The ongoing pandemic has made football weird. The shortened preseason starts for Huddersfield Town on Monday next week but there are still a lot of unknowns ahead of the league starting up on 12th September.
With only a short amount of time to go until everything kicks off again there are still lots of details we don’t know. Here are a few things that we need to find out as soon as possible:
When will the fixtures be released?
I don’t think there has been any official announcement about the date fixtures will be released. Now the playoffs have concluded and Wigan’s legal challenge settled, we know who will be competing with Town in the Championship so there is nothing to stop the fixture compilers getting on with their job.
I would expect that the fixtures will be announced within the next few weeks so clubs have time to make preparations ahead of the season starting.
The season will start behind closed doors but hopefully conclude with fans back on the terraces so the timings of when teams play each other really matters. The home team advantage virtually disappears with no fans, so I hope that Town play their trickiest opponents away in the early stages in empty stadia and then have fans back in the stands for when we play tougher opponents at home to give us a boost.
What does our new kit look like?
Launching a new kit is a good way to fill up the slow news days in the summer in between seasons. It’s even better if it coincides with an exciting new signing. The club have confirmed the new kit is ready (and it may have been leaked by a happy looking Turkish boy) but the lack of a main sponsor has delayed the launch.
It’s hardly a surprise that companies aren’t lining up to sponsor the shirt that Paddy Power made such a fuss of “unsponsoring. We’re paying the price for last season’s silly stunt. The delay means that the sponsor we do finally choose will be another ironed on transfer which will will most likely look a bit tacky.
What is happening with season tickets?
Some fans have already renewed their season tickets before the pandemic blew up. Those that were waiting until the deadline most likely decided to wait even longer once lockdown began.
How the club sorts out season tickets for a season that will see limits on the number of fans allowed in the stadium will be interesting to say the least.
It could be that the club say that watching the games via a stream on iFollow is the equivalent of having a ticket to the match and charge fans the same as a normal season ticket.
This may seem like a poor deal for many fans but I wouldn’t be too disappointed if it meant also having access to streams of all next season’s away games. However, I would want to see the iFollow coverage improved in terms of picture quality and overall presentation (and the Just Eat advert needs to be stopped).
Who will get priority when the stadium opens?
I can already see the outrage when fans are eventually let back in the stadium, as social distancing rules will limit the number allowed in. Anyone that remembers the fuss we all kicked up about Premier League away tickets will know how uppity Town fans can get about priority systems.
I read something a while ago that stadiums will initially reopen at somewhere between a fifth and a third of their capacity. This would mean from just under five thousand to eight thousand could be allowed in to the John Smith’s stadium. Even the best case scenario would be around half of what we might have otherwise expected to see in the stadium.
At least the club has the points based priority system they introduced on the Premier League days to fall back upon. Unfortunately, many fans hate it and will be outraged if this system is used. I don’t think there will be a way to sort this out without putting some fans’ noses out of joint.
Who are Town playing in friendlies against and will we be able to watch?
I’ve not heard anything at all about friendlies. I assume we’ll be playing them because that’s how you build up to the start of the season but who knows what form they will take.
It could be more like the friendlies used in the mini preseason before football resumed after lockdown, where results aren’t officially talked about and fans don’t get to watch.
I’d personally like to watch Town’s preseason games to get a sense of the new Head Coach’s style of play and to see any new additions. Obviously this won’t be in person but it could be streamed online.
What ever the outcome of any of the questions i have no doubt Phil will get a awful lot of stick from some so called fans.
You’re absolutely right, he gets a lot of abuse from fans. He doesn’t always help himself but I think he is trying his best for the club.
I support the club not the owner. He deserves stick when he gets things wrong like the Paddy Power and Cowley fiascos. It affects us all when he is crap at his job.
The who is going to be allowed in the Stadium really is a very tricky one. I renewed my SC at the earliest oppurtunity and my ‘Home’ games are a jolly 180 mile round trip. Will in all likelyhood only get to see half the home fixtures, and they won’t include night games, so if the club restrict me even further it really will have been a waste of money. Not that i’m going to ask for a refund and I urge all fans to renew. Not as though we’re rolling in cash and the parachute money has been slashed by the PL.
As for the iFollow platform, it’s adequate but tweeks need to be made. Oggies cemmentary is fine for the radio but is woeful whilst actually watching the game. Wether it’s a lag or him being often behind the action i’m not sure and Glennons constant interuptions are ruddy annoying.
Going to be an interesting season and my major worry is we are lumbered with the returning loan players who don’t want to be at the club and everything seems to be pretty shambolic behind the scenes.
We need new signings as a matter of urgency if only to rw wet the appetite for the coming season.
There are so many complicating factors with the limited reopening. We’ll have to wait and see what the club come up with but it’s bound to be controversial.
I really enjoyed Oggies coverage but agree about Glennon, he’s very negative.
Moving on the deadwood has to be a top priority to free up wages for players coming in. I just hope we can get that done quickly and draw a line under them. I see there’s a lot of talk about giving players another chance but some have had a chance under four managers and not produced.
Completely disagree , Glennon’s comments are not negative , they are absolutely true. If you have played the game on a professional level then you can read the game better than a commentator. Looking from the stands under no pressure ,and evaluating the game , he can see more than the average punter.
Glennon is the least insightful, least coherent of pundits. He is an expert in the bleeding obvious and he is not even entertaining with it. He has proved a way below par successor to ORegan.
Think a fair way of allowing supporters in would be in the sections where they bought their season cards. Obviously to the figure allowed and spread around the whole stadium.
That might be an option but not sure how I’d feel of I was having to watch at home but could see someone else sitting in my seat.
Unfortunately a price we might have to pay, at least we’d be physically in the ground being able to watch the game.
Haha, totally agree re the Just Eat advert… it actually has the reverse effect, I go out of my way to order food directly.
The coverage is very poor. Constant interuptions from adverts at weird moments, periods of radio silence. A very negative Matt Glennon. And yeah, the commentory is for radio, it simply doesn’t fit with the visuals. But its what we are stuck with, we have to accept it and make the best of what we get. I think all EFL clubs use the same platform?
Big decisions need to be made re attending the game and fans have to accept that the club will try to be as fair as possible whilst keeping everyone safe. People seem to take things so personally these days.
I think you’re right about iFollow being a while league deal. It was meant for fans abroad mostly, so not a lot of justification for making it good. If its going to be the main way we watch Town I’d like to see some work done on improving it.
I’m pretty sure the club will do all it can to be fair but as for taking it personally it’s all about personal circumstances. When I can’t make it back for the home games I’ll be acquainting myself with Grass Roots football at Bridlington Town. It’s only £6 to get in and a 20 mile round trip to travel instead of 180 miles 😂
Exactly, everyone has different circumstances which is why its impossible to please everyone. People have to prepare for disappointment of some measure. Personally, I’ll just accept what I get despite having a SC for 18 of the last 20 years!
Kudos for supporting the local team – ask them if they will take any of our £10m+ flops.
No thanks lol I don’t think Brid would want any of them 😕 HTAFC will always be the first love as it has been for the last 50 years but in these unprecedented times I’ll accept what I’m given. Can’t wait to be back because it’s not just the football it’s my lads that accompany me as PA’s
Similar on field failed crap will no doubt fail for yet again for another inexperienced championship manager, and Glennon says it as it is as simply you cannot get blood out of a stone.
I would never buy a season ticket while this crap are on field , and no doubt we will see a load of unwanted loan signings