Thoughts on … new Sky/EFL TV deal making Leyton Orient Saturday 3pm kick-offs an endangered species

I’ve been trying to add to the general joy of the internet by writing about positive things I have enjoyed and sharing things I’ve read that I thought other people might like. This one does come with a side-serving of me moaning though …

Harry Crichton has written an interesting piece interviewing some Leyton Orient fans about the disillusionment that is growing with the amount of fixtures being moved away from their traditional 3pm Saturday kick-offs to please the gods of Sky television, after this year the EFL agreed a new deal which sees a lot more lower league football on our screens.

He points out “By the turn of the year, Orient will have only had three league games at Brisbane Road at 3pm kick-offs this season”. In a regular season, over that time period, it would not be unreasonable to assume there should have been at least eight.

In “Fixture chaos leaves Leyton Orient out of sync”, Crichton writes:

“Attendance has dropped from an average of 8,361 last season to just 7,285 for the first six home matches this year and midweek matches, despite official figures, have visibly emptier stands.”

[The club have taken to giving the attendance figure as everybody who bought a ticket for the match, including every single season card holder, regardless of whether they actually went through the turnstiles for that game or not]

He quotes Herman Wang, a Leyton Orient blogger, saying “Tuesday nights, it’s dark and cold. People come straight from work, the stadium’s half-empty. Saturday matches feel like a festival – with your pre-match rituals, seeing family and friends. Tuesday nights don’t compare.”

Leaving aside the issue of whether there should even be international breaks for the moment – I am one of the weirdoes who quite enjoys watching Uefa Nations League stuff like San Marino getting promotion – I’m personally not sure the new Sky contract is doing teams in League One much of a favour, and it has definitely contributed to me going to fewer matches in 2024/25 so far.

Matches moved to 12.30 kick-offs have stopped me going to a couple of away matches that I would normally have attended – I made it to 3pm kick-offs away against Lincoln City and Stockport County – because it makes the travelling an earlier start than my usual 7am weekday work shift, and that isn’t what the weekend is for.

[Leyton Orient celebrate scoring away at Stockport County in front of me]

And I haven’t been to the rescheduled Tuesday night matches this season.

Yes, I’ve got a season card, but I also subscribe to the Leyton Orient audio stream (£45 a year), and to Sky Sports (approx £1bn of your earth pounds), so now that all Tuesday games are televised on SkySports+ there are three ways to enjoy them.

And only one of them involves sitting in the cold in a half-empty stadium not being allowed to have a drink while you can view the action.

I’ve ended up watching the matches on my laptop in the warmth of a pub, while listening to the knowledgable O’s-focused commentary of Dulcet Dave and Matt Hiscock (rather than whoever has been handed the SkySports+ shift), enjoying a “swift half”, plus getting to watch two or three other matches that are on the telly in the boozer at the same time.

I hear you – “plastic fan” – but life gets in the way of going to games, and 3pm on a Saturday fits in to a pattern for lower league clubs that has been established for decades and decades, in a way that 12.30am on a Saturday and lots of extra 7.45pm kick-offs on a Tuesday simply never have.

Perhaps the only upside to the constantly shifting kick-off times is that occasionally the stars align, and it looks like there are a couple of weekends coming up when I can go and watch Leyton Orient first and then head off to see Walthamstow FC, or vice-versa thanks to the ludicrous Saturday 6pm kick-off time for Leyton Orient v Derby in the FA Cup third round, which has been moved for TV purposes but isn’t even being televised for UK viewers.

For that particular match, Leyton Orient CEO Mark Devlin said “We fully appreciate the frustration that the change in kick-off time has caused for some supporters, especially those with longer journeys”, and tickets will be priced at £10 in an attempt to fill the stadium. The magic of the cup™, indeed.

Peterborough United issued a much stronger statement about their FA Cup tie away at Everton being moved to a Thursday night. Pointing out there were “no viable trains from Liverpool to Peterborough scheduled on the evening of the match”, “supporters will be required to take two days off work to attend” and that “an expected reduced home attendance would reduce the potential revenue”, they also carried a statement from chief executive Dawn Gore, who said:

“When the draw was made on Monday night, we were all very excited about travelling to Goodison Park. We were inundated with supporters requesting details for ticketing within hours of the draw being concluded. To learn that the game has been arranged for a Thursday night is bitterly disappointing. Whilst we understand there are logistical challenges, we do not feel the supporters have been considered in this approach.”

Regular readers will know that I enjoy my fair share of grassroots football, and can often be found watching Walthamstow FC or West Essex at Wadham Lodge, or watching London Seaward in the FA Women’s National League at Oakside Stadium near Barkingside.

[My dog Willow sometimes watches London Seaward in Barkingside with me]

I do wonder if a lot of people who drifted away from going to top-flight football because TV was causing it to take fans for granted, and started watching teams in League One and League, will drift down again to watching non-league, thanks to this new Sky contract and the scattergun FA Cup kick-off times. Basically, if you were a fan of any club in the third or fourth level of English club football, having matches constantly messed about for the sake of TV never used to be a problem. And now suddenly this season it very much is.

Of course, maybe I should quit moaning and just suck it up and buy one of the flats overlooking Orient’s ground – then I could watch the match live from my sofa, enjoy a beer, and complain about the noise.