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Sunday fixtures

SpursManChris

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2007
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2013/14

What is it with our ridiculous amount of Sunday fixtures? It is so blatantly disproportional to every other club, it really is quite ridiculous. I understand when we play on Sundays due to Europa, but when we ARE AVAILABLE play on Saturdays, most times we do not. So far this season we have had 3 Saturday games and we only have a further 2 before the end of February. By the end of February we will have played 22 weekend Premier League matches and played them on a Sunday a whopping 17 times! Out of those 17, we were available to play 8 on a Saturday, with no Europa involvement on the preceding Thursday.
Now I realise that our matches are also moved to a Sunday when we are selected for TV, however I do question why we cannot be selected for the either of the 2 Saturday slots and while BT doesn't have the rights to many of our games, I do believe our matches should be more evenly split between them and Sky to allow for more of a chance for us to play on Saturday.

It is just not fair to our fans who cannot make it to Sunday games.

2014/15

Well it's not looking good AT ALL for any of you hoping for some Saturday 3pm matches at home. (I know there's some of you out there.) Thankfully and much less annoyingly, it's not so much due to Sky's scheduling, certainly not as much as last season. Its just that every week that we are confirmed for a Saturday kick-off, having not participated in Europa, we are playing away damn it! It has alot to do with the way we are 'home/away ordered.'

On a positive note, somehow, both our Arsenal (September) and City (October) fixtures are on Sky's Saturday football, (Even though we're unfortunately away to both) which is somewhat of a miracle considering Sunday ratings are higher. Although, speaking of Sunday's rating higher, it doesn't make alot of sense that Sky have us against Hull on a Sunday, while they have Arsenal v United on the Saturday. I sometimes seriously wonder if Sky know what they're doing.

As it stands, the 6th of December will be our first Saturday home match (v Palace) and as nice bonus, it is 3pm! We should then have Burnley at home on the 20th of Dec, also at 3pm. That is, unless Sky do the unthinkable when they release their December schedule. Surely these won't get picked for TV, will they? Saturday if anything? A Sunday selection would just be a double whammy and I'll probably give up on life altogether.
 
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FITZ

Well-Known Member
May 17, 2004
2,017
1,518
Out of interest - it used to be that the Sunday games after uefa were 3pm. They now all seem to be 4pm anyone know why?
 

SpursManChris

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2007
5,347
2,458
Note how last Thursday wasn't our first Europa game!
The point is, we have played and will continue to play on Sundays without having played in Europa during the week. Remember what I said. We have played all but 2 our of games this season on a Sunday. Considering this, the Europa explanation only goes so far. Not to mention that it is precisely because we are involved in Europa, leading to Sunday games, that the club should be playing on a Saturday when we don't have the Europa issue.
 
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Mattspur

ENIC IN
Jan 7, 2004
4,885
7,257
Its just suddenly struck me. What is it with our ridiculous amount of Sunday fixtures. It is so blatantly disproportional to every other club, it really is quite ridiculous. So far this season we have had 2 Saturday games and we only have a further 2 before the years end, both in December. I know it will have something to do with the TV rights but I cannot for the life of me think what that could be. Why can we not have an equal number of Saturday and Sunday TV games to United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Scum?
Is it more so this season than others? I swear it must be.

How is it fair to our fans who struggle to make it to Sunday games? The whole thing just doesn't make sense to me.

It's a combination of being on TV, playing after a Europa League match, playing on a Thursday or playing against opposition who played on Thursday. Our matches are never moved to a Sunday without reason.

Having had a quick look at the fixtures, this seems to be the case in every instance.

It may be unfair to fans who can't make it on a Saturday, but I suppose it's great for fans who work a 6 day week.
 
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Monkey Bastard Hands

Large Member
Jul 18, 2010
1,411
1,121
The point is, we have played and will continue to play on Sundays without having played in Europa during the week. Remember what I said. We have played all but 2 our of games this season on a Sunday. Considering this, the Europa explanation only goes so far.

OK, here's a bit more detail.

Sunday 18th August Vs Palace - we're picked for TV
Thursday 22nd August - Europa League qualifier 1st leg
Sunday 25th August Vs Swansea
Thursday 29th August - Europa League qualifier 2nd leg
Sunday 1st September Vs Arsenal

International break

Saturday 14th September Vs Norwich
Thursday 19th September - Europa League
Sunday 22nd September Vs Swansea
Tuesday 24th September Vs Villa
Saturday 28th September Vs Chelsea
Thursday 3rd October - Europa League
Sunday 6th October Vs West Ham

International Break

Sunday 20th October Vs Villa - we're picked for TV
Thursday 24th October - Europa League
Sunday 27th Vs Hull

As the above shows, the only games we've played on Sunday NOT due to the Europa League were against Palace and Villa, and that's because we were picked for TV. Simples.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
Don't see why it's so ridiculous and confusing, we've had Europa matches on Thursday meaning that we cannot play until Sunday. The other times we've played on a Sunday is due to TV scheduling.
 

SpursManChris

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2007
5,347
2,458
As the above shows, the only games we've played on Sunday NOT due to the Europa League were against Palace and Villa, and that's because we were picked for TV. Simples.

Don't see why it's so ridiculous and confusing, we've had Europa matches on Thursday meaning that we cannot play until Sunday. The other times we've played on a Sunday is due to TV scheduling.

Since when was football only broadcast on Sundays? Are you forgetting about Saturdays early and late kick offs? This is my point. When we CAN play on saturday we haven't been and will continue not to for this year.
 
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SpursManChris

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2007
5,347
2,458
Don't see why it's so ridiculous and confusing, we've had Europa matches on Thursday meaning that we cannot play until Sunday. The other times we've played on a Sunday is due to TV scheduling.

As the above shows, the only games we've played on Sunday NOT due to the Europa League were against Palace and Villa, and that's because we were picked for TV. Simples.

Look at November 3rd, 24th and December 22nd. All could be played on Saturday, with an early or late kick off for TV, but ALL are Sunday.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
Look at November 3rd, 24th and December 22nd. All could be played on Saturday, with an early or late kick off for TV, but ALL are Sunday.

I see your point and agree that we could have been picked for a SNF 17:15 k.o on a Saturday however this isn't really that confusing because Sky have always treated fans that go to games with contempt anyway, their revenue comes from the people who stay at home or go to pubs to watch football.

At least we're on TV though, when this has happened before we didn't have a TV slot on Sunday when we could have played on Saturday which used to annoy the hell out of me.
 

Monkey Bastard Hands

Large Member
Jul 18, 2010
1,411
1,121
Look at November 3rd, 24th and December 22nd. All could be played on Saturday, with an early or late kick off for TV, but ALL are Sunday.

We have a League Cup match against Hull on Wednesday - personally i'd prefer us to have an extra day off and play on sunday instead of only 2 days before our match, away at Everton.

24th November is against City which is one of our biggest games of the season, this one was always going to be picked for TV and it just so happens to be on a Sunday lunch time. I can understand your point as it could have easily been a saturday lunch or teatime, but it's all down to Sky at the end of the day. Same with the Southampton game on the 22nd.

I can see your point, but in the vast majority of cases we have little choice but to play on a Sunday (and personally I hate it as when we have a 4pm kick off in the UK, it's midnight for me as i'm overseas!)
 

SpursManChris

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2007
5,347
2,458
it's all down to Sky at the end of the day.

we have little choice but to play on a Sunday

You make it sound like our club is a weak bunch of fools who have no control over Sky. Of course we have control, we just have somehow let them pick us on sundays for whatever reason and the club just doesn't care. If they wanted to, they could say no, we want to play on Saturdays. I'd love to know how playing on a Sunday TV slot instead of a Saturday TV slot could increase our revenue.
 

Spurs 1961

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
6,665
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No one cares about supporters they are just taken for granted since they will turn up anywhere, ay any time, in any conditions. All is based around TV schedules, sponsors and any other reason that can be found. Everyone be it UEFA, FA and the EPL treat fans with blind disregard
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
We don't have any control over fixtures and time slots no club does, not sure where you got that idea from...

Why do you always think managers complain about fixtures every week?
 
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