From the latest Trust newsletter...
Spurs v Nottingham Forest – double date change
We have always been against moving games at short notice for the benefit of broadcasters and remind the Club and the Premier League and broadcasters via the
FSA on a regular basis of the significant impact this has on supporters. There is an assumption by some that home supporters are all travelling from local areas but of course this is not true. We travel from all over the country and indeed the world, on a regular basis and incur enormous costs in terms of tickets, transport and accommodation. The longer notice we get of dates, the more chance there is of securing decent rates. That’s why we apply pressure on the Premier League to stick to their agreed timescales for fixture announcement, albeit they have chosen to reduce this from the already inadequate six weeks, to five weeks before each particular match.
This makes the situation around our home match against Nottingham Forest all the more frustrating. The Club was made aware that significant industrial action was planned for 8 April, meaning that five of the six local stations to the stadium would be closed. Not only would this hugely impact supporters getting to and from the stadium, but there would be no way of the Club guaranteeing that sufficient staff would be able to attend, in order for the match to be safely hosted. The Club reported on the situation to the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), chaired by Haringey Council and attended by representatives of the Club, the police, transport companies, emergency services and the Trust. The SAG decided, at an emergency meeting, not to recommend that a safety certificate be granted and the Council formally took that decision. The Premier League were then asked to rearrange the date.
THST were involved in part of the decision-making process. We reluctantly agreed with the Club’s view that it was preferable to move the date rather than play behind closed doors or with a restricted crowd size, which neither the Club nor the Trust thought was appropriate. This would have massively penalised supporters and would be a ‘worst of all worlds’ scenario, simultaneously reducing the home advantage for our team.
We made representations regarding the impact on match going fans and as a result the Club committed to securing a priority window for season ticket holders who had previously shared or sold their ticket through club channels because of the original change to the fixture date. We also reminded the Club of the considerable costs for those travelling from afar and we will lobby for our members, on a case by case basis, who have been especially impacted in this way.
We were not given any indication that the match would be moved to the dreaded 6pm slot on Sunday night and had no opportunity to make representations on that. We know that this is especially difficult for those travelling on Anglian trains where there is a rail replacement service. Ultimately these decisions are made between the Premier League and the broadcasting companies and we continue to lobby for them to put the interests of supporters at the heart of all the decisions they make, however much they seem to ignore that. Football without fans is nothing.
Updates include: Season Tickets Spurs v Nottingham Forest – double date change Quiz Night Premier League VAR consultation event Media log Season Tickets On 7 March the Club announced a six per...
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