take.

Chico Hamilton is in a similar position to me and will probably have to cancel too as once he gets back to London he then has to get a tube and train to south London.

How many people will stay in the stadium for the lap of appreciation? Most people I know have to scatter quickly after a game.

[Pat McMahon]

I'd not seen this until an hour or so ago (engrossed in the Inter - barca game), but when I read the news I was FUMING. Here's one story (and it won't be the only one), which I think should reflect how fans of the game are repeatedly and consistently abused by the powers that be. I'm a lifetime ST holder, well into my seventies, looking forward to the last home game of the season, which is always special; living in London so Sunday's not great but manageable. Got my train tickets. Wife and I will be in Spain until the Saturday, a break which she reluctantly agreed to cut short so we could come back on the Saturday (even though she has some important stuff to do over there in a short time), enabling me to attend a pretty special day when you get the chance to say goodbye to your VP mates till next season and join in all the fun associated with last home games - no warning in the previous home game to do that. So, holiday break messed up (for two people), train tickets messed up (I hope I get a refund), last home game messed up - all at ten days notice. The level of disrespect is unbelievable, even for the Premier League. And the worst thing is that all you can do is rant and rave to yourself, against the wall, because none of the people who make these decisions give a flying fuck.
Rant over (but upset state not over).

I also live in London, and 'm not being funny but were the trains booked for a 7pm kick off on the Sunday (which is what we were going to have due to Forest taking the 1415 slot)? There's only one train back to London after that, slightly worse than the Friday with two, although both are glacial.

The Avanti off peak easement on a Friday means that leaving London on the 1740 should make the match, without leaving work early.

We've had matches moved at similar notice this season (Cardiff springs to mind), without close to the hubbub. Is it just that people didn't read the notice properly and thought it was 1415? Do people really love Sunday night kick offs? Do people like Man United enough that we think its good to give them an advantage now? Have we all forgotten the Liverpool away match being moved to a Saturday 8pm to give us extra rest after Leipzig?

When tickets were sold it was a 2.15 kick off on Sunday 18 May.I was in Vietnam and struggled to get on the site so Chico got mine but it was definitely a Sunday game advertised.

You mention Sunday night kick offs - was that an option?

[cdbearsfan]

It was provisionally arranged for either 2.15 or 7pm on the Sunday. I'm not sure what the criteria was for deciding which slot if they hadn't subsequently decided to move it to the Friday. Forest currently have a 2.15pm televised game, so presumably we'd have played at 7 or we'd have kicked off at 2.15 with Forest moved to the later slot.

[Pat McMahon]

It was provisionally arranged for either 2.15 or 7pm on the Sunday. I'm not sure what the criteria was for deciding which slot if they hadn't subsequently decided to move it to the Friday. Forest currently have a 2.15pm televised game, so presumably we'd have played at 7 or we'd have kicked off at 2.15 with Forest moved to the later slot.

When I tried to book tickets on the app it showed 8:15pm kick off. I was ranting to Chico then realised it was showing Vietnam time, 6 hours ahead,  so I was originally relieved at a 2:15 kick off!

[martyn ellis]

To Pat M re the trains back to New Street. I gave up on West Mids trains from Witton months ago. The shuttle bus is fairly quick and much more reliable. Always gets me back well in time for a train back to Euston.

[PeterWithe]

And not just us, a pal was telling me he'd booked 4 train tickets to Mcr for the Wolves game last week, they moved it to the Friday, he couldn't make it and no refunds. As part of that chat, he was also telling me that ManCity fans came into the game late to protest their clubs latest decision, not to issue new season tickets, they don't want them and would rather sell individual tickets.

And once one club does it...

[144 Hard Boiled Eggs]

I think the point is we are already seeing people being inconvenienced as they have already made plans and are out of pocket because of the change. Match going fans should be the priority, not the last thing considered.

Exactly. Add me to the pissed off club.

My sister and husband are down for the weekend for my niece’s birthday and we have stuff organised for the Friday and Saturday, with the understanding I would scoot off to get the train on the Sunday morning from Euston, leaving them a spare set of keys to lock up when they leave.

Deposits paid on restaurants, trains booked (I think I can cancel the latter) but I have a medical appointment on the Friday which would probably take ages to rearrange and that will probably tip me over the edge of not going.  Not having a car means getting back to London after by train is a royal pain, needing everything to work in my favour to get the 10 ;17pm from New Street. If you get trains from Witton you’ll know what I mean. Plus on past form there’s a chance of cancellations or delays on that train anyway. As PW says, we the match going fans, are an afterthought on this. 10 days notice is an absolute piss take.

Chico Hamilton is in a similar position to me and will probably have to cancel too as once he gets back to London he then has to get a tube and train to south London.

How many people will stay in the stadium for the lap of appreciation? Most people I know have to scatter quickly after a game.

I feel your pain Paul. Me and my son have had to get refunds from the club as we can’t now go. I’ve heard through a mate of someone frantically trying to reschedule flights over from New York that they’d booked for the Saturday. I can’t remember a game being moved with such short notice. It seemed pretty certain that it was being played at some time on the Sunday then we get that announcement on Tuesday. The modern game is rotten to the core. I wish I didn’t love the Villa so much!

[john2710]

I don't blame Spurs for requesting the change, but they may have released details of the request to the press. We'd be asking for the change in the same circumstances. The blame lies with the PL for making an unprecedented change.

In the bigger picture UEFA need to put a blanket ban on matches being moved to accommodate a privileged few.

[cdbearsfan]

I think problems of this nature were always likely if you have the FA Cup Final in a week full of Premier League matches, the midweek before a European final.

The real fuck up was organising the FA Cup Final so it isn't the last game of the season. Not sure if the FA or Premier League to blame, or a combination of both.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I think problems of this nature were always likely if you have the FA Cup Final in a week full of Premier League matches, the midweek before a European final.

The real fuck up was organising the FA Cup Final so it isn't the last game of the season. Not sure if the FA or Premier League to blame, or a combination of both.

I thought the PL/FA agreed several years ago to give some priority to the FA Cup Final as the last domestic game of the season. Or did I imagine that?

My Irish mate from Wexford is having to reschedule everything and another ST Holder, who had agreed to meet up with his family in Cornwall (some flying over from the US) on Friday and Saturday (as long as he could leave early on Sunday to get to the game) is now totally f***ed!

[Dave]

I think problems of this nature were always likely if you have the FA Cup Final in a week full of Premier League matches, the midweek before a European final.

The real fuck up was organising the FA Cup Final so it isn't the last game of the season. Not sure if the FA or Premier League to blame, or a combination of both.

I wonder if that FIFA land-grab in the summer is anything to do with it, and needing a certain amount of time between the last game of the season and a new thing starting?

[cdbearsfan]

I think problems of this nature were always likely if you have the FA Cup Final in a week full of Premier League matches, the midweek before a European final.

The real fuck up was organising the FA Cup Final so it isn't the last game of the season. Not sure if the FA or Premier League to blame, or a combination of both.

I wonder if that FIFA land-grab in the summer is anything to do with it, and needing a certain amount of time between the last game of the season and a new thing starting?

Maybe, but doesn't seem a problem that couldn't have been solved by just starting the season a week earlier. They always seem to find some excuse not to have cup final last game.

[Dave]

But then the Euros going on into the middle of July last summer presumably stopped the season starting any earlier than it did.

[OCD]

Why does the whole of Saturday need to be blocked off for what nowadays has become an evening kick-off? Maybe just have the Saturday games kick off a little earlier so that there can still be some build-up to the final.