ALEX Neil has expressed frustration that Millwall will kick off earlier than several play-off rivals during the run-in, suggesting it could hand other teams an advantage.
The Lions have been the victim of their own success heading into the final seven games of the season, with the majority of their fixtures selected for television coverage after a run of nine wins in fifteen games since the New Year. They are only due to play one more 3pm Saturday match this season, away at Leicester City on the penultimate weekend.
With Millwall in fourth and well-poised for their first Championship play-off appearance in over 20 years, Neil thought the fixture movements gave other teams a potential advantage.
“The only thing that I’m a little bit frustrated by is we’ve had quite a few of our games moved,” Neil said. “Once you get to this stage of the season, I don’t think that teams should regularly be playing ahead of their opponents in the league, because you know what you’ve got to do then in the next game.
“Looking at our fixtures, we’re going to have played four games prior to the teams around us on the table at the moment.
“Now, if I know that I only need a draw out of a game, I’m not sure I would approach it differently, but I know there certainly would be other teams that may potentially do that, and that’s certainly an advantage at this stage.
“I think we should do our utmost to try and keep the games played at the same time, on the same day, so nobody’s got an advantage going into each match.
“If I know that the opponent’s already played, we know what we’ve got to do going into each game, I think, in my opinion, that’s definitely a benefit.
“But listen, it’s not something I want to harp on about. It’s not going to make the difference between where we finish in the league, but I don’t think it’s helpful, and for the integrity of the sport and integrity of the competition, we should, if we can, have teams playing at the same time.”
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Millwall begin their run-in on Good Friday with a trip to second-placed Middlesbrough, who are just two points ahead of them.
Millwall is gradually losing touch with its supporters. The FA, EFL and Sky now dominate clubs including Millwall and dictate what date and time KOs are, regardless of their supporters and the inconvenience this may cause. Eventually, supporters will give up going to a match and sit at home or in the pub watching it, then the club will wonder why the attendances (and revenue) is decreasing.