Manchester United have spoken to the Premier League to express their concerns about the number of midweek games they are scheduled to play between now and Christmas.
In the 12 weeks between October 5 and December 25, United will play only one home match on a weekend — against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
During that period, United have three consecutive midweek home fixtures, with the games against Everton in November and Bournemouth in December having been rescheduled for Monday evenings. The West Ham United match in the first week of December was always set for midweek.
Away from home, United fans are faced with a 12.30pm (GMT, 7.30am ET) kick-off at Tottenham Hotspur on November 8, a 12pm Sunday kick-off at Crystal Palace on November 30 and an 8pm kick-off at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday, December 8.
The date for the festive home fixture with Newcastle United has yet to be confirmed by the Premier League but is likely to fall on Boxing Day, a Friday, with an 8pm kick-off.
United CEO Omar Berrada has spoken to Premier League counterpart Richard Masters outlining the club’s position. Sources briefed on the situation have told The Athletic that they had a constructive conversation, with United keen to stress the cultural importance of match-going fans to the fabric of the English game.
United also requested a change in how the games were scheduled to ensure that future matches around the festive period are selected for broadcast at a much earlier stage to enable fans to be informed of fixture changes during a time when they could have significant family commitments.
United sympathise with the view of fan representatives who feel that the club have received a particularly unfavourable run of fixtures from the perspective of match-going fans, considering the greater difficulty and cost of attending games during the working week compared with weekends. The Old Trafford club received a letter from their Fans’ Forum, which set out these issues, and responded with their own letter.
United, along with the other Premier League clubs, agreed to an increased number of Monday and Friday slots in the new broadcast contract and also understand the pressures created by an expanded European schedule with a record number of English clubs — though not United — participating.
The scheduling of a string of Monday games has also complicated the club’s aspirations for a mid-season friendly in Saudi Arabia — as revealed by The Athletic — with a midweek trip now less straightforward to accommodate ahead of the turn of the calendar year.
The club retain a desire to play in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere overseas during the season in order to claw back revenue lost by not competing in UEFA club competitions this season but given the way fixtures are falling, it is now not easy to see how this would be achieved between now and the hectic Christmas period.
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The Athletic is aware of multiple fans who had already booked travel and accommodation and sourced match tickets, only to be unable to attend the rearranged fixtures. Those fans can return match tickets, but getting money back for travel and accommodation is not straightforward.
In the case of one official Irish supporters’ club, the 35 fans travelling to the Everton game have been reduced to 15. There are families with young children in Manchester who are happy to take their children to daytime games but not evening matches.
The issue also affects away supporters. There’s no way that travelling Bournemouth fans coming to the game at Old Trafford on December 15 could get back to the south coast using train travel as they could for a weekend game.