Spurs, Burnley & EPL change non-TV fixture. Do they care about the fans?

Today (28th October, 2016), Tottenham Hotspur Football Club announced a change of date for the forthcoming non-televised home match against Burnley. After TV dates had been announced a full two weeks ago, confirming that this game would not be amongst those to be televised by either Sky or BT, fans like me (I live in Chesterfield) made our travel arrangements.

The official Tottenham Hotspur announcement was as follows:-

“Our Premier League home match against Burnley, originally scheduled for Saturday, December 17, has been moved and will now take place on Sunday, December 18, kick-off 4pm.

This follows a request to the Premier League from both clubs, following the recent fixture changes for broadcast purposes. The rescheduled date will also allow the squad additional recovery time after a busy run of fixtures which will see us play seven games in 25 days after the November international break, before heading into the festive period of fixtures.”

What those in power at football clubs and at The Premier League do not realise is that not all their fans live within easy reach of their grounds. I am not alone in travelling long distances to watch my team. I live in North Derbyshire. Others, including season ticket holders like me, live even further away and will have followed the same process as me, which follows this pattern:-

1. Wait patiently for TV dates to be fixed, before making travel plans and booking.
2. Make those travel plans asap to save money for advanced train/coach/plane fares and perhaps accommodation.

I am sure some fans will have made plans to travel from Europe and will have booked flights and accommodation.

My advance booking is not refundable, and thanks to Tottenham Hotspur, Burnley and the Premier League, I have incurred the same cost again, doubling the price of my travel. Others will have lost more.

All this additional expense comes at Christmas-time, and just because Spurs and Burnley want an extra day off after their mid-week exertions. Other teams will be playing mid-week games on 13th/14th December. Some of them will still be playing Saturday games.

When will the decision makers of the various bodies involved in this process think about their ordinary (but committed) fans, and the cost and inconvenience of this un-warranted and unnecessary change to the fixture calendar?

Was the Spurs representative body (Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust) consulted? I doubt it.

I personally am disgusted and out of pocket. I have sent an e-mail of complaint to club director Donna Cullen. I encourage others similarly inconvenienced to do the same.

Update - 31.10.16

The club have been in touch with me, and it would appear that if you have incurred expense because of an un-refundable booking for travel/accommodation, then you will be re-imbursed. I am waiting for permission to disclose the relevant contact address. Thanks to Donna Cullen and the club for responding to this grievance today.

Full details of how to claim re-imbursement

Resolution of this issue is available to season ticket holders only, as applications to the ballot for One Hotspur members and Supporters clubs have still to open.

If you are a season ticket holder, and did book travel and/or accommodation once the TV dates were announced, the please send your receipts (e-mail is acceptable) to supporterservices@tottenhamhotspur.com. You will need to send receipts for both your original booking, and any new bookings required due to the fixture change announced last Friday 28th October, 2016.

Head of Supporter Services Jonathan Waite made this comment, following my complaint:-

"The decision to request the rescheduling of the match was made by both clubs and agreed on Friday by the Premier League. This alteration was made in the interests of providing the players with the optimum rehabilitation and preparation time for the busy Christmas and New Year period.

As tickets for this match have still not yet gone on sale, we did not envisage that many of our fans would be impacted by this change and we are sorry that you have been inconvenienced.

At the management meeting earlier this morning, it was agreed that having taken the time to review the situation over the weekend, we feel it is only right to reimburse season ticket holders who are out of pocket as a direct result of this fixture change.

We will refund the cost of the original, non-refundable, rail or bus tickets and non-refundable hotel reservations on production of the original documents for these bookings completed prior to October 28th, alongside copies of the new bookings. If you could please send these to me at the address below, I will process these and arrange the refund to be sent to you.

I do hope this is of assistance and apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

Tottenham Hotspur Football & Athletic Co Ltd
Lilywhite House, 782 High Road, London, N17 0BX

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