The rearranged game against Exeter City has dropped a couple of days after we are scheduled to play Cardiff City, which has some fans thinking of a long weekend in the South West.
I have family down that way and have considered it myself, but I thought it was worth pointing out that games in March can still be moved, as per EFL guidelines on TV matches.
Games up to the end of February are basically locked in, so we can’t see a game switched that is currently scheduled. However, for games scheduled March 1 onwards, TV games are announced on a four-week rolling basis starting from February 1. That means that currently, as first against second, our game with Cardiff could be moved, and that could happen as late as February 7.
That notice gets even shorter as the season wears on. TV picks for matches scheduled for the penultimate weekend of the regular season will be announced three weeks in advance. Televised games for the final weekend of the regular season will be announced the week before.
Ouch.
The upshot is that at present, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the Cardiff game was moved, and if it is, you won’t find out for around a month. The other big League One matches that weekend are nowhere near as big – Bolton and Wycombe, Huddersfield and Rotherham, Bradford and Orient, Stockport and Mansfield, Luton and Reading. Right now, the obvious pick would be us, and if things keep going well, that will remain the case.
If it is moved, it could be an early kick off, or it could even be shifted to Thursday night, which would be good in terms of prepping for Exeter, but bad if you’re planning on staying down that way and have booked Saturday night onwards.
I think the sensible advice is to either not book anything just yet, certainly not until the first week of February, or to make sure you book something that is fully refundable. Otherwise, you could end up incurring a significant cost thanks to the TV cameras.
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