Is the lack of Saturday matches becoming a problem?

[.db.]

Official figures would suggest not:
MD2 Spurs - Sat 12:30 - 52,491
MD4 United - Sun 16:30 - 52,534
MD6 Burnley - Sat 15:00 - 52,427
MD8 Everton - Sat 15:00 - 52,498
MD10 Bournemouth - Sun 16:30 - 52,387
MD11 Liverpool - Sun 16:30 - 52,511
MD13 Leeds - Sat 15:00 - 52,483
MD15 Sunderland - Sat 15:00 - 52,436
MD17 West Ham - Sat 15:00 - 52,454
MD20 Chelsea - Sun 17:30 - 52,503
MD21 Brighton - Wed 19:30 - 51,728
MD23 Wolves - Sat 15:00 - 52,469
MD26 Fulham - Wed 19:30 - 50,717
MD27 Newcastle - Sat 20:00 - 52,187
MD29 Forest - Wed 19:30 - 51,965
MD33 Arsenal - Sun 16:30 - 52,523
MD35 Brentford - Sat 17:30 - 52,489
MD36 Palace - Wed 20:00 - 51,738
MD38 Villa - Sun 16:00 - 60,332

However, not sure what they count as attending. Some of those don't look right based off of what I've seen this season.

9 of 19 home games less than 50% of our home games on a Saturday.

‘Football is the thing that we all live for, Saturday’s the day we play the game’.

And across the season, including away games, it’s even less. Just 15 of our 38 PL games were on a Saturday. Just 6 of 19 away games were on a Saturday and not a single one at 3pm.

Sunday games or Friday/Monday games mean people waste days off work or, where they don’t book the next day off, it affects their working day the next day due to tiredness. It’s not just about being able to go to the game, it’s what time you get home after it. I’m up for hours after getting home from a game, I can’t wind down and just get in bed and go to sleep.

 

[youngbob]

If the TV companies would just condense the European mid-weeks we wouldn't have these issues.

All Champions League games on a Tuesday, all Europa League and Conference League games on a Wednesday. Seems like a pretty simple solution to me.

But they never will. They have too much money and too much power and can basically do as they please.

 

[.db.]

If the TV companies would just condense the European mid-weeks we wouldn't have these issues.

All Champions League games on a Tuesday, all Europa League and Conference League games on a Wednesday. Seems like a pretty simple solution to me.

But they never will. They have too much money and too much power and can basically do as they please.

Said this for years even before the Conference League was invented.

 

[MCFC1993]

Sky and TNT will love all those teams being in Europe means more games for them to broadcast. Seemed like there were fewer 3pm kick offs for the league as a whole. There needs to be a common sense approach to the tv blackout and get rid of it.

Already at it:


Like half the league being in Europe isn't a problem.

 

[Blue Since 76]

Lad is away at Uni. Just made his 10.games this season as he can't do mid week or Sundays unless it's in the holidays - he only made the Villa game because of the bank holiday, otherwise we'd have been fiddling around with tickets to make sure he got the 10.

If the Saturdays reduce next season, or we get unlucky with the number of home games when he's back home, he could end up losing his season ticket just at the point he'd be about to finish uni and, potentially, be earning in Manchester and looking for things to spend the sudden money on e.g. beers in Medlock Square.

But I'm sure they've got someone with a half
and half scarf lined up to take the seat, especially if our trophy haul reverts to normal under different managers...

 

[youngbob]

Official figures would suggest not:
MD2 Spurs - Sat 12:30 - 52,491
MD4 United - Sun 16:30 - 52,534
MD6 Burnley - Sat 15:00 - 52,427
MD8 Everton - Sat 15:00 - 52,498
MD10 Bournemouth - Sun 16:30 - 52,387
MD11 Liverpool - Sun 16:30 - 52,511
MD13 Leeds - Sat 15:00 - 52,483
MD15 Sunderland - Sat 15:00 - 52,436
MD17 West Ham - Sat 15:00 - 52,454
MD20 Chelsea - Sun 17:30 - 52,503
MD21 Brighton - Wed 19:30 - 51,728
MD23 Wolves - Sat 15:00 - 52,469
MD26 Fulham - Wed 19:30 - 50,717
MD27 Newcastle - Sat 20:00 - 52,187
MD29 Forest - Wed 19:30 - 51,965
MD33 Arsenal - Sun 16:30 - 52,523
MD35 Brentford - Sat 17:30 - 52,489
MD36 Palace - Wed 20:00 - 51,738
MD38 Villa - Sun 16:00 - 60,332

However, not sure what they count as attending. Some of those don't look right based off of what I've seen this season.

Think it's pretty obvious what does cause lower attendances at City these days...

 

[Alfie Budd]

And we're probably lucky in this regard.

I think Everton and United played 7 home league games in mid-week last season because they weren't in Europe.

It's not so much midweek fixtures per se when you're not involved in Europe - it's Monday and Friday nights. Every team theoretically plays the same number of midweek (games scheduled from the onset for Tuesday/Wednesday) PL games each season. Of course if you reach the Carabao final and/or FA Cup SF you're going to get additional rearranged midweek fixtures but that's just a byproduct of success.

Sky has to fill a specific number of Monday and Friday night slots each season and for obvious reasons it's problematic to schedule teams playing in Europe on a lot of those dates. Last season, the rags played on Monday night six times (four at home) plus once on Friday in addition to the originally scheduled Tuesday/Wednesday games. Sky like nothing better than one of the big clubs missing out on Europe altogether so they can fill those slots with games that will attract neutrals - I expect Chelsea to feature prominently next season.

The TV contract dictates that every team has to appear at least once on either Monday or Friday night during the course of a season - Sky were really struggling to get that to happen with ourselves and Arsenal last season but managed to get the required games played in the last couple of weeks.

 

[jamielowndes]

Sky and TNT will love all those teams being in Europe means more games for them to broadcast. Seemed like there were fewer 3pm kick offs for the league as a whole. There needs to be a common sense approach to the tv blackout and get rid of it.

It's just not needed anymore. It was created in the 60s as a way to push people into going to live games. The Premier League teams are making money hand over fist now via ticket sales so it's no longer applicable.

Are the likes of City really going to have huge drops in attendance on 3pm Saturday games if they're televised? Absolutely not.

 

[creditunionhero]

It's just not needed anymore. It was created in the 60s as a way to push people into going to live games. The Premier League teams are making money hand over fist now via ticket sales so it's no longer applicable.

Are the likes of City really going to have huge drops in attendance on 3pm Saturday games if they're televised? Absolutely not.

No but teams in the lower leagues will miss out if fans stay at home or in the pub to watch PL games rather than attend a live match.

 

[jamielowndes]

No but teams in the lower leagues will miss out if fans stay at home or in the pub to watch PL games rather than attend a live match.

I feel like there's no way to verify this being true. People who are fans of their clubs surely aren't passing up a live game for the sake of a PL game involving 2 clubs they don't follow.

 

[mayo31]

Lad is away at Uni. Just made his 10.games this season as he can't do mid week or Sundays unless it's in the holidays - he only made the Villa game because of the bank holiday, otherwise we'd have been fiddling around with tickets to make sure he got the 10.

If the Saturdays reduce next season, or we get unlucky with the number of home games when he's back home, he could end up losing his season ticket just at the point he'd be about to finish uni and, potentially, be earning in Manchester and looking for things to spend the sudden money on e.g. beers in Medlock Square.

But I'm sure they've got someone with a half
and half scarf lined up to take the seat, especially if our trophy haul reverts to normal under different managers...

This seems easy to solve

A season ticket can be downloaded to more than one phone, so why not have it on your phone and your sons. If he does not go then you chip someone in, it still shows as having been used by your lad unless someone tells me I am wrong on that?

 

[Ho Chi Man City]

The FA should pull out of the Conference shite, it’s a poxy competition that will be won by an English team most seasons and the knock in then causes teams, like Palace this season, to go into the Thursday night Europa cup, again with a knock on.

Joke of a competition, much more difficult to win the League Cup.

 

[urban genie]

Europa League and Conference League needs to move to Tuesday or Wednesday. They won't kill their own revenue though.

Or put it Monday and they play their league game on the Friday night before.

or play alternate weeks

CL one week
europa/confrence the next

all tues and weds

This football comision should make a rule at least half games are compulsary on a saturday

 

[Blue Since 76]

This seems easy to solve

A season ticket can be downloaded to more than one phone, so why not have it on your phone and your sons. If he does not go then you chip someone in, it still shows as having been used by your lad unless someone tells me I am wrong on that?

It does, problem is he's 18-21, so I need to take someone with me of that age, or at least who looks it. We've always put them on the exchange system, so the seat has been used for most games, but it's the usual issue with the way City treats season ticket holders.

 

[franksinatra]

It would actually make a lot more sense if they binned off Saturdays save for teams playing the previous Thursday and the following Tuesday. If Sunday was exclusively for the PL there’d be no worrying about blackouts and the like and at least we, the fans, could at least do some rudimentary planning for the weekend.

It would be a disaster for fans who need to travel a long way.

Sunday 4:30 kick offs invariably require a wasted day off work travelling back/recovering. Additionally public transport is terrible. The lad sat next to me missed the after match stuff with Pep on Sunday due to the issues with the transport system

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

The 3pm blackout needs to be killed off. Its a relic from a different time.

That will kill off lower leagues, infact we are fast becoming like serie A in terms of the games

 

[Lee the Blue]

Worst games are usually in the Saturday 12.30pm slot. The crowds half asleep, the players are half asleep and the first halfs are often non-events.

Best are Saturday 5.30pm; the crowds usually half-cut and the atmosphere is far better as a result.

 

[jimharri]

UEFA ruining the league as usual. Half of the league is now in a UEFA competition, so they can't play on Saturday. Personally, I've been more annoyed by the constant late kick offs. I live in Asia and work weekends, and I feel like this season, every other week I'm looking at the schedule and finding out that the game isn't finishing until 1 or 2am. It does my head in. 3pm kick offs work perfectly for me. But not only are we often 5:30 on a Saturday, they've also introduced this 8pm bullshit.

Is there any reason why CL teams can't play on a Saturday? On either CL day, they'll have three days on one side of the game, and four on the other. Or am I missing something?

 

[blueparrot]

Is there any reason why CL teams can't play on a Saturday? On either CL day, they'll have three days on one side of the game, and four on the other. Or am I missing something?

They quite often do, klopp was always moaning about 12.30 Saturday kick offs after a CL game, and games are moved from Sunday to Saturdays if a team has a CL game on the Tuesday after.

 

[Bozzie]

Everyone’s personal circumstances are different and that determines how you feel about kick off times and days. 3 o’clock Saturday away games are almost like they don’t really happen, there’s no way for me to watch them and the Bluemoon match day thread requires a stronger constitution than mine. The match day bus has definitely helped with removing the stress from midweek matches even if it does mean getting home slightly later. I’m not a fan of 5:30 Saturday matches but I know people enjoy the opportunity to go into town after the match and have a drink. TV definitely rules the roost and it looks like that’ll continue for the considerable future.