For those who like to watch a game of football at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon the last couple of months have been relative heaven, but now comes some big fixture changes.

Saints opening fixture in April was due to be a visit to West Ham United on April 1st, that however has been changed and this isn't an April Fools joke, Saints will now go there 23 hours later than scheduled on April 2nd for a 2pm kick off shown live on Sky Sports.

A week later sees Manchester City again visiting St Mary's after their Carabao Cup defeat and it has been put back 23 hours for another Sky Sports Soccer Sunday broadcast. However it should be noted that this fixture is subject to yet more change depending on City's progress in the Champions League.

The 15th April sees the only fixture that has not been changed, Crystal Palace at St Mary's which will be the original kick off of 3pm on a Saturday.

Then comes the trip to the Emirates to take on Arsenal, no longer on Saturday 22nd April, but brought forward a day to Friday 21st April with an 8pm kick off, this one on BT Sports.

However that is yet another fixture that could be rescheduled and will depend on Arsenal’s continuation in the Europa League, with an alternative date of Sunday, April 23 at 7PM chosen should the Gunners have a Europa Cup game on Thursday.

Then there is the midweek fixture with AFC Bournemouth, this has been moved forward from the Wednesday Evening 26th April and will now be played on Tuesday 25th with a 7.45pm kick off, however if the Arsenal game at the weekend has to be moved to Sunday 23rd, then this game will be changed to Thursday 25th.

The last fixture of the month sees Saints travel to Newcastle United for the second time in 2023 for what is the longest distance fixture in the Premier League schedule, the trip to St James Park is now set to be a Sunday 2pm kick off on 30th April, meaning that those that travel up by coach will have to leave around 5am in the morning and will be lucky to be back by midnight.

Once again more madness for television, I am not usually one to gripe at fixture changes, those that say that football traditionally should be played at 3pm on a Saturday are unaware that for most of its history it wasn't.

Before floodlight games were first around 1960, many games kicked off at 2pm or 2.15pm, so that they could be completed before it got dark.

We then had a 30 year period where 3pm became the norm as Saturday games could now be completed in the months October - March with the aid if floodlights if needed.

In fact it was probably more like 24 years in that the odd League fixtures were re- scheduled for Friday nights and other days for BBC & ITV, before the Sky takeover in the 1990's saw wholesale fixture changes.

That being the case most football fans under the age of 40 would not have been used to 3pm kick offs being the norm in the top flight.

But the latest changes are just taking the proverbial, not just as they are so crammed in, but because they can't even give a definite date for some of them.

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 13:03 - Feb 22 I don’t have an issue with games being rescheduled for TV, as ultimately Sky and BT are bankrolling the finances which go to the clubs including our own. In addition they are giving clubs and fans plenty of advance notice of the changes, at least 6 weeks in most cases. The issue is the fixtures that are subject to change due to a teams ongoing involvement in Europe or cup competitions. Arguably the ongoing involvement issue won’t be resolved until a couple of weeks before the fixture is played which is potentially too short notice for fans to rearrange travel plans/recoup expenses.If you have to change it for TV then pick a date that is not going to be affected by the competition involvement. If no date can be found then don’t switch it in the first place and leave it at Sat 3pm.

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SaintNick added 15:15 - Feb 22 I agree with your last point, if it cant be a permanent switch then dont do it
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SaintPaulVW added 16:07 - Feb 22 I accept that rearranged fixtures are a p in the a. It doesn't make up for it, but on the plus side it does show that the TV companies think there is a story of interest from our games to the neutral. Which gets my hopes up that that they are factoring in the 'Great Escape'. Plus the resulting tv appearance money in the bank which helps the transfer kitty.
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ericofarabia added 19:11 - Feb 22 The Newcastle move is a disgrace. Its not being moved to be screened on TV, its due to knock on effect of other games on TV. I think the original date for Everton Newcastle was on Tues but moved to Thurs due to another Newcastle game moved from the Sat to Sun. But why couldnt the Eve New game be shown on Wed instead of Thurs? Travelling Fans once again shafted for the benefit of Armchair Fans. 🤬

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