Rage Online Blog

Those lovely people at the Football League have released the list of live games on television up until 20 November. Unsurprisingly, given our status, Oxford United don't feature. What's even more unforgiveable though, is that there's only one game from the fourth division that is to be shown, Stockport v Barnet on Sunday 13 November, just two days after the nation is inflicted with swindon v Bristol City. It's a shame that Sky doesn't take advantage of United's game at Northampton being moved to a Friday night (to accommodate a clash with a rugby fixture, ffs) to add that game to their list, there being no other live TV game that week (in the bottom three divisions, anyway).

Labels: Football League, Sky, TV

The potentially perilous financial state of English football is again highlighted in today's Guardian with a story that produces two examples of decline. The first is the revelation that ITV feel that they paid too much for the deal to televise Premiership football, meaning that it is unlikely that England's top division will receive such a good deal again. Secondly is the news from York that chairman John Batchelor has handed over his shares to the club's Supporters Trust in an attempt to achieve stability. Of course events at Lincoln and elsewhere show that supporters control is no guarantee of financial stability, but doubtless similar organisations throughout the league will be watching events at Bootham Crescent very closely to see if it provides a successful, replicable model.

Labels: TV, York City

The BBC reports on a new television deal between the Football League and ITV. The deal is worth £5 million over two years, netting Division Three clubs like Oxford just £35,000 a year. Better than nothing, but not a lot. It would seem that ITV learned very quickly the lessons of the collapse of their digital arm, and one would assume that this new contract has been closely scrutinised by the League's legal advisors. Let's just hope that the quality of coverage is better than ITV's Premiership rubbish.

Labels: Football League, TV

Following on from the article highlighted yesterday on Soccernet, comes an "exclusive" in today's Observer that only three of the 24 clubs in the First Division can actually guarantee to complete their fixtures this season due to a combination of the ITV Digital collapse and the transfer window (no mention of financial maladministration or imprudent chairmanship). A good, readable article is diminished somewhat at the end when Palace chairman Simon Jordan rehashes the argument that would split the football league, saying that the chairmen of each division should be responsible for the running of that division. Without getting into the ins and outs in this limited space, it is an argument that doesn't stand up to close scrutiny once you disregard the blatant self-interest of the first division clubs' chairmen.

Labels: Football League, TV

The PFA reckons that clubs aren't as badly off as was first feared following the ITV Digital collapse, according to this report on the Nationwide site. The number of footballers still without clubs is less than expected and it's only those first division clubs "who speculated a little bit too much in striving for the Premier League" who are really feeling the pinch (with Watford the latest club to reveal their financial plight, claiming that they need to raise £9.5 million to avoid administration). The report quotes PFA Chief Exec Mick McGuire who believes that the crisis will lead to clubs becoming more prudent in their financial management. Let's hope so.

Labels: PFA, TV, Watford