Lewis Cox strongly criticizes the recent changes to West Brom’s fixtures due to Sky Sports coverage. He has labeled the situation as a complete debacle.
Three matches involving West Brom have been rescheduled: their home game against Ipswich has been moved to a 17:30 kickoff, the Leicester match is now scheduled for 12:30, and the away game against Sunderland has also been set for the same early time.
These adjustments are happening over three consecutive weekends, making it particularly frustrating for fans, especially for the Sunderland game, which involves a long journey.
On October 19, Lewis Cox expressed his frustration on Twitter, stating, “Three weekends in a row, an absolute farce for fans, again.”
The trip to Sunderland for a 15:00 kickoff is already challenging for fans of most English clubs, and moving it to an early start only exacerbates the situation for West Brom supporters making travel arrangements.
The silver lining in this situation is that the fixtures have not been rescheduled to different dates, which means fans who had already made plans with hotels or trains may not need to make extensive changes.
Nevertheless, it is clear that TV companies prioritizing their schedules over fans’ convenience is an ongoing issue. TV networks are primarily concerned with securing the games they want, leaving fans to adapt.
The recent Premier League deal, while not affecting West Brom yet, could set a precedent leading to more games being televised, potentially resulting in further fixture changes and more challenges for fans (The Guardian, October 18).
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