End of season fixture backlog - 3 away games to be rearranged

Status
Not open for further replies.
kithnou said:
oulala...one to talk about some day :)
Click to expand...

I was a fair bit away from Riyadh mate. I wouldn't want to go back to Saudi for any length of time, the only reason I was there was because I was on the dole in the UK back in the 80's and working out there was the only offer I'd had for months.

Sunderland is a bit of a desert in many ways too though, but they treat their women marginally better !
 

Woolly Blue said:
I was a fair bit away from Riyadh mate. I wouldn't want to go back to Saudi for any length of time, the only reason I was there was because I was on the dole in the UK back in the 80's and working out there was the only offer I'd had for months.

Sunderland is a bit of a desert in many ways too though, but they treat their women marginally better !
Click to expand...
Sweet Lord Britain is hard on its unemployed!
 
BoysInBlue said:
With Crystal Palace winning tonight and reaching the FA Cup semi finals, that means our game with them scheduled for semi final weekend on April 23rd will need to be rearranged.

That also means we now have 3 away games to be rearranged, none of which yet have a date - Sunderland, Liverpool and Palace away.

What makes it tricky is that there is a limit to the number of available midweek dates, due to both the end of March international break, Liverpool's potential further progress in the Europa League, and also that UEFA do not allow/frown upon Premier League/FA Cup games going head to head with midweek CL/Europa dates (see this week's Hull vs Arsenal game, which had to kick off at 7pm to avoid going head to head with CL games - it only did so on that date as an absolute last resort, due to the 6th round being this weekend). Yet another thing compounding the backlog is a little known Premier League rule that no club is allowed more than 2 away league games or 2 home league games in succession.

Looking at our current remaining scheduled fixtures and potentially available midweek dates:

Sat March 12: Chelsea H - FA Cup

Tues/Wed/Thurs March 15/16/17 - CL/Europa league games

Sat March 19: Arsenal H

March 21st to April 2nd ruled out - International Break.

Sun April 3rd: Man Utd A

Tues/Wed/Thurs April 5/6/7 - CL/Europa league games

Sat April 9th: Watford A

Tues/Wed/Thurs April 12/13/14 - CL/Europa league games

Sat April 16th: Southampton H

Free midweek - Tues/Wed April 19/20

Sat April 23rd: Not playing Palace away now on this date. Liverpool & Sunderland are both playing league games elsewhere that weekend, so neither could be booked as potential opponents on that date.

Tues/Wed/Thurs April 26/27/28 - CL/Europa league games

Sat April 30th: Bournemouth H

Tues/Wed/Thurs May 3/4/5 - CL/Europa league games

Sat May 7th: Leicester A

Free midweek - Tues/Wed May 10/11

Sun May 15th Norwich H

As you can see from that, there are only 2 free midweeks that don't have any CL/Europa league footy on them, between now and the end of the season.

There's no chance of the season being extended to play the remaining game either.

What may need to happen is for a game to be played on a Monday night, 48 hours after a Saturday game. Not ideal at all, but they do it at Christmas.

Looking at the way the fixtures are for Palace/Sunderland and Liverpool too, we might have to play Palace away on Monday April 11th, 2 days after playing Watford on the Saturday April 9th. This might actually not be a bad idea, as the team could stay down in London after the Watford game, ready for the Palace game. Cuts down on the travelling 'to and from' too. That would get one of the 3 games out of the way.

The other 2 would be played on the remaining 2 free midweeks - so potentially a relegation decider vs Sunderland (hopefully not for us, for them) in the penultimate game of the season on May 10/11. Or even a derby match vs Liverpool on May 10/11. Whichever isn't played in May would be on April 19/20.

There was also an article on some of this a few weeks ago, from a Sunderland perspective in the Chronicle that's worth a read: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spor...ews/sunderland-vs-everton-next-month-10928315
Click to expand...

The Cup Final is on Saturday 21 May. So another available midweek date is Wednesday 18 May - just before the Cup Final!

UEFA made it more difficult by spreading games across 4 midweeks rather than 2 in February and March.
 
Looks like they will have to break their own rules. Guess why!

Because they arranged for us to have away games on each of the 3 dates. Something they might have avoided.

18th May will only work in extremis. If the teams aren't involved in important league places. That may count Sunderland out.
 

Something should be done about the spreading out of CL rounds. 4 weeks to complete the last 16 is ridiculous.

I know it's for TV but if they are going to do it then play them all on say the Wednesday.
 
I've just realised the cup final is on May 21st. The very moment I'm on a family holiday. This is just not acceptable.

Things like this always happen to me, guaranteed we get to final now.
 
Stanley Parker said:
The Cup Final is on Saturday 21 May. So another available midweek date is Wednesday 18 May - just before the Cup Final!

UEFA made it more difficult by spreading games across 4 midweeks rather than 2 in February and March.
Click to expand...

The Premier League season finishes on Sunday May 15 & cannot be extended past that date. It's so they can stage manage/finish the season on that date, and so no team (for example if we played Sunderalnd) would know what they'd need to stay up.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Welcome to GrandOldTeam

Get involved. Registration is simple and free.

Register
Back
Top