Fixtures and Fittings

It's 7th October, and Oxford United have played just six league games during the supposedly 'sunny' part of the season.

That leaves 40 league games to squeeze into the 30 weeks that remain. Add at least one FA Cup tie and at least two more Sandwich Trophy* games, and we're looking at a minimum of 43 matches in 30 weeks.

And that's before we factor in:

• further postponements during the November and March international breaks
• an Oxford run to the FA Cup third round or beyond
• an Oxford run to the Sandwich Trophy final
• scheduled opponents doing either of the above
• the weather

The TV problem

EFL fixture planning has become increasingly frustrating in recent seasons. The latest Sky TV deal introduced a Thursday night slot, often filled by a League One or League Two game. That's how our trip to Mansfield next week came to be moved from Saturday to a Thursday night in October. It clashes with a Europa League and Conference League night featuring six British clubs, all televised across the many channels now available. Even the most dedicated football fan is unlikely to flick through the options and settle on the game at Field Mill.

Mansfield on a Thursday night - go on then….

Long trips in midweek

Over the last few seasons, we've been told that lengthy away trips are deliberately scheduled for midweek to boost attendances, and therefore revenue, at weekend matches. Former EFL chief executive and current Wrexham director Shaun Harvey explained:

"We make that scheduling choice to get bigger games at weekends because that provides better atmosphere and increases gate revenue for clubs, the flip side is that those games that are at a distance have to go into midweek. It is a deliberate act - but the reason for it is to ensure we get bigger crowds at weekends rather than lower crowds in the midweek."

There's some sense in that argument. But some of those long midweek journeys land in the depths of winter, hardly the ideal time for clubs and supporters to be crossing half the country in often treacherous conditions (anyone remember Accrington away?!). Wigan away on a Tuesday night in January is our latest example.

International breaks

The Championship doesn't schedule league fixtures during international breaks, on the expectation that most clubs will have players away. League One and League Two, however, play a full programme during all three breaks, even though more and more lower-league players are getting the call. Despite our relegation from the Championship, the Northern Ireland trio of Ciaron Brown, Jamie McDonnell and Brodie Spencer were shoo-ins for their squad. And with plenty of Premier League loanees filtering down the pyramid, U21 call-ups are hitting both divisions too.

The rules on postponing games for call-ups were tightened this season, with more focus on players' actual game time. Even so, only 7 of 24 League One games went ahead over the last two weekends, with just three teams playing twice. League Two fared better at 18 out of 24, but that's still 25% down on the planned schedule.

This season the problem has been made worse by an extended first international break. By the time the U's kick off at Notts County on Saturday, it will be three full weeks since our last league game.

It's also worth flagging now that the March break falls over an unusually early Easter. One of the highlights of the EFL calendar looks likely to be decimated by postponements. Our Good Friday home game against Leyton Orient and Easter Monday trip to Blackpool will be at risk if the Northern Ireland trio, Mark Harris (Wales) and Kai Andrews (Wales U21) are still at the club and get called up.

The Reading saga

Closer to home, the Reading debacle still hasn't been properly explained. We're always told that clubs, with input from local police, can ask for certain weekends to be avoided for home or high-profile games. So quite how Oxford v Reading ended up on the weekend of Reading Festival is beyond me.

And that isn't the end of it. The game was rearranged for Tuesday 8th September, then moved again, supposedly because of Reading's League Cup progress and/or St Giles' Fair. But Reading didn't play in the League Cup on 8th September (their tie came a week later), and Radio Oxford's podcast, The Dub, suggested the fair had nothing to do with it either. The result was a free midweek night left blank for both sides. The game will finally (probably) take place on Wednesday 4th November.

The EFL Trophy mystery

The scheduling of the EFL Trophy group stage is just as baffling. Oxford were the last of the 64 clubs in the competition to play their first group game. To underline the oddness, it came against Exeter City, who were playing their last.

Before Tuesday night's game at St James Park, six other dates had been used for 39 games in the competition. Exeter played Spurs U21s on 8th September and Cheltenham on 22nd September, and on both nights Oxford's other group opponents were available, yet no fixture was scheduled. The 8th September did, of course, become Plan A for the Reading rearrangement, but before that it would have been free for a Trophy game.

The U's now wait another month for their next Trophy fixture, which isn't much help to the players who rely on this competition for game time.

I'm sure there's a reason it all looks so erratic from the outside. Perhaps it's down to the availability of U21 sides around their Premier League 2 fixtures and senior teams' European commitments. Or perhaps it was done knowing that league games would likely be postponed for international call-ups, so scheduling Trophy games around the break gives clubs some match-focused training.

What's still to come

Success in the FA Cup and/or EFL Trophy will only congest the fixture list further. With a relatively compact squad, getting out of the registration embargo before the January window remains absolutely imperative.

*Yes, that's right: the EFL Trophy's new sponsor, Jersey Mike's, is basically a rival to Subway, and opens its first UK store in November.