Smaller teams expect Boxing Day bonanza thanks to lack of Premier League games | Football

Presents were opened, turkey was devoured, and family squabbles paused for a moment. For hundreds of thousands of football fans, this can only mean one thing: match time.

But this isn’t Boxing Day. With just one Premier League match being played instead of the usual football extravaganza, fans are looking for somewhere else to take a happy breath and teams lower down the football pyramid are hoping to entice those desperate to get out of the house.

Jon Couch, the league’s editor-in-chief, said non-league clubs were expecting a bumper day similar to the boost they got when international matches were suspended for top clubs. Non-League Article.

“Boxing Day is probably the biggest day in the non-league calendar,” he said. “When the fixtures are announced it’s the first day non-league clubs look at because the home Boxing Day game is huge both from a commercial and community-bringing perspective.”

He added that much smaller (often cash-strapped) clubs would hope to benefit, with only Manchester United and Newcastle United playing in the Premier League. “It’s a real opportunity this year, if clubs win home games it would be like Christmas came late.”

The Premier League confirmed in October that only one match would be played this Boxing Day, citing the expansion of European competition due to a gap in the calendar. The last time Boxing Day was a Friday in 2014, there was a full top-flight schedule; This year will be the smallest number of fixtures on Boxing Day in the top flight and Football League since the Second World War. The news was met with surprise and was cited as further evidence of this. the game is really gone.

Speaking on talkSPORT, the station’s chief football correspondent Alex Crook echoed the sentiments of disgruntled fans when asked for his views on the decision. “I’m a dinosaur, you can call me whatever you want, but Boxing Day is for sports and Boxing Day is for football,” he growled. “We have traditions and Boxing Day football is one of those traditions.”

Kat Law, former co-chairman of the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, said Christmas had always been “really important” to her because she went to the game with her dad while her mother and grandmother prepared lunch at home. However, he said that those who were most upset were his friends who loved watching matches on television. “We are just a few hours away from the Christmas chaos,” he said. “Obviously this is no longer possible the day after Christmas.”

This has been a headache for Greg Mitchell, founder of the Nottingham Forest fan group. Forza Garibaldi. With a friend who is a huge Borussia Dortmund fan staying over for Christmas, the search to find a suitable match to go to him proved frustrating. “It’s very sad that all the traditions are slowly but surely falling apart,” he said.

Managers of League One club Bolton Wanderers, who will face Rotherham United at home on December 26, hope they can attract Manchester City fans to the M61 and are expecting a larger crowd than usual. “Having people want their Boxing Day football fix will encourage them to look us up,” said the club’s chief executive, David Ray. “Then it’s about giving them a good experience and hopefully they want to come back.”

Bradford City chief executive Ryan Sparks has said he expects their Boxing Day game against Wigan to be a sell-out. “This is definitely an opportunity for us as people have fewer options,” he said. “We have to put on a good show”

Despite some fans’ displeasure at Premier League matches being canceled the day after, there are plenty of match fans who are quietly relieved they don’t have to face the hassle of traveling to games without public transport. This is particularly the case as broadcasting rights mean kick-offs are staggered, which is highly inconvenient for fans, as evidenced by the Manchester United-Newcastle game kicking off at 8pm, said Billy “the bee” Grant, co-host of Brentford FC’s Beesotted podcast.

He added: “Some fans might say ‘Thank God there’s no football on Boxing Day’ because I won’t actually be in trouble this year, I’ll actually be able to devote this time to my family for the first time in nearly 40 years.”