On September 30th Everton welcome Crystal Palace to Goodison Park in what will be the third game to be played on a Friday night this season. But just why has Friday night Premier League football been introduced in England and what are the cause and effects of its implementation into the new season?
“Managers I have spoken to about this are 100 per cent united against playing live games on that night of the week,” said Howard Wilkinson, then chairman of the League Manager’s Association.
This quote, however, hasn’t been said in relation to Friday night matches. Instead, it was from 24 years earlier when Wilkinson was talking about the potential of Monday night football being introduced to the league.
Amongst its many detractors back then was former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“We managers must seriously question its wisdom. There is an absurd handicap for teams that do well in the domestic cups or European competitions,” he said.
Fast forward two decades though and the voice of dissenters weren’t anywhere near as loud when Friday night fixtures were proposed to the league.
When the new TV deal was drafted up two years ago, every club responded positively to the indication that Friday night’s would be used as a regular schedule for matches. It’s not the first time first division games have been broadcast in that time slot, but it is a first since the Premier League began in 1992.
Prior to that both the BBC and ITV in England hosted league fixtures under the floodlights.
When Sky purchased the rights for the Premier League, Monday nights were added as it afforded them yet another day and time in which to televise live football. The expansion of the round allowed the broadcaster to generate more revenue from the games they showed, which were spread out across the weekend.
Considering the vast amounts of money that the main broadcasters, Sky and now BT Sport, pump into the game, it was only a matter of time before they requested to add yet another day to their options.
They are in a clear position of strength when it comes to deciding when fixtures will be played across the season, with matches regularly moved around at their behest in order for them to maximise the revenue they generate from the games.
One key reason why they have been keen to add Monday night games and Friday night games is because there is very little wriggle room around the weekend fixtures. Since the 1950s there has been a rule in place, implemented by the football authorities, whereby there is a broadcasting blackout period on Saturday’s from 2.45pm to 5.15pm in England.
This was devised to protect the interests of the game as a whole. With the blackout aimed at encouraging “attendances and participation at all levels of the sport at the traditional time at which English football takes place across the country.”
This meant that the Premier League and broadcasters had to look for other time periods in which to televise the extra matches that were packaged and purchased as part of the lucrative new TV deals.
“Friday night games are clearly going to be a problem for supporters who have to travel to and from games,” fan James Vallence told The Guardian on the eve of the new season.
Vallence is a Southampton supporter and was speaking ahead of his team’s first league game against Manchester United on a Friday night. The day and time of the fixture posed a number of problems straight away for not only him but also a large section of travelling Southampton fans.
“The last southbound service from Manchester on Friday, and which gets people home, departs at 9.15pm, some 35 minutes before the final whistle at Old Trafford,” The Guardian reported.
Factors like being able to get time off work in order to travel to the away games is also a significant issue that has arisen from Friday night fixtures. Unfortunately though, match day fans seem to have been forgotten about in the midst of the TV deal. With Monday night football now integrated into the Premier League calendar, it seems like it will be only a matter of time before Friday nights are too.
Yet despite some dissatisfaction voiced from the match-going public, Friday night seems to be a winner for the broadcasters, people watching at home and some managers.
Last year then Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink declared that Friday night games would actually help sides who played in Europe, going against Ferguson’s assertions decades earlier.
“We have to consider when the Premier League clubs have to play in Europe, if they can play on an earlier date to gain another day’s recovery,” he said.
“The second day after an intense performance is a day for rest and small recovery. But we have to prepare on that second day. I’m strongly in favour, if you have to play on Tuesday, then we should play on Friday.”
For the time being just ten matches will be broadcast across the season on a Friday night, but in the future that number could be set to change in the ever shifting Premier League landscape.
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