How Football League Fixtures are Prepared

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[With the new season's schedule coming out in exactly a week, a number of football club have this article on their Official Sites originally from the "Football League play-off programme, The Observer.Each club adapting the article slightly to put their own club name in]

Bristol City Official Site - FIXTURES ALREADY BEING PROCESSED - Thu 31 May 2007

The 2006/07 football season may have just come to an end with three exciting play-off finals - but already the fixtures for the 2007/08 campaign are being compiled.

The process of building a season's fixture list is a complicated one, with fans eagerly waiting for their release on June 14th.

Football League fixture secretary David Cookson says: "I know that an awful lot of people wait for the day when the fixtures are released.

"Most of the hard work gets done during late May and June, right after the play-offs, but really it's an all-year thing."

The League begin by contacting FIFA and UEFA for their worldwide match calendar, which includes competitive and friendly international games. After that the Champions League, UEFA Cup and Intertoto Cup dates are pumped into the computer.

Then the League can concentrate on its own games, working backwards from the May Bank Holiday for the play-offs. All other Saturday and Bank Holiday dates are then processed, before finally midweek dates are scheduled.
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Cookson adds: "You can't have two neighbours (such as Bristol City and Bristol Rovers) playing at home on the same day, regardless of which divisions they are in."

That's an added complication. Worse follows when the League receives details of annual events such as Reading's V Festival, Shrewsbury's Flower Show, Brighton's Gay Pride and even Bristol's Ashton Court Balloon Fiesta.

These events use valuable police sources in their respective local areas and also cause traffic problems, so this has an impact on when home games can be scheduled.

For example, City are almost certain to be away on the opening day of the new Football League season as the Balloon Fiesta will be held in Ashton on the same day.

Cookson continued: "There are so many requests from clubs. We always try to accommodate any requests from the Police or clubs, but you can't please everybody.

"The requests are increasing each season and the demands are harder than ever to meet."

Fans often complain about having to travel long distances on Boxing Day or midweeks. But it's not always the fixture computer's fault.

"Derby games at Christmas are very much a thing of the past," Cookson admitted. "Often the local Police forces don't want them and the clubs don't want them either.

"While clubs don't want to travel too far, they also don't want to play their neighbours because at Christmas you're always going to get a good crowd, so why have your best fixture on the best day?

"More and more clubs are sending us a list of 13 or 14 clubs they don't want to play at Christmas, which makes our life almost impossible."

The same applies for Bank Holidays where Police forces charge double time. A high profile opponent on a Bank Holiday can send the club's bill through the roof.

Atos Origin are the company that supplies the fixture computer software, while Glenn Thompson is the man who devised the home and away match sequence.

A draft fixture list is produced before release day, which is ratified by The Football League, Premier League, six clubs and - on behalf of supporters everywhere - a representative from the Football Supporters Federation.

However, with 92 clubs and several millions supporters waiting for the fixtures - you're never going to please everybody.

"It works as well as it possibly can, bearing in mind all the external pressures," Cookson concluded. "You'll always miss something but I think we do a pretty good job of it, all things considered."

Sources for this article: Football League play-off programme, The Observer. Bristol City