Football On TV Being Extended, We Can But Hope For All The Time We Can’t Attend Games

A pretty reliable football reporter, Henry Winter, has tweeted:

Premier League announce that all its fixtures from 30 Jan to last weekend of Feb will be made available to fans to watch live in the UK via Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime Video and BBC. PL: “The Premier League and its clubs are committed to an accessible solution for fans.”

— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) January 20, 2021

No real surprise there, but it is a relief, that whilst we can’t get to the games, we can at least see them.

We discussed long and hard in our football during covid forum thread (we don’t get out much, then again, during lockdown we couldn’t get out much) whether football should return, I was adamant it should and I believe, largely, it has worked for top level football, despite the obvious situation that many of us regular match goers, miss massively, our match days. For me, this is better than nothing, and has at least given us all something to focus on other than the pandemic, work and other such matters.

Aston Villa fixtures for February:

02/02/2021 20:15 Aston Villa v West Ham United
06/02/2021 12:30 Aston Villa v Arsenal
13/02/2021 15:00 Brighton v Aston Villa
21/02/2021 14:00 Aston Villa v Leicester City
27/02/2021 17:30 Leeds United v Aston Villa

Dates and times, very obviously, will change for tv.

The tweet from Henry Winter led to this question and exchange.

They believe they have a system in the US, whereby all games are shown live as long as tickets for the games are all sold.

It seems to be a pretty good concept.

— Matthew Johnston #3.5%FB 🇪🇺🇺🇸 (@MatthewJohnst14) January 20, 2021

Personally, I think we will revert to the old system, live games selected by Sky, BT, Amazon and whoever else they sell the rights to, and not all matches to be shown. I know during our last Fan Consultation Group meeting with CEO Christian Purslow, we discussed the box office situation (the pay to view) and obviously the Premier League soon reversed that model. But it seems with the broadcasters, showing all games isn’t their ideal model and also, the constant changing of times during less extraordinary times, would prove problematic – especially for those that attend games.

I do however, fully expect – neigh demand (as if anyone would listen to me!!!!) – that the rest of this season is available for us all to view and I dream of sunnier times when we can return to our hallowed turf, Villa Park.

You can follow me on twitter @FearConquers, my instagram @fearconquersall and my own blog site as well thefear.net Will wonders never cease (or in my case, ever start!) As well as Vital Villa

I’ve Got A Little Black Book With My Poems In – OUT NOW

(I’m making a tentative return to writing, something I’ve done for 20 years now, following yet more brain ache issues and my 14th operation. I was close to hanging up the keyboard, but I’ll see how it goes. Hopefully this article is error free! Right now, the lights are on but no one is home so to speak!)