York City back early season start

10:18am Thursday 3rd January 2013 in Sport

Sophie Hicks Sophie Hicks

SHOULD York City retain their place in the Football League this season then they will be in for an early kick-off to the next.

The Football League has confirmed that the 2013/14 campaign will start on Saturday, August 3 – one of the earliest kick-offs in recent memory.

The first weekend in August opening was agreed after a ballot of clubs produced a clear majority in all three divisions of the Football League. It means clubs will get an extra Saturday outing.

City were among “an overwhelming majority” who voted in favour of the earlier start date.

Said Sophie Hicks, City’s communications and community director: “The reason we voted for it was because of the extra Saturday fixture, which could be a home game, and the fact that we will have a League game before the League Cup starts.”

The current season actually opened with City visiting Doncaster in the first round of the Capital One League Cup before the official start to the npower division two campaign.

The official end to the 2013/14 season is May 3 with the play-off finals to be staged at Wembley from May 24 to May 26.

Festive fixtures next season are scheduled for Saturday, December 21; Boxing Day; Sunday, December 29 and New Year’s Day.

Comments(10)

old_school_minsterman says...
11:56am Thu 3 Jan 13

Absolutely ridiculous. The football season is starting earlier and earlier! It wants to be pushed back a couple of weeks never mind brought forward!

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A Bottom says...
12:38pm Thu 3 Jan 13

old_school_minsterma
n wrote:
Absolutely ridiculous. The football season is starting earlier and earlier! It wants to be pushed back a couple of weeks never mind brought forward!
It wants to be pushed back a couple of months by heck, and they should use proper footballs with laces in like when I was a lad!!!!!!

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grumblestiltskin says...
12:43pm Thu 3 Jan 13

I'm not normally one for adding my twopenneth but have to agree with old_school_minsterma
n this is a ridiculous decision.

The decision means the league will start on the second Saturday of the school holidays which is a joke for many of the fans with families and like me who attend games with the kid or who have to take set holidays during the summer period - most fans/season ticket holders concede they may miss games at the start of a season but usually only the odd 1 or 2 at the most.

Whilst I appreciate clubs and leagues have to make decisions but what about consultations with supporters organisations on matters like this - after all are they not continually talking about making football more family friendly?????

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nomadic85 says...
12:47pm Thu 3 Jan 13

wind your neck in you lot. all this will mean is that instead of re-arranging a Tuesday night league cup game to be played on the previous saturday we will have a league game first. Possibly extra revenue for the club, and one more game kids can attend where they may not be able to on a Tuesday night during term time. There's still plenty of time to go on holiday before the season starts for families too.

Good decision by the league members

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joejamestom says...
4:26pm Thu 3 Jan 13

I Suspect this is very much revenue driven so the clubs gate income starts a little earlier to help cash flow & the like. It has upsides & down sides we may get an away fixture somewhere we would like to visit or on the way to or from a destination but downsides are that we will probably have a season ticket with an unused date I think we should all relax & see how it pans out for the customer players & clubs. Always prefer Sat fixtures as most of us have no chance of making significant journeys on a mid week one thing they could do is switch the early rounds of cups to mid week which are usually less well attended so that your core customer can use their season tickets as intended. Any thoughts on that Sophie?

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joejamestom says...
4:27pm Thu 3 Jan 13

I Suspect this is very much revenue driven so the clubs gate income starts a little earlier to help cash flow & the like. It has upsides & down sides we may get an away fixture somewhere we would like to visit or on the way to or from a destination but downsides are that we will probably have a season ticket with an unused date I think we should all relax & see how it pans out for the customer players & clubs. Always prefer Sat fixtures as most of us have no chance of making significant journeys on a mid week one thing they could do is switch the early rounds of cups to mid week which are usually less well attended so that your core customer can use their season tickets as intended. Any thoughts on that Sophie?

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south bronx red 2 says...
7:39pm Thu 3 Jan 13

Revenue generating ...... lol.
Maybe if the club controlled their own catering and added bars in the ground they would have a better rev stream than just one game.
Having a pre-season friendly of decent quality will have just as big a gate.

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Baggy Y Fronts says...
7:55pm Thu 3 Jan 13

I'm lead to believe this has come about to give some preparation time to the England squad, and other international players for the world cup in the summer 2014

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duffy says...
9:02pm Thu 3 Jan 13

south bronx red 2 wrote:
Revenue generating ...... lol.
Maybe if the club controlled their own catering and added bars in the ground they would have a better rev stream than just one game.
Having a pre-season friendly of decent quality will have just as big a gate.
Still can't believe two Bovrils cost me £4.20 on Saturday.

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Helliwell's Not a Donkey says...
9:15pm Thu 3 Jan 13

duffy wrote:
south bronx red 2 wrote:
Revenue generating ...... lol.
Maybe if the club controlled their own catering and added bars in the ground they would have a better rev stream than just one game.
Having a pre-season friendly of decent quality will have just as big a gate.
Still can't believe two Bovrils cost me £4.20 on Saturday.
£2.20 for 500ml of Diet Coke! I can get 4 litres for that at Asda! Who sets these prices at the kiosks. As for the early season kick off next season, I booked my holiday for this year in September for August 2nd due to school holidays. Sod the World Cup and all this "the players are knackered" etc, lets get back to tradional seasons. I bet the 1966 World Cup winners weren't knackered after a long season, on muddy pitches, heavier boots etc.

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