Lewis Cox slams ‘absolute farce’ as West Brom announcements emerge
Three West Brom fixtures have been changed for Sky Sports coverage, with the games against Ipswich, Leicester and Sunderland changing times, leading to Lewis Cox labelling it an “absolute farce”.
The Express and Star journalist shared his view on Twitter with the home clash against Ipswich moved to a 17:30 kickoff, the Leicester game changed to 12:30, and Sunderland away also at the same time as the latter.
These games come three weeks in a row, and the Sunderland game will prove an especially frustrating change for the travelling fans, with one of the furthest away trips now an early start.
“Three weekends in a row,” Cox wrote on 19 October, “Absolute farce for fans, again.”
Fans always overlooked
A trip to Sunderland for a 15:00 kickoff is already a long and difficult journey for fans of pretty much every club in England, but moving that fixture to an early start means an even earlier start for the West Brom fans making arrangements for the trip.
The silver lining on this news is that at least the fixtures have remained on the original dates they would initially have been played on, meaning fans who have made prior arrangements with hotels or trains for example may not have to make too many alterations.
Once again though, fans are the last thing on the minds of TV companies that want to bring the games to their schedules. They wanted those games, so fans would have to deal with it.
The reported new Premier League deal, which won’t affect West Brom yet despite high aspirations before the change in 2025, could set a precedent which would see every game not on a Saturday at 15:00 televised, which would result.
