Leeds United manager Farke will no doubt be highly furious after finding out Sky Sports’ fixture changes.
As the Championship season draws to a close, Leeds United and Daniel Farke have been dealt a devastating blow as fixture changes and congestion could jeopardize their promotion bid.
The West Yorkshire squad lost its first league game of 2024 on Saturday to Coventry City, and with both the club and the manager eager to put this defeat behind them, Sky Sports’ announcement of their live TV games for April will not be appreciated.
Sky Sports has announced the fixtures for which they will provide live coverage beginning this month on the Official EFL website, and Leeds now faces squeezing four encounters into 17 days, as they appear to be Sky’s first pick for a team to follow in the run-in.
Furthermore, none of these games will begin at 3 p.m. on a Saturday, with games beginning at 12:30 p.m., implying that match preparation may need to be adjusted significantly.
Sky Sports has disturbed Leeds United’s preparations.
It is fair to assume that football management is never an easy job, and given the difficulty these fixture changes would bring Farke, he will most likely agree with that assessment.
| Leeds United’s remaining fixtures 2023/24 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponents (Home/Away) | Date | Kick-off time |
| Sunderland (H) | Tuesday 9 April | 20:00 |
| Blackburn Rovers (H) | Saturday 13 April | 12:30 |
| Middlesborough (A) | Monday 22 April | 20:00 |
| Queens Park Rangers (A) | Friday 26 April | 20:00 |
| Southampton (H) | Saturday 4 May | 12:30 |
As shown above, Leeds has five games remaining this season, the next of which is at home against Sunderland on Tuesday.
Later this month, the Whites will face two of their remaining five matches in the same week.
Typically, players will have a rest day after a fixture, so after their match against Middlesborough on Monday, April 22nd at 8pm, they will need the following day (Tuesday, April 23rd) off from training to allow them to rest and avoid injuries in the coming games.
This means the club will only have one and a half days to train and apply any new tactical alterations before traveling to West London to face QPR on Friday, April 26.
It goes without saying that Farke and Leeds United fans will keep their fingers crossed that no injuries occur during those training sessions.
The Whites presently have the shortest injury list, with only two players on the treatment table, compared to Leicester’s three and Ipswich’s four.
Fixture adjustments could give Leicester and Ipswich the advantage in the promotion battle.
With the aforementioned training and fitness issues caused by Sky Sports’ fixture interference, surely the baton in the fight for automatic promotion can now be passed on to Leicester City and Ipswich Town, who could attempt to capitalise on their odd advantage.
Both clubs, which won on Saturday, are currently in first and second place in the league, with Ipswich trailing Leicester by one point.
It may be argued that Ipswich has the better run-in, with the Suffolk club having to play their remaining four fixtures over a 20-day span, compared to Leeds’ seventeen, and their games are more evenly distributed in the coming weeks.
Furthermore, they are undefeated against their remaining opponents this season, winning four and drawing the other.
Leicester, on the other hand, bears the additional burden of having to play one more game than the other two.
However, they have a commonality with Ipswich in their run-in, in that they are unbeaten against all of their remaining opponents.
Long away days for Leeds United fans are coming ahead.
While the focus is mostly on how this fixture congestion is affecting Daniel Farke and his squad’s health, the impact on fans must also be considered.
Leeds fans have already had to deal with a strange kick-off schedule over the last eight months, but they must be furious that there will be no more 3pm Saturday kick-offs for the remainder of the season.
While they have three home games between now and the end of the season, the problematic period between the 22nd and 26th of April necessitates two lengthy excursions for fans.
First, they must travel to North Yorkshire on a working day to face Middlesborough at 8 p.m. Given that the event is expected to end shortly before 10 p.m., and with a three-hour round trip by automobile, a loss at the Riverside Stadium might make for a very long night.
Then, just four days later, fans will have to travel considerably further to West London and Loftus Road.
On a good day, the drive may take four hours by vehicle, which means that if fans want to avoid rising rail costs, they will have to make an eight-hour round trip on another working day to attend a game that begins at 8 p.m. and will most likely end around 10 p.m.
That particular week may make or break Leeds United’s hearts, but after such a strong start to 2024, and with their two opponents recently experiencing patchy form, fans will undoubtedly hope that Farke can work his magic, as he has all season, and produce a happy ending to this rollercoaster of a season in the EFL Championship.
