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Fixture Grid Lock

deckchair

Well-Known Member
Feb 22, 2006
118
292
I am not 100% certain without searching but I do believe that this is already in place in some countries. Portugal rings a bell, I am not certain but I am sure other more informed posters will enlighten us.
 
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nicdic

Official SC Padre
Admin
May 8, 2005
41,857
25,919
I am not 100% certain without searching but I do believe that this is already in place in some countries. Portugal rings a bell, I am not certain but I am other more informed posters will enlighten us.
I think it's basically the case everywhere but here. Everywhere else has winter break and works to give teams more space around euro games.
 

Timbo Tottenham

Well-Known Member
May 7, 2006
2,260
5,999
It's what i said in another thread, there is no reason why the Premier League can't help us out by putting our post Europa League games on the Monday (putting them at home too might be too much to ask...) especially as British and Irish teams face the most travel in European competitions due to us being the most Westerly.
 

JonnySpurs

SC Veteran
Jun 4, 2004
5,345
12,398
Whilst I totally agree with Poch, it's not going to happen. Fans hate it enough right now that we play most weeks on Sundays so switching a large portion of our league games to Monday evening's will cause havoc in terms of travelling to and from games and likely affect attendances etc.

The answer is simple..........boycott Europa League ;)
 

WalkerboyUK

Well-Known Member
Jun 8, 2009
21,658
23,476
It's what i said in another thread, there is no reason why the Premier League can't help us out by putting our post Europa League games on the Monday (putting them at home too might be too much to ask...) especially as British and Irish teams face the most travel in European competitions due to us being the most Westerly.

The problem with moving some of the games to Monday is that you also have the domestic cup competitions to deal with. They are generally on the weeks when there are no European matches, so you can't really shift the matches for 4 Europa League sides to be on a Monday.
 

worcestersauce

"I'm no optimist I'm just a prisoner of hope
Jan 23, 2006
26,894
45,042
There is a perfectly simple and sensible solution to this question, move Europa league games from Thursday to Wednesday, hey presto! problem solved.
I know the television schedules will be effected but there's a simple solution to that too, spread CL and EL fixtures over Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday evening so there will still be three nights of European football.
I know that CL clubs will not be happy with it and so UEFA will not find it easy but by making the proposal it would force their hand either to make the change or confirm, effectively officially, that the Europa League doesn't really matter.
This solution would spread the Sunday (or Monday) pain across all challenging clubs and give the Europa league a boost too, which is something UEFA has been trying to do for some time.
 

900triumph

Got my beer on the sideboard here.....
Apr 6, 2005
1,494
236
Play Europa league on Tues or weds, it's on terrestrial TV so why not? Only Spurs fans watching anyway, no loss of audience. Bit of a pub clash sometimes but small price to pay.
 

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,776
99,340
Some good suggestions in here. Until its sorted though this will continue to happen. Thursday scheduling is crippling and every year we're in it, under the present schedule, it will be groundhog day every year.
 

Monkey boy

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2011
6,381
17,040
While there are some good suggestions here unfortunately money talks and our dear leader will not like the idea of low attendances and a lack of TV Money. Ask yourself if playing at 3pm on a Sunday is not enough preparation time then why did we schedule a few games at 12 noon? Answer TV Money.
 

Strikeb4ck

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2010
4,483
9,409
I think they should play Europa on Tuesday and Wednesday but start the games at 6 pm GMT and the CL games at 8 pm GMT.
Seems like such an obvious solution, been saying this for years. Could even have a couple at 10 GMT, would make for some great atmospheres. Just dedicate Tues/Wed to European football and let the teams use the weekends for league play.
 

Adam456

Well-Known Member
Jul 1, 2005
4,453
3,117
Again though, this doesn't answer the question of why we can't cope while CL teams play Weds - Sat and are quite happy. Is it because the players go out on Sat night or get less sleep ?
 

muppetman

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2011
8,901
24,817
It might also help to play what are effectively youth sides in the away matches of the early rounds before the CL dropouts enter. If we play mostly first teamers in the home rounds and win those then qualifying for the knockout stages should be less of an issue.
 

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,776
99,340
Again though, this doesn't answer the question of why we can't cope while CL teams play Weds - Sat and are quite happy. Is it because the players go out on Sat night or get less sleep ?

It is answered mate, but I can't be bothered to go over it again - its in every Europa thread created recently.
 

Spurger King

can't smile without glue
Jul 22, 2008
43,881
95,147
Again though, this doesn't answer the question of why we can't cope while CL teams play Weds - Sat and are quite happy. Is it because the players go out on Sat night or get less sleep ?

CL money to help improve the overall quality of the squad, generally less travelling, significantly higher profile games acting as an incentive to the whole team to continue performing in the league...
 

EQP

EQP
Sep 1, 2013
7,960
29,660
There is a perfectly simple and sensible solution to this question, move Europa league games from Thursday to Wednesday, hey presto! problem solved.
I know the television schedules will be effected but there's a simple solution to that too, spread CL and EL fixtures over Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday evening so there will still be three nights of European football.
I know that CL clubs will not be happy with it and so UEFA will not find it easy but by making the proposal it would force their hand either to make the change or confirm, effectively officially, that the Europa League doesn't really matter.
This solution would spread the Sunday (or Monday) pain across all challenging clubs and give the Europa league a boost too, which is something UEFA has been trying to do for some time.

Air the EL games before the Champe League games as warm-up for the main events.
 

adamsky

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2006
1,683
4,455
Again though, this doesn't answer the question of why we can't cope while CL teams play Weds - Sat and are quite happy. Is it because the players go out on Sat night or get less sleep ?

The reason the CL teams can cope better is because they are better, hence why they got into the CL in the first place. They generally have superior squads and can thus cope with more games and do not have to be at their best to win against most sides.
 

eddiev14

SC Supporter
Jan 18, 2005
7,173
19,679
Just dramatically reduce the number of Europa League games we would have to play by making it a knockout competition from the start.

No group stage. No Champions League drop-outs.

Would also make it a shitload more interesting!
 
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