@Jxydxn___@LutonTown Don’t give in to the Premier League/TV re-scheduling. Some of us hatters abroad (me) have booked a trip home to catch some games. Waited until the league tv games were confirmed 😩
@SimonOxley9 Yeah it's very annoying. It seemed safe to book a trip home with the Sky TV changes all confirmed. But now I will potentially miss the Stockport (home) game as it will be the same time as my return flight.
This is the year when the game of two halves became the game of four quarters. And the greatest sport and event was damaged for fistfuls of dollars. Hydration breaks ruin the game’s flow and frustrates fans and viewers. If hydration breaks were solely about player welfare then they would be linked to the temperature in the stadia. It’s a nonsense having a three-minute break in an air-conditioned arena.
Fifa should long ago have established a working party of coaches, sports scientists, national team doctors and Fifpro to agree a set temperature at kickoff, say 25C, which triggers the breaks. That would prove the breaks were for player welfare. At the moment, and to nobody’s surprise, it is widely accepted that these breaks are for US TV to accommodate commercials. Big bucks for the small screen.
Fifa should have thought more about the effect on games and to fan (and viewer) experience when negotiating. Coaches’ desire for a mid-half tactical time-out masquerading as a drinks stop should be resisted anyway. Games have been played for 150 years without needing such intervention. Coaches can shout instructions. And who says that 22 mins and 67 mins is when a coach needs to intervene anyway. It’s nonsense. It’s about money.
Respected and sane footballing voices from Virgil van Dijk to Mauricio Pochettino have spoken out against the breaks. Fifa should listen to them not appear only to listen to the rustle of dollar bills. It’s important that there is resistance to this from all over. Because if we tolerate this, our TV games could be next. BBC can’t do ads, ITV says it won’t follow its US counterparts. But it has been discussed by TV people. It’ll come one day. #FIFAWorldCup.
Anyone with any knowledge of English football history will know that it is ridiculous for Southampton’s chief executive, Phil Parsons, to claim that their expulsion from the Championship play-offs is a bigger punishment than the 30-point deduction imposed on Luton Town in 2008 which led to relegation and almost throttled the life out of the club. Absolutely no comparison and completely weakens Southampton’s attempted argument that being thrown out of the play-offs is “manifestly disproportionate to every previous sanction in the history of the English game”.
There is some good stuff in Parsons’ statement: accepting culpability for Spygate, apologising to those clubs they spied on and apologising to their fans “whose extraordinary loyalty and support this season deserved better from the club”. Well said. But… the rules changed since Leeds United’s “similar offence” in 2019, there is no right to the £200m (it’s not a fine), and to play the whataboutery game and make the comparison with the Hatters is, fittingly, mad. Southampton’s reputation is certainly damaged but at least their very existence is not at risk. #SaintsFC #LTFC