There is a point where almost everything seems like a conspiracy. Manchester City fans may have reached that point.
After a ridiculous delay the Premier League fixtures for January and February as amended by the TV schedules were published today, over a week after they were due. Manchester City fans had spent much of this week fearing the worst and those fears were duly confirmed.
It is the Christmas game schedules which are always the bone of much contention because of the tradition of playing games on Boxing Day and New Years Day, sandwiched between them is usually a normal weekend fixture. However in recent years the schedule of games has been spread for TV purposes meaning that fans who attend games are indisposed by travelling at short notice at times when public transport is much reduced in the holiday season. This also tends to mean games are closer together with less time for fans and players and finances to recover.
This year City are now due to play Wolves Away on Friday 27 December at 19.45, so yet again City do not have any traditional Boxing Day game.
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They then play their next game less than 48 hours later – at home to Sheffield United on Sunday 29 December at 18.00.
Finally their New Years Day fixture on Wednesday 1 January is moved to 17;30 kick off at home to Everton. Meaning that City have 3 matches in 6 days and have extremely limited recovery time between games.
In contrast Liverpool have more than a whole day more rest time between their fixtures. This has lead Manchester City to speak out publicly criticising the schedule of games and pointing both to the harm caused to players and damage to the sporting integrity of the competition.
In short even the club feel as though the fixture revisions are there to deliberately shaft City and make any attempt to secure a record third title impossible.
Coupled with the application of VAR so far this season and the expected lengthy ban for Bernardo Silva, there is an increasing feeling that the Premier League is not a fair competition this season and the deck is being stacked against us.
And before other fans start to accuse us of wearing tin foil hats and being paranoid then it is probably time to remember the wise words of Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22:
"“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you”"
The complete contempt shown by the Premier League through the fixture scheduling, not just for the players and the integrity of the competition but especially for the fans is galling to say the least.
Match going fans will probably vote with their feet and not attend games which are difficult to get to. They will also bear a grudge against the TV companies – Sky, BT and Amazon – who are causing the difficulty and will probably rely upon the illegal streaming of matches rather than funding the companies who are abusing them.
But what of City? A strong public statement has been made but what should happen next? Should City refuse media duties in respect of the contentious games? At least that would show some solidarity with the fans. Personally I hope we have a floodlight failure for the disputed game against Sheffield United.