Sky, Setanta and Looking After Your 'Customers'

If ever you wondered where the priority of the decision makers in our national game lies or where the balance of power has shifted now completely, then something as seemingly minor as a few fixture changes has summed it up neatly in the past couple of days.

Yesterday it was announced that NUFC’s game at Portsmouth has been switched from a 3pm kick off to a 5.15pm start on the Saturday to suit the demands of Setanta and their highly amateurish football coverage.  A day earlier, the derby match was pushed back a day by Sky to the Sunday at 1.30 pm.  Sky, technically were within their rights having given a months notice, Setanta clearly were not, the
Portsmouth match being on the 12th April.

Personally, this is the straw that has broken the proverbial camels back.  I am lucky enough to live in Newcastle so the Sunderland game hasn’t cost me a fortune in pre-paid train tickets and other than utterly cocking up what could have been a fantastic Saturday of drink, football and boxing, I can live with it.  This isn’t the case for those who don’t live in the immediate vicinity and who have to book travel, make family arrangements and generally bend over backwards to get to the game at the best of times.  Do Sky care?  Are you joking?  I am well aware that this is a Murdoch publication but the influence of Sky (I’ll get to Setanta in a moment) has reached a point where the supposed ‘customers’ of the sport are being trodden on completely for the legion of armchair fans that pay their subscription to watch the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ (please).

Setanta, whose coverage is infinitely worse than Sky are even more culpable.  Three and a bit weeks notice and fans travelling literally the length of the country are shafted so they can stick the fixture to Saturday teatime.  The last train leaves Kings Cross for Newcastle at 8.30pm – you do the maths.  The situation absolutely stinks – again I’ve fluked it on this one by having a weekend already arranged to stay with Pompey friends but what about the rest of our travelling support?  The mainstay of the Premiership, the real fans who travel to support their team are being treat despicably and for what?  Some two bob satellite channel with less than impressive viewing figures?

Again the FA are nowhere to be seen when it comes to protecting the interests of supporters.  My disdain of this organisation knows no bounds.  Run by a total incompetent, a man who would make Freddie Shepherd look wordly and forward thinking, the FA are so far in the back pockets of the TV companies and money men it’s embarrassing.  They were quite happy to go along with the disgraceful Gam£ 39 concept (which of course was nothing to do with Mr.Murdoch, ahem) before FIFA spoke some sense and threatened their World Cup bid.  Good, I hope it has totally knackered it, it’s all they deserve.

Sky and Setanta will be coming off the TV in my household at the end of this season and they won’t be going back on.  It might only be a couple of hundred quid a year to them, but it’s a matter of principle.  I can put the money towards totally useless train fares next season when the Wigan away game is switched to 9.30am.  In Moscow.  On a Tuesday.  This is not a new argument by any stretch, but enough is enough.

Comments

[simon bowyer]

Absolutely spot on. the cynical amongst us might suspect setanta picking our game precisely because it is the other end of the country and are probably hoping that this new kick off time does put people off going so that they'll watch it on the TV... but that doesn't happen surely?

[Dom (Newcastle)]

hear hear mate. What will the "Greatest show on earth" look like when each goal is greeted with silence, as all the fans have given up being treat worse than jailbirds, instead they sit infront of their goggle box and politely applaud

[Tom Cain]

I didn't have to much trouble with the South-East away games as I lived in London when i was in the UK so going home and missing the last train was not a problem for me. What i found blatantly ridiculous was the ease with which games were changed to mid week or monday nights for no reason (i.e no Eurpoean or cup commitments) other than to supply the sky arm chair fan with a continuous flow of overhyped football during the week. Is this just a display of the total ignorance by the FA and SKy at what the worth of away support is? Or do they think that away fans dont need to go to work and can travel 300 miles on pirvate jets? I live in the US now and was interested to hear from fans of all types of sports that no stadia has an allocated away end no matter what sport. Perhaps this is the way the UK is going. gutted.