Posted on 11th February 2025
Leeds boss “given up” over TV fixture changes
Leeds United boss Daniel Farke says he has “given up hope” over his team’s fixture list as the Championship leaders have had yet more games moved for TV.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference today, Farke expressed frustration as Leeds United now have no Saturday 3pm kick-offs for the next seven rounds of EFL fixtures – with more changes likely to come.
The problem came to a head last week when Leeds United’s trip to Portsmouth was moved to a Sunday (9th March) midday kick-off at Fratton Park – a kick-off time that will render public transport impossible for Leeds fans travelling to the game.
“First of all I always hope the fixture schedule is positive for our supporters, it’s a supporters game and you give them the opportunity in terms of travel times to make it for the games,” he told the media in his pre-match conference.
“If you’re just thinking about TV and not the supporters who attend the stadium you will one day lose the love of our fanbase. I think this is a quite important topic. This is my first worry.”
It’s been a busy week for Leeds United as they played Coventry City on Wednesday night, then had their fourth round FA Cup tie against Millwall moved to a 12.15pm kick-off on Saturday for policing reasons.
They travel to Watford tonight and then host Sunderland for Sky Sports’s Monday night slot. Similarly, their trip to Loftus Road to take on QPR has been moved to an early Saturday kick-off, now taking place at 12.30pm on Saturday 15th March.
“When you judge it just with common sense, all the supporters want the best players on the pitch and recovered, they want to see a proper product, proper football quality,” Farke said.
“If you’re just back in the early hours of Thursday morning and play Saturday, you have to have more changes and rotate.”
The Sunday kick-off for Portsmouth v Leeds United also means Pompey’s following midweek game has had to be moved from Tuesday night to Wednesday evening for player recovery – meaning one broadcast slot has caused problems for three sets of fans across two games.
What does the FSA think?
Matchgoing supporters already face huge challenges – and lay out significant expenses – in following their teams away from home and broadcasters are consistently making that even harder.
Just because Leeds United fans are sadly all too accustomed to the disruption caused by Sky Sports’s planners, doesn’t mean they should continue to put up with it.
We’ll continue to call for better treatment for travelling fans and raise the issue with the relevant leagues. Matchgoing fans who go week-in, week-in are vital to the match-day atmosphere and should never be taken for granted.
The secondary impact of TV also has to be limited – Pompey fans now have two games re-arranged, Leeds United fans face a late travel change with lack of public transport options and Plymouth Argyle, who aren’t even on TV, see their game put back a day.
