Monday 26 January 2009

Fixture chaos

Well done to the FA and Football League.

FA Cup 4th round replays will take place Tuesday week - yes, the same day that the Football League have scheduled a full fixture programme for the Championship, League One and League Two.

As a result, league fixtures have been postponed to accommodate the replays causing unnecessary problems for club secretaries and journalists alike.

Did no-one actually think that there may be a good chance of Football League clubs being involved with replays?

But then again the Football League did decide not to schedule fixtures on August Bank Holiday Monday and New Year's Day - likely to be two of the biggest gates of the season for lower division clubs.

Saturday 10 January 2009

A freelancer's worst nightmare

Generally freelancers get paid reasonably well but today summed up all the bad points of going freelance rather than being on a staff contract.

I was up at 9am (which is really early for me these days considering my usual working pattern especially after I left the office last night at 1am), showered, dressed and thought I'd just check which matches had been called off.

I was about to leave for Doncaster v Bristol City, when I saw OFF against the fixture on BBC. I thought there must have been some kind of mistake given how certain Donny where that the fixture would be on yesterday. But no, Doncaster's official website confirmed the bad news: "An incredibly heavy overnight frost was of such strength, that the cold has gone below the heavy duty plastic covers and solidified the Keepmoat Stadium's playing surface."

A match off means no money for a freelancer and it also meant that for the first football Saturday since April, I had no game to go to. That and three quarters of the League Two programme being called off (a league I work on for another company and subsequently don't get paid for previews if matches are postponed or abandoned) meant it was a pretty bad day.

So what did I do with my Saturday off? My house got a well deserved clean and I watched Soccer Saturday while working out on the treadmill at the gym.

Now I know how those managers sent on "gardening leave" feel!