The game's in in 11 days' time so I don't think there's anything that can be done now. Score one for Sky and the money men.

Completely off the topic, I was wondering what pubs in Birmingham will all my fellow Evertonians be drinking in before the Brum game?

Although I don’t like the principle of football bending over backwards for the sake of tv, its about time we all got real.

Football (Everton included) sold its soul to the devil of money many years ago. All premier league clubs have enjoyed the benefits of the masses of money being pumped into the game by Sky for many years. To turn around now and cry when they have changed a game is a bit rich - especially one which potentially does us a favour with Chelsea only playing 72 hours previously.

Incidently I would class myself as a tradionalist but after enjoying our European adventure this season I am in favour of more night matches. Better atmosphere under floodlights......

Probably not worth protesting too much about this one. We’ve plenty of other gripes with the FA and IMHO the move is worse for them than us. Apparently as "compensation" to their fans Chelsea are offering them free tickets:-

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=522571&cc=3436

Nathan, I think at little more thought is needed for supporters that need to travel long distances to get to games. This is always more diffcult for night games and isn’t helped when matches are re-arranged at late notice like this one has been.

Against my better judgement I contacted the premier league about this switch and just got some drivel back from them about needing to meet the quota for live matches set by the European Commission. So there we are its the EC’s fault apparently, they must be forcing the Thursday night game and not Sky or the PL after all!!

I think this shows up the respect agenda for what it really is. A load of bull. We want players to respect refs who have cost us about 5 points this reason and if you add the 2 they got due to Calattenidiot 7 points on LFC. Then we have to not chant at players who have £4million houses to go home to. The only people who get absolutely nil respect are the fans. You run on the grass and your team gets a fine. You have to pay massive loads of cash to watch them and change your whole arrangements at the drop of a hat because of sky. We want a revolution, if we could only get organised at a general election we could run the country. I propose we start the POFF Party. I would be PM and introduce a law to get fans to run the FA and Premier League for starters

Easy there comrade Ron. I think we should realise that without the Sky money we wouldn’t be watching the football we are, we’d be watching the next generation of Carlton Palmers hoofing it upfield to the next generation of Cyrille Regises.

I’ve missed something here though, what is the reason for playing it on a Thursay night? Is this an otherwise regular weekend fixture moved purely for TV or is there a specific extra reason for the move?

Mike, I don’t think Everton 1984/85 was composed of any Carlton Palmers, and actually Cyrille Regis wasn’t a bad player.

More to the point, I would be interested to see what other people think about the often-quoted line that the Sky football business model has allowed us to see the world’s best players in England etc etc. The cost to us as a club, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when Sky invented football, is that we may never see Everton win the Championship again. Ever. I personally feel that is a rather high price to pay for the privilege of seeing Ronaldo, Van Persie etc strutting their stuff on English soil.

Still, each to their own, I suppose.

??The cost to us as a club, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when Sky invented football.??
Brian, we were in the right place at the right time, in fact we were part of the group of 5 (?) clubs that suggested the break-away league in the first place. But due to poor management and bad business decisions on all levels over a period of approx 10 years, we were reduced to the drivel that Walter Smith was offering us instead of football.

In answer to a recent thread on this subject I sent off a letter to the Premier League expressing my anger at the fixture change I said at the time that I didn?t expect a reply, but if I got one then I would post it on this site. Well guess what? one has arrived. Below is a copy of the letter I sent and the reply I got back.

"I am writing to say how annoyed and disappointed I am about the changing of the Everton v Chelsea game from the 19th to the 17th of April.

"I am an Everton season ticket holder, who when fixtures are announced plan my social time around these fixtures so that I do not miss any matches.

"However I now find that a holiday I booked so that I didn?t miss the Chelsea match on Saturday by arriving home on Thursday evening means I may well miss it.

"It is my experience that the powers that be (Premier League, FA Sky etc) care not a jot about the supporters of Premier League teams especially the ones that actually bother to go to the match instead of watching it on TV. I am well aware of the need for TV broadcasts to show the game around the world and sell a few more replica shirts, but since when was Thursday a day for league games. Playing games on a Sunday and 7:30 on a Good Friday evening are bad enough.

"This change is grossly unfair to the supporters of both Everton and Chelsea who have already bought tickets and made travel arrangements (I have heard of someone travelling from as far as Australia) they will now have to cancel. The club has said that it will refund the ticket costs to anyone who has purchased a ticket, though that does not work for season ticket holders.

"I would like to say that more respect should be shown to the people who actually matter the most e.g. the paying fans who watch the games, but they don?t matter do they?

"Sky Sports are the ones that matter, corporate businesses are the ones that matter and making as much money as possible (as the ludicrous 39th game demonstrates) is what matters.

"Yes I know I will still go to Everton matches, still have a season ticket and still support the club, but sadly I also know that I will continue to be messed about playing games on Sundays, Saturday mornings and now Thursday nights. It?s starting to become a joke.

"I look forward to a reply though I won?t be surprised if I don?t get one.

"Yours Sincerely

"Graham Rathbone."

___________________________

The Reply:
Dear Graham

Thank you for your email concerning the Everton v Chelsea fixture. We appreciate the inconvenience caused when fixtures change at late notice, and we apologise for any problems this has caused for you.

"Fixture planning is a complex process and we always try to give at least 4 weeks notice when fixtures move. Premier League fixtures can only be fixed once dates for other competitions have been set, e.g. the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Champions League, and this can make it difficult to find slots for some games. In addition to this, as you may be aware, the European Commission determined that we must provide 138 matches for live TV coverage; this further limits our ability to schedule fixtures as and when we would want during the season. Also we are committed to ensuring that the ?closed window? is preserved ? that is, that games are not shown live on television at 3pm on a Saturday ? to protect attendances and participation at all levels of the game.

"Another reason fixtures cannot always be scheduled is to do with the willingness or ability of the police service to cover a certain time. Unfortunately this means some matches have to be moved at late notice through a combination of the factors outlined above and in order for us to meet the requirements of our TV contracts.

"Attached is our fixture fact list for your information.

"Kind regards

"Communications Team"

___________________________

I hope this helps all you people who have already purchased tickets or booked travel arrangements or season ticket holders who cannot make this match and will get no refund on tickets they bought in good faith before the season started.

Finally before I end this rant, cast your minds back a few months when they wanted the Man Utd away game to be played on Christmas Eve and Sir Alex told them where to go and how fast they should get there!! We could have done with a bit of that now.

As we have chosen to take the tv money I believe being held to ransom over fixture scheduling is the price we pay!

Steve, I can?t remember being asked to chose about the TV money, that was a decision made in a smoke filled room perhaps? I know that the clubs have made a lot of money from Sky but hasnt a lot of that money come from the punters through Sky subscriptions, higher ticket prices etc? Surprise, surprise, it?s us who pay that too. Yes, huge amounts come in from overseas TV rights but I?m certainly no better off for having the likes of SKY influence the fixture list (Grandshite sunday) and like a previous poster, had arranged a holiday for the week before the Chelsea game and now will miss it. The friend I go to the match with will also miss it having swopped her Saturday shift with a colleague, yes, you guessed it - to work the Thursday........she?s not best pleased either!

A lot of people jump through hoops to get to the games either through work commitments or because of the distances they have to travel, very little consideration is given to them.
Fortunately I have been able to sell my season ticket seat , as has my friend but it hardly makes up for missing such an important game. To cap it all, where I?m going there?s no telly either!

This is the 3rd game I have missed this season through fixture changes. I travel on business and plan around the dates which are then changed - but its not just me as my two sons are affected and wont attend without me so 3 season tickets down the swanee. Again.

This wasnt what I committed to when I bought the season tickets.

What would have Everton Football Club/ Wyness, have done if it was was not on Sky? They are getting the Sky money and gate reciepts, the best of both worlds, fuck the fans. At least Chelsea are willing to compensate their fans... Will Everton football club/ Wyness???