This week we saw the Premier League celebrate a new £6.7bn TV deal with two major broadcasters.
Within two days, Jurgen Klopp was bemoaning yet another 12.30pm kick off for his Liverpool side this weekend against Crystal Palace.
Rightly so. The 12.30pm kick-off slot is rubbish. It’s rubbish for fans who have to get up before daylight in some cases to travel to games and it’s rubbish for players who have to play elite sport at a time that doesn’t suit.
While it’s also rubbish for the atmosphere at these games and it can’t be much better than rubbish for the armchair supporters either. So while Klopp is right to give a bit back to the broadcasters – as he did after his side’s win over Sheffield United on Wednesday – it’s time he, and the other managers who complain, speak to their own bosses about it.
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Because the Premier League have sold their rights to the broadcasters and given them the control to put on games in that slot. And the Premier League clubs have signed off on it all.
Why didn’t they negotiate a deal that means the 12.30pm kick-offs are put in the bin? Or why didn’t they strike a mega money deal for a few million less that gives more control to the league and clubs about fixture scheduling?
What do you make of the Premier League's scheduling? Let us know in the comments section below
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The answer is greed. They want every penny they can from the broadcasters desperate to show one of the biggest sports products on the planet. So while Klopp and the other managers who bemoan – and there are plenty of them – the 12.30pm starts, they have their own bosses to blame and not the broadcasters.
They’ve paid the money and agreed to the deal. Player welfare is the responsibility of the football clubs and not TV executives. So do the clubs care about looking after their players or balancing their books? I’ll let you decide that one.
Klopp and the other big-club managers could argue that even if Liverpool complained, then the smaller sides in the top tier would still want the cash so they’d be overruled. But the managers should get together and take their grievances to their top brass.
They’re the ones signing the contracts with the TV money men to make the Premier League one of the richest in the world. You get what you pay for. Or in this case you get given what you get paid for.
CITY NOT FINISHED YET
Manchester City are finished. Well, apparently so. If you listen to the hysteria after a home draw with Tottenham and a disappointing defeat at a very good Aston Villa then the Treble winners are toast.
But you might want to put your foot on the ball before announcing Pep Guardiola’s side as dead. A quick look at the table after 15 games last season does have City five points better off.
But they were also five points behind Arsenal. Now they’re six. Hardly a huge difference. Yes, they’re facing more challenges this season with Liverpool looking like potential title challengers again.
And Aston Villa are currently also ahead of them in the table. But before we read the last rights to this City side maybe we should remember their scintillating form in the second half of last season which saw them rule at home and abroad.
Oh and Kevin de Bruyne will be back soon enough. There’s a long way to go in the title race and City are far from finished.
ONSIDE
Scott McTominay. Could have been sold in the summer but got his head down and now getting reward.
OFFSIDE
Joey Barton. Stuck in the dark ages moaning about women giving their opinion on football.
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