This is from the Leeds web site and expalins how the fixtures are put together. And I thought it was all done with a blindfold and a pin.
The People Behind The Fixture Lists
The countdown has begun to the release of the fixtures for the 2005/06 Coca-Cola Football League season.
Although the 2004/05 season ended less than a month ago, fans are eagerly anticipating Thursday, June 23 and the first chance to start planning for next season.
But that list of fixtures that excites so many people is the result of a huge amount of work.
Work actually begins on a fixture list TWO years in advance. The Football League’s fixtures department is already working on Season 2007/08.
Sandra Whiteside, Head of Fixtures, Events and Competitions, and David Cookson, Fixtures Secretary, have the arduous task of trying to accommodate the requests of FIFA, UEFA, the FA, the clubs, the police and the fans into a 46-week fixture calendar.
With more than 50 years experience at The Football League between them Sandra and David have built up a wealth of knowledge that allows them to know instinctively what will work and what won’t.
Sandra said: "There are lots of misconceptions that surround our job. It has got increasingly difficult over the years and there is far more fixture congestion now. But the job is still interesting.
"It has become a real balancing act and we do try our best to come up with the fixtures that are balanced. At the end of the day we want a published set of fixtures that the clubs can complete."
The fixture preparation begins when FIFA announces its list of international dates. UEFA and other federations around the world then schedule their own international fixtures based on FIFA’s list.
However it was these FIFA dates that produced a major headache for this season’s fixture preparation as they included an extension to the call-up period for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.
David Cookson said: “We now have a staggered start and staggered finish to the season. It’s not only a staggered start between The Football League and Premier League, but, in order to accommodate The Championship Play-Off Final without impacting too much on the World Cup call-up period, The Championship will finish earlier than Leagues 1 and 2.
“That means we have staggered Play-Off Finals as well, with The Championship final a week before the League 1 and 2 finals.”
He added: “This staggering of fixtures causes its own problems, but in order to complete the season on time we have had to fit more Championship fixtures into the early part of the calendar - that already includes blank weekends for international dates, FA Cup and Carling Cup dates.
“But there is also an impact on the pairings — ie those clubs that are put together because of their geographical location and when one is at home the other should be away. But with fixtures dislocated it makes it incredibly difficult to come up with the right schedule of home and away fixtures for those Championship clubs that are paired with clubs in Leagues 1 or 2.”
Another complication to the preparation of the fixture list is club requests.
Details are collated via a questionnaire which is sent to clubs each March/April. This allows clubs to work with their local police force to identify certain dates when they would have difficulty hosting a game — ie when major events are on in the area such as Gay Pride in Brighton, major religious celebrations such as Eid, or the Northampton Balloon Festival.
In addition clubs and their police forces will identify opponents they cannot host over Bank Holiday periods.
The experience of the staff involved irons out most of the potential problems before working parties meet in June to formulate the final list.
But any movement of fixtures at the drafting stage can cause serious problems.
Sandra explained: "It is another misconception that you can simply move a fixture. Any game that is moved involves at least two teams on four playing dates and more often than not you could be looking at reviewing the fixtures for 12 clubs on four dates. This is because teams are grouped with their pairings and any movement will affect pairings up and down the country and may put several sets of fans in one area at the same time.
David added: "It is never simply a case of clubs playing home and away on alternate Saturdays throughout the season.
"There are certain rules, like clubs can’t have three successive home Saturday matches or three consecutive away matches. It is a misconception that all clubs can have a perfect home and away sequence.
“One thing we have always tried to do is minimise travel around holiday periods, but supporters need to recognise that some clubs prefer to make long journeys in midweek — it cuts down on their overheads because they don’t need to pay for overnight accommodation. The club will travel on the day of the game and head straight home after the match. These requests mean we now have very limited options when we try to minimise travel with supporters in mind. Fans do need to know that we do try and help them as much as we can, but at the end of the day The Football League has to get the fixtures played.”
The sequences are worked out by hand and on computers at the offices of Atos Origin in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Their draft list is then put before representatives of the clubs, the police and supporters groups, who review and alter the list where necessary.
Once the initial list is finalised and released, clubs have a 10-day period in which they can request matches to be moved to — usually by a day ie Wednesday to Tuesday or Saturday to Friday.
The job of fixture preparation has become more and more complicated over the years, and with ever increasing demands of European competition and international fixtures it is not set to become any easier in future years.
"It makes life harder and it makes it harder to sequence”, Sandra said. “The more things in the equation the harder it becomes to get an acceptable fixture list.
"But the experience and systems are in place to ensure come June each year the fans will have that fixture list for their wall."
