A new date has been set for the Imps’ home fixture with Burton Albion.
The game is no longer a 3 pm Saturday kick-off. Instead, we’ll go at 8 pm on a Thursday evening. The date is January 22nd, and it has got to be one of the strangest TV slots known to man.
This is the future if we head up the divisions, bizarre kick-off times and the like. We have only had one 3 pm Saturday home kick off in two months now, with just three in place until February 14th, assuming we don’t call off Doncaster.
The very real possibility is that between September 7th and February 13th, we could play just three Saturday 3 pm kick-offs. Three, in 159 days.
I’ve tried to rack my brains as to the last time we had this slot on a Thursday. Last season, Boxing Day fell on a Thursday, and we lost 1-0 against Shrewsbury.
The last time we played a genuine Thursday night fixture was back at the start of Michael Skubala’s reign, when we lost 3-1 to Derby County before Christmas.
Prior to that, our 7-2 defeat against Liverpool was a Thursday night match, as was Boxing Day 2019 (defeat against Oxford United). Our League Two play-off semi-final against Exeter, a 3-1 defeat, was also a Thursday, meaning in the last decade, our record on that day is played five, lost five, scored four, conceded 15.
It’s not the odd times I particularly object to, but the lack of traditional 3 pm Saturday kick-offs at the Bank. They’re the norm, and while I know Sky’s money is welcome by many, they are destroying our calendar this season.
It’s not Sky who are to blame, it is, I believe, the footballing authorities who continue with their regulation not to stream games on the Saturday afternoon 3pm k.o. period to protect the Premier league attendences.
This archaic rule which, I understand, is only observed in the World by the UK and Russia is a total restrictive practice, in my view, in this modern age of technology!
This precludes elderly folk and the incapacitated from watching their team except for the occasions that Sky pick them to play at these odd-ball times. In addition, whilst the Imps benefit from a payment from Sky, but this, I suspect, is no where close to the amount that they could earn if every game was streamed at the normal k.o. time.
it’s about time restrictions were eased and all games were allowed to be streamed by the clubs for their profit and the fans enjoyment.