December’s decimated fixture list proves fans don’t matter anymore

If you ever needed proof that football clubs and television companies don’t give a shit about proper fans any more, then Brighton’s revised fixture list for December should do it.

Sky Sports, BT and Amazon Prime have combined to ensure that the Albion play on as many inconvenient days and with as many ridiculous kick off times as is humanly possible by moving six out of our seven fixtures.

The fun and games starts with Arsenal away, which will now take place on Thursday 5th December. Now, you might be thinking that an evening fixture in London isn’t too bad, and you’d be right – except of course that Amazon had decreed it will kick off at the ridiculous time of 8.15pm.

This means that the action at the Emirates won’t be done until gone 10pm. It will be way past midnight by the time that Albion fans return to Sussex, and that’s presuming Southern Rail aren’t up to their normal tricks.

The reason for the ludicrous start time is so that those watching at home – the supporters who really matter – can watch one-and-a-half games of football from the comfort of their own armchair, rather than just 90 minutes.

With one set of games kicking off at 7.30pm, you’ve got live football showing for two-and-a-half hours. People can therefore settle down for the whole 7.30pm game followed by the second half of the 8.15pm game.

Or they can watch the first half of the 7.30pm game and the whole of the 8.15pm game. After all, who cares if those of us who fork out £30 a ticket and pay goodness knows what else to go to games, support our team and create an atmosphere are inconvenienced, as long as everyone with an Amazon Prime subscription can get their football fix?

Following a late night at the Arsenal, it’s Wolverhampton Wanderers at home. This has been moved to Sunday 8th December and will now kick off at 4.30pm.

Those of you who travel to the Amex from the west will be delighted to hear that Sky Sports have moved that one onto a day when there are rail replacement buses between Barnham and Littlehampton.

Next up comes Crystal Palace away, which has been shifted to Monday 16th December at 8pm by Sky Sports. While this leaves the tantalising prospect of an all-day drinking session around London Bridge beforehand, it also means not escaping Selhurst Park until 10.30pm should the Metropolitan Police provide their normal 45 minute lock-in service.

Nobody will mind too much of course if the Albion managed to beat their arch rivals – a repeat of last year’s 2-1 win at Selhurst which was also shown live on television would be nice.

Sheffield United on Saturday 21st December is the only game that hasn’t been moved. Boxing Day could be the most fun of the lot, a 12.30pm kick off away at Tottenham Hotspur on a day when there will be no public transport operating out of Sussex and limited options in London.

Albion fans have already experienced the carnage that an away game in London on Boxing Day can be. Chelsea away in 2017 was a complete shambles. It took some supporters up to five hours to get back from Stamford Bridge after the area around the ground became completely gridlocked.

Who’d have predicted that would happen with 41,631 people all trying to get out of West London at exactly the same time? We can’t wait to find out what happens when you repeat the episode, only this time with 62,062 people attempting to escape North London.

Eddie Howe brings Plucky Little Bournemouth to the Amex on Saturday 28th December with that now moved to a 12.30pm by Sky Sports kick off and the final match to change is Chelsea’s visit to Sussex, a lovely 12.30pm kick off on New Year’s Day.

Got your head around all that? If not, we can summarise: Two midweek games in London that you won’t get back home from until gone midnight, a Sunday afternoon home match when there are no trains running westbound, an away game at a stadium that relies solely on public transport on a day that there is no public transport and an early kick off the day after New Year’s Eve.

Still, as long as the gravy train keeps running. Profit Paul Barber will no doubt take the time to remind us all in his programme notes at the next home match just how important television money is to the Albion .

Well, that’s easy for him to say. He isn’t going to be trapped in a disgusting street in Croydon by riot police at gone 10pm on a Monday night in December.

He won’t be crammed like a sardine onto the 23.17 out of Victoria as every Brighton fan rushes to get the last train back to Sussex after Arsenal away. And he isn’t going to have to find a way to get to North London for lunchtime with a Christmas hangover and no public transport.

Proper football fans don’t matter anymore. Maybe it’s time to sign up for Amazon Prime rather than handing the Albion thousands of pounds a year for tickets, beer, merchandise and £3.20 bags of Starburst?***

***See you all at Arsenal, Palace and Spurs