We’ve been contacted by supporters’ groups from numerous top-flight clubs who are still waiting on September’s TV fixtures to be released.

The Premier League does list the “date of estimated release” for games being moved for TV with August and September’s announcement scheduled for Wednesday 9th July. 

And while August’s moves have been released supporters are still waiting for September’s changes. 

The Premier League are keen to emphasise that the fixture announcement isn’t “late” as the dates are only “estimates” although it’s fair to say that supporters’ groups who contact us don’t always accept that reasoning.

Whenever the estimated dates pass without announcement we do speak to the Premier League, although getting to the bottom of delays can be a frustrating process.

TV companies argue that they’ve paid billions for the rights, so fans should speak to the Premier League, while the league will often say that a hold up is with a specific Safety Advisory Group (SAG) – they are local bodies made up of the club, authorities, emergency services, etc. 

But SAGs aren’t always the most communicative of bodies (one of the reasons we support having fan reps on them) and they will often pass the blame back to the Premier League or TV companies for scheduling a game outside of the expected Saturday 3pm slot.

Merry-go-round 

It’s a merry-go-round of buck passing and supporters ultimately lose out as every day which goes by sees public transport costs creeping up. 

Premier League clubs want the billions on offer from broadcasters, and they are willing to play games all over the calendar to accommodate this, but we do think there are ways they could use that money to better help supporters.

• Give 12 weeks notice whenever possible which would align with the release of rail tickets and make things more affordable for travelling supporters (the EFL are much better at this during the first half of the season).
• Put on charter trains outside of normal running times so that supporters can still access public transport at unsociable hours. This isn’t without precedent, clubs have done it before including this recent announcement from Arsenal.
• Pre-Covid the football authorities were close to agreeing a flexible football ticket agreement with the rail operating companies which would tie tickets to a match rather than a date. We would like to see this idea resurrected. 
• The £30 away cap must be maintained and we would argue extended to the EFL and other competitions. The away cap is a successful FSA campaign initiative which has saved supporters millions of pounds since its introduction.

Those are just a few ideas but, with fewer fixtures than ever played on Saturdays at 3pm, it’s a massive headache for supporters and even football managers. 

Broadcasters have so much power in dictating kick-off times and clubs have to use some of the money they receive from that to lessen the load on travelling supporters, who bring so much to our game in terms of atmosphere and spectacle.

• The FSA is by fans, for fans – join for free here.