Consumed by TV hell

It's a pain in the neck for all fans.

You've picked out an away game that you quite fancy, taken a day off work, made travel arrangements, bought your match ticket, perhaps even booked a hotel...only for a TV company to blow all of your plans out of place by rearranging the game often at short notice.

It's inconvenient, worse still it costs you money.

Which is what happened to Albion fan Barry Brisland, who contacted me earlier this week - no doubt one of many supporters in the same boat.

The trainee solicitor had booked time off work and arranged to go, with three friends, to Albion's game at Newcastle, originally scheduled for Wednesday October 29. He booked time off at work, the hotel was sorted out and train tickets were arranged swiftly to take advantage of discount fares.

And then Sky decided to bring the kick-off forward.

As a result the train fares of £26.50 per person have been lost. Because the game was rearranged so late there are no cheap rail tickets available - the least expensive option is £38.50p/p. As they were originally stopping overnight they also have to hope the hotel will reimburse them with a £145.00 refund - or at least allow them to rearrange the dates.

It has left Barry at least £26.50 out of pocket, before he even worries about buying further tickets and whether the hotel play ball.

All of this at a time when football fans are feeling the effects of a credit crunch.

Barry isn't happy.

"It's okay saying that these games are subject to change but they need to be sensible - people are losing money in what are difficult enough times as it is. No consideration whatsoever has been given to fans."

In fact, Barry is so disgusted that he is looking into the feasibility of pursuing a legal action.

He would like to hear from any fans who have been affected by this fixture change.

Supporters can email me on chris.lepkowski@birminghammail.net. I will then pass details onto Barry.