Although there probably weren't many Saints supporters who were disappointed with West Ham drawing with Liverpool meaning that Saints game with the Hammers moved back to the Saturday, the fact is that TV scheduling cares nothing for fans.
Without too many people noticing, in recent times the TV companies have started calling the shots with even less care for the supporters who will be attending the games they are intending to broadcast.
In the past they would put out there schedules nice and early so that although supporters might not like a game being changed from 3pm on a Saturday, they at least had plenty of time to put the fixture change in their diary and make sure they could make it.
No though it seems that supporters who attend the game are the least consideration as shown by the fact that when it was announced that the Saints game against West Ham would be changed to the Monday evening, it had the added caviat that should either club have an FA Cup 4th round replay, then the game would be moved back to the Saturday with a 5.30pm kick off.
Now although most Saints fans will be relieved that the game is now back to the Saturday, the fact remains that a fixture change with less than a week before the game is not fair on the fans and that as many supporters who would not have been able to attend the Monday game will probably be unable to make a Saturday evening kick off.
That is just from a Saints perspective, but what about the travelling supporters, many of who would have have had to book time off work on both Monday and Tuesday for the Monday game, now have that all made redundant. How many suporters of both teams are now no longer able to attend the game and may not get their ticket money back ?
Enough is enough, the football authorities have to look at issues like this and do their best to make sure that they do not happen too often or preferably not at all.
What has never been addressed is the financial aspect to the fans when a game changes kick off times, many fans can simply choose not to attend and watch it on TV, keeping their money in their pocket, but that is not an option for season ticket holders, club's are compensated financially for the fact that a crowd may be less for a TV fixture and therefore income will be lost.
Season ticket holders are just expected to grin and bear it when a game is changed for TV, they have already paid to attend the game, so have too choices, go to the game or if they can't then tough, the club still has their money in their pocket.
Saints ticket re selling system introduced this season has gone a very little way to address this problem, but that only kicks in when the game is sold out and that these days at most Premier League clubs including Saints is rare.
So the time is here for Saints and other club's for that matter to consider options when a home game is televised, firstly season ticket holders should have the option to sell their ticket back to the club, even if it is only having the cost applied as a discount to the following years season ticket, if a non season ticket holder has the option not to buy a ticket or to get a refund due to a change in date, why should a season ticket holder, after all they are the most loyal fans due to the fact they put a substantial sum of money into the club many months before the actual fixtures.
Yet they still have to pay whatever, money is paid to the clubs to compensate them for financial loss that is never passed down to the fans, clubs could as reduce prices for TV games but never do.
So with a Premier League where although grounds are still 95% full most weeks, they are not quite at the peak they were, with seats available for most fixtures these days , this is the time to address the problem rather than firefighting it when supporters are deserting due to high prices and feeling disenfranchised from the club's they support.