The latest news today is that we might be able to re-arrange our postponed games against Nottingham Forest and Manchester United a little earlier than we thought, as UEFA are considering a relaxation of their rules on playing Premier League games on the same nights as European club games.

Usually matches in the top division of domestic leagues aren’t allowed to clash with UEFA club fixtures to maximise TV revenues for the latter, although if their over-hyped Champions League was really as marvellous as they claim, they would hardly need to have this rule to ensure a big TV audience for it.

Our visit to Old Trafford on Sunday was called off even though it is taking place 200 miles from London and on a different day to the Queen’s funeral. That is because it is the most heavily policed fixture in English football, and as Greater Manchester police is sending a large number of offices to the capital to help out and so haven’t got the resources to cover our potentially rowdy game as well.

So we now have two rearranged games to fit into an already crowded calendar, but according to the ‘I’ website (the last remnant of what was once the Independent newspaper) the European governing body might be willing to relax their regulations to help out. Apparently their relations with the Premier League were improved by the latter’s willingness to move a midweek league game so Arsenal’s Champions League tie with PSV can be rescheduled.

There is a precedent for this, as last season UEFA gave permission for the Premier League to have games on European nights to fit in games originally postponed due to Covid outbreaks. And there is growing awareness that they might have to do something similar this time, now that the royal funeral has added to the complexities of a season also interrupted by the winter world cup.

If the European governing body go graciously allow as to play catch on European nights, then we should be able to fit in the Forest game fairly soon, with neither club being involved in Europe. But the Man U game is another matter, with our least favourite club having no free midweeks this side of Christmas. And how soon we can find a date after then will depend on how far they go in Europe, and how soon both clubs can get knocked out of the Carabao cup.

It’s also possible that FA Cup third and fourth round replays could be scrapped to ease congestion. If not it’s still theoretically possible that the Man U game could be played on the same night as other replays if neither club needs one, but that would involve arranging the game at ten days notice (as the opportunity would depend on the results of the original cup games) and the police might not agree to cover such a troublesome game at short notice.

As it is, we are now in the middle of an enforced break of a month without seeing Leeds in action, and an even longer break between Jesse Marsch’s appearances on the touchline. He has been given a one match pitchside ban and a £10,000 fine after admitting that his language and behaviour didn’t meet the standards required by rule FA Rule E3.

At least the extended break has given him time to work on the defensive problems that plagued us at Brentford, despite the surprise news that Diego Llorente has been called up to the Spanish squad. Which suggests that their managed Luis Enrique can’t have seen the footage of our last two games, when Llorente’s errors were responsible for at least two of the goals we conceded.

But let’s hope Marsch has got the back line sorted out by the time we eventually get back into action against Villa on October 2nd, and that Man U can help to ease our fixture congestion by getting knocked out of every cup they take part in so we can get to that eagerly anticipated game at Old Trafford.

Reuters

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