<font size="2">Boss Tony Pulis is unhappy with Stoke's fixture schedule which saw them play at Barnsley on Boxing Day and means they will travel to Plymouth on 29 December. </font> "It's something that's got to be looked at and addressed," said Pulis. </p> "If you look at the four divisions in England we have opportunities to have local derbies at Christmas and Easter. </p> "Wherever you look there are three clubs. I'm happy to play two matches at home at Christmas and then two games away at Easter." </p> Pulis added: "Years ago we used to have local derby matches and a person used to sort that out with a pen and paper. </p> "We now spend millions of pounds on computers and they tell me they can't sort it out. </p> "It's something that's got to be looked at, not just for the players but for the supporters. If we played Wolves and West Brom we would get over 25,000 twice and that's a massive loss of revenue for our club. </p> "The Championship are trying to promote themselves and they are doing a smashing job but for goodness sake look at the supporters and think about what they've got to do. A lot of them will travel if it's close." </p>
Dear Mr Pulis You will still play Wolves and West Brom at some point during the season you silly pillock. Loving you always, Supertyke ps, There are 3 teams around Norwich are there?
Yes He moans about playing 2 games away at Barnsley and Plymouth, and then says if they played Wolves and West Brom that would give you more revenue....not if you are away it wouldn't! Oh - and didn't you play West Brom last weekend, in which case WTF is he going on about?
Actually , no It's preposterous that games over the holiday periods involve long distances for the fans. Southampton at Oakwell this Saturday is a classic example and we once had to play away at Plymouth on Boxing Day a few years back.Unfortunately, the powers that be in football today simply don't care about travelling supporters, as long as the corporate clients are happy.
To be fair, when is the "best" time to arrange that fixture no matter when it is arranged for its still a long distance to travel, i remember somepeople said that it was bad that we played Sheff Weds on a tuesday evening and thats only 20 miles away!
RE: Actually , no Could argue though that having the longer distance games when many people have time off work makes more sense as they have the time to travel. I recall a weird one a few years ago - Boxing Day was on Sunday and the Monday was a bank holiday and we had Portsmouth away on the Monday after a home game on Sunday! The team set off immediately after the home game and the reserves had to go as well as they didn't know what injuries had been picked up. Checked on Soccerbase and it was 1994/95 season but the link wouldn't work. Football League Championship Barnsley 4-1 Grimsby 26-12-1994 Football League Championship Portsmouth 3-0 Barnsley 27-12-1994
There's never a perfect answer But how many Barnsley fans would've been willing to trek down to Bournemouth on Wednesday night 28th December, two years ago? I'm not saying that all the games ought to be local derbies, but surely it's possible to arrange games between clubs not separated by half the length (sometimes even more) of the country. If it could be done in days of yore, why is it impossible to do in the 21st Century?
"Whereever you look there are three clubs" Hang on Mr. Pulis - what does the third club do whilst you're playing the other local team. You need four not three clubs for this to work, and when looking at the current league, Stoke fills the gap in a four that is made up with of Burnley, Preston and Blackpool, cos Cov, WBA, Wolves and Leicester make up the most convenient midlands four! the other fours would be: Bristol Plymouth Cardiff Southampton - All very local! C Palace Charlton Watford QPR Barnsley Blunts Fowls Scunny Norwich Ispwich Colchester and Luckly old Hull!!!!
RE: There's never a perfect answer But then Boxing Day games usually attract bigger crowds, so save the derby for another time when you'll still get a big crowd, have a "less attractive" fixture on the holiday and get more in than you otherwise would!
Norwich "derbies" To be fair to TP, Norwich is 43.3 miles from Ipswich and 59.4 from Colchester. As it is they're playing Charlton (111.3 miles) and Wolverhampton (171.5 miles). That's quite a difference for round trips.
Ah, but the fans don't go Will Southampton bring more fans to Oakwell this Saturday than they did last season, because of the timing of the fixture? I don't think they will.
Pulis........... was saying in the press as well how disapointed he was at scoring three away from home and still not winning. I couldn't believe his cheek.
Haven't we said the same thing over the past few years. Why teams get long distance fixtures on public holidays is crazy. Get the computer to generate the fixtures then take a pen to them and fix them up with a dose of common sense. [Duh, thats where it goes wrong, the Football League don't have any common sense.]
Better idea Program the computer to do the job properly in the first place. Seriously, it's not that difficult.
