2 home 2 away

[eastterracemike]

Ok so its all very quiet at the moment and this is probably a bit boring but has anyone else noticed/suffered from the fact that on 13 occasions this season there are 2 home games in quick succession and 2 away games in succession. This completely buggers up one week holidays if you've booked them up - missing 2 games not just one. I wonder why this pattern is emerging - any ideas?

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

I've also wondered this and would like to know.

 

[8ace]

I think the fixtures compiler only tries to prevent three H games or three A games in row, except for the first two and last two games.
We play more midweek games in the NPC so this accentuates it a bit.

EDIT: It seems it's the same for every team so it's not just by chance

 

[Deleted member 18477]

We can't have it all!

 

[severnside gull]

Must be deliberate as, ever since I was a nipper, the fixture compiler/computer has invariably worked to alternate home and away fixtures as the norm.

From my perspective it is an absolute pain as it means that I now often have two 400 mile journeys in a week to attend consecutive home games - it's not so much the travel time but the cost of attending 2 games in quick succession

 

[seagurn]

Since when has the F.A given a fa about fans?

 

[Notters]

I'd not plan a week's holiday during the fooball season! except during international break, I.e. now!

 

[Rugrat]

another thing I noticed was our midweek aways are also midweek homes, not sure if prev seasons have been same. Also many midweeks are really difficult for travel and I'd have thought they could somehow organise midweek games to be a little more fan friendly?

 

[8ace]

another thing I noticed was our midweek aways are also midweek homes, not sure if prev seasons have been same. Also many midweeks are really difficult for travel and I'd have thought they could somehow organise midweek games to be a little more fan friendly?

The furthest away games must be Lancashire/Yorkshire/Cleveland all of which are on Saturdays.

 

[SeagullinExile]

Hasn't this been the case for a while now?? Or am i imagining it?

 

[8ace]

From the horse's mouth:

In reference to consecutive home or away fixtures, this is something that has always been there, but increased significantly when the Championship decided not to play on International Saturday weekends thereby increasing the number of midweek fixtures.



In the compilation fixture rules the Saturday sequence is given the priority and therefore where possible this will be H A H A. If you then insert a midweek programme this sequence is affected and you end up with 2 homes or 2 aways. Taking the earlier Sat sequence you add two midweek programmes (in Red) and you can see this. H A A H H A.



Another time that this can occur is when we reach what we call a sequence break when compiling the list. This is effectively when we “re mix” the fixtures during the season. There are 9 occasions when this occurs although we try to limit the number of occasions that affects each club.



Other issues that will affect the sequence are blank Saturdays for the FA Cup and for International weekends.



We hope that information helps.



Thank you for contacting The Football League.



Regards,



Andrew Pomfret

Customer Services Officer

The Football League Limited

 

[severnside gull]

From the horse's mouth:

Thanks for that


In short therefore there is nothing to prevent them changing the prefernces to NOT prioritise Saturdays (as all clubs regularly play midweek games) and to recognise international and cup breaks (pre-set) and hey presto! the problem is solved