Just 2 prem games on saturday 6 october

Fans blast lack of Saturday games

A new top-flight record will be set on Saturday 6 October when just one Premier League match kicks off at the traditional 1500 BST time.
Only Aston Villa's home game against West Ham starts at 1500 BST, with one game starting at 1245 BST on Saturday and eight games taking place on Sunday.

"This is a matter of great concern," said Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation.

"It is extraordinary and it will be a dark weekend for football supporters."

Clarke added: "It's symbolic of the way things are going but the views of the match-going fan seem to be bottom of the list of priorities.

The Saturday three o'clock kick-off is a great tradition of English football

Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe

"We will certainly bring this up at our next meeting with the Premier League."

Manchester United v Wigan is the other game taking place of Saturday, 6 October but is kicking off at 1245 BST as it is being televised.

Three other matches are being televised on the Sunday, four have been switched because teams involved are playing in the Uefa Cup on the previous Thursday and Manchester City v Middlesbrough has been moved for policing reasons.

The City game was originally due to be played in the last week of the season but as their ground is the venue for the Uefa Cup final, Uefa asked the club to switch their Middlesbrough matches to play at the Riverside on the last weekend of the season.

As United are at home on Saturday, 6 October, City have to play on the Sunday.

A Premier League spokesman said: "It is a combination of factors - teams featuring in Europe, television games and policing issues.

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"We always try to give fans as much notice as possible as our research shows that if we do that, then they can make the appropriate travel arrangements."

Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said fans' concerns had to be listened to.

"The Saturday three o'clock kick-off is a great tradition of English football and one that supporters, myself included, would like to see continue," said Sutcliffe.

"But I am sure fans whose clubs are competing in the Uefa Cup are happy to trade that off for a place in Europe.

"While TV rights have contributed to the success of the Premier League - money from which is now filtering down to lower league and community football - fans' concerns need to be listened to when fixtures schedules are drawn up


What the heck will they put on motd? Longer highlights or will the shite pundit team babble on for even longer

suppose it can't be helped, but it is starting to get a bit farcical

Probably just have the main MotD on Sunday.

I hope I get my ticket for that. Nice away day.

But it is ridiculous. I was getting annoyed when we kept playing on Sunday last season.

They're just emulating La Liga and Serie A fixtures LRD. What's the big deal?

Puro wrote:They're just emulating La Liga and Serie A fixtures LRD. What's the big deal?

I don't care about it that much myself. But saturday is the football day in England Puro!

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Also i imagine shows like soccer saturday basically become pointless for most people. Of course not if you support one of the teams or have an accumlator with a few but otherwise pointless.

just like it is in germany. spain has traditionally been sunday but our footy heritage is being killed off, lrd wont mind he doesn't go too much too bloody costly in fairness but for those who do sundays are a nightmare public transport is sh¡t, loads of roadworks, its a nightmare. we have a 12.45 ko v preston ffs what time will they have to leave home to get to cardiff it just ain't right, similarly late evening games are also impossible to get home from. the true supporters who go are a forgotten breed its fair to say

Its a sad indicament of the power that television is playing on the league fixtures

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:just like it is in germany. spain has traditionally been sunday but our footy heritage is being killed off, lrd wont mind he doesn't go too much too bloody costly in fairness but for those who do sundays are a nightmare public transport is sh¡t, loads of roadworks, its a nightmare. we have a 12.45 ko v preston ffs what time will they have to leave home to get to cardiff it just ain't right, similarly late evening games are also impossible to get home from. the true supporters who go are a forgotten breed its fair to say

Thanks Frank for explaining it a bit. If it's tradition, then they've got to respect the fans. Yes, Sundays it's for Spain and Italy.

The TV may win in the short run, but they'll lose eventually if there are no butts on the stadium seats. Keep Saturday for England.

In fairness, Man U vs Wigan can be pretty much any time of the day and it's not an inconvenience for away fans - it's not like Pompey V Newcastle is it.

It's as much to do with CL/Uefa Cup fixtures as TV isn't it?

About TV influence, wasn't there a European match delayed for 20-30 minutes a couple of years ago because there was a long episode of a soap (Eastenders perhaps)?

Still seems ridiculous to me.

villa & west ham keep the flag flying for the old school

it's no surprise really. been getting less and less for a long time. it's most annoying for people who go to games. 12.45 kos and sunday games are often inconvenient for travel: can be hard to get to away fixtures @ 12.45 without leaving v. early while sunday is bad for public transport. for armchair fans it's all good.