Slough fixture off on 1 December / Another free Saturday

Slough beat Sutton 8-7 on penalties in their cup replay tonight, meaning that they'll be involved in the second round on 1 December, the date of our scheduled league fixture there.

Both Oxford and Billericay also lost their replays - if Oxford had won we might have got the outstanding home fixture with Billericay played on 12/1 as the two meet in the league.

Slough Town's penalty shoot win over Sutton means our game on December 1 is off.

Old news - I beat you by one minute!

Or we could play Dartford away instead of February 9th

Yes, I was thinking that. More chance of it being off for snow/frost in February...

And in our march to the Trophy final the home games with Thurrock, Hampton, Slough and Wealdstone will all have to be rescheduled!

As Kermit said on the other thread, perhaps we could bring the game at Dartford forward from February because they were due to play Woking on 1st December but they are in the next round as well.

I wouldn’t have thought the league would allow for a Saturday game to be brought forward, unless it was maybe the one sandwiched between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

At least I hope not anyway as I’ve just booked train and match tickets for Nottingham Forest v Ipswich on 1/12, both at a decent price.

I think we’d be better off not playing. These players have played a lot of matches, a weekend off might suit them as well as Jerry - Chippenham are playing Weston, ideal chance to watch both...

Well, I can't make the February fixture in Dartford, but I would go if it was rearranged to 1st December.
Also, as Comrade points out, there is a higher chance of the February game being off for frost or snow, which would mean a midweek trip down to Kent.
C'mon Q, try and get it rearranged, so long as Jerry is happy!

If it was re-arranged...

Let's say we draw on Sunday, presume that'll mean the replay is two days later. Imagine we win that. My guess is Billericay will be rearranged for 11/12.

It would give us an upcoming schedule of:
Sunday 25th November
Tuesday 27th November
Saturday 1st December
Saturday 8th December
Tuesday 11th December
Saturday 15th December
Tuesday 18th December (ok, that's if we draw in trophy)
Saturday 22nd December
Wednesday 26th December
Saturday 29th December
Tuesday 1st January
Saturday 5th January

A few ifs and buts, but it could happen depending on postponements, and it's too much. The only game I'd bring in for 1/12 would be an SPC one if it was possible, but it isn't as they haven't finished R2 yet.

If we bring Dartford forward, we end up in February with:
Saturday 2nd February
Saturday 16th February
Saturday 23rd February

I personally think going into the Christmas schedule the players need all the rest they can get. It's not like we'd be moving the Dartford game from a midweek, in which case I'd be all for it.

I appreciate what you are saying Mark, but surely the potential schedule would be exactly the same if the Slough game had gone ahead.

Whether the League would sanction a fixture change at such short notice is debatable but the biggest issue is surely that it is not a home fixture. I can't see our club agreeing to this if Dartford wanted to 'get the fixture out of the way'. I'm sure they have sponsors sorted for when we visit in the new year - they would have to be cancelled, probably causing offence and they'd have little more than a week to get new ones. And of course there are many other arrangements which have to be made for staging matches - turnstile operators, stewards, bar staff etc.
Unless Dartford are keen, it ain't going to happen...

LB wrote:I appreciate what you are saying Mark, but surely the potential schedule would be exactly the same if the Slough game had gone ahead.

Yep, and it’s hectic. And there are some really tough games in there. It’s also not like Slough is on the other side of the country, playing them midweek isn’t a disaster. We aren’t miles behind on fixtures either, and you can’t predict when the weather will be bad. Last year it wasn’t until March when we had resal issues.

The Christmas schedule is ridiculous for a semi professional league (if the Weston game is fulfilled).

For me, the answer is to streamline the FA Cup, doing away with replays and playing it midweek. Traditionalists would argue that Saturday is the time for it, but this hasn't been the case for years since the tv companies started dictating ko times. Many nations have their cup games in midweek, while the league and county cups in England are never played at weekends.

Maybe reserving midweeks for the cup would make it difficult to fit in all 42 (or 46) league fixtures) - would reducing the size of divisions be a bad thing?

So keep Saturdays for the league, midweek for the cups.

I disagree with you on as a traditionalist that the FA Cup should be on a Saturday, but ignoring that, I fear you've missed an more important point Comrade....the FA Cup draw gives one of the few hopes in the season of an exciting away game on a Saturday than the God-awful Conference South does.

Some of my favourite away days have been the Buckland, Bridgwater and Banbury trips in the cup, I'd much rather have the excitement and fun of those, than trips around the Conference South. I'd rather stick the away games in the league up to say the Second Round on a midweek than lose the FA Cup draw, all for the "excitement" of Concord/Dartford/Chelmsford etc., away.

I accept that's solely as a fan and the club would probably think entirely differently!

Jon, I can assure you that it's my personal view as a fan, not the club's! And in my opinion those 3 Bs you mentioned are more preferable to travel to midweek than to our Essex and Kent friends. And I forgot to mention above that I'd make the Trophy midweek as well.

Ha, I definitely didn't mean to imply that you were talking in an official capacity!

I agree to an extent that the 3B's are easier (and therefore preferable) to travel to midweek, but I've just written the Kent & Essex clubs off now, unless the game is a) important or b) a new ground, while Saturday trips to new clubs, localish clubs are still fun.

Keep the FA Cup on Saturday's and scrap the Trophy? I'd accept that compromise

The FA Trophy is so that lower league clubs have a chance of a cup final.

Given that the chances of anyone outside the top 6 in the premier league winning the FA cup are virtually nil and that a substantial number of teams field weakened sides maybe it is the Trophy that should be extended and the FA cup scrapped.

comrade powell wrote:And in our march to the Trophy final the home games with Thurrock, Hampton, Slough and Wealdstone will all have to be rescheduled!

Fortunately all 3 lost on Saturday so those home fixtures in January and February will not have to be rescheduled should the unthinkable happen at Barnet...