New Leeds United fixture time revealed as fans' pleas fall on deaf ears ahead of inconvenient away trip
Leeds United's Championship fixture against Queens Park Rangers has been moved to a 12:30pm kick-off by broadcaster Sky Sports.
Leeds were initially scheduled to play at 3pm on Saturday, March 15 but will now take on Marti Cifuentes' R's at Loftus Road in one of Sky's lunchtime kick-off slots the same day.
United fans will be faced with a second early kick-off in consecutive weeks, first at Portsmouth's Fratton Park, followed by their mid-March contest against QPR.
Supporters have at least been given a month's notice for the fixture change but the earlier kick-off time still poses a logistical quandary for many supporters travelling down to West London, due to the availability of rail transport.
Recently, Portsmouth Supporters Trust chair Donal Vass gave a statement to the Football Supporters Association (FSA), highlighting the hypocrisy of BSkyB's 'Sky Zero' initiative.
“The new TV deal has given fans slightly more notice of changes, but it’s still clear that little-to-no consideration is given to the impact of rearrangements on travelling fans.
“A recent Sky Sports and Sky Zero campaign encouraged supporters to ‘protect the sports they love from climate change by reducing their carbon footprint when travelling to venues’. But because of this change, away fans can no longer get from Leeds to Portsmouth by train before kick-off, forcing fans off of public transport and into cars."
Meanwhile, a section of a Leeds United Supporters Trust statement, supporting their south coast counterparts, read: “While broadcasters are allowed to call the shots, however, we will continue to see the exploitation of match-going fan loyalty. Leeds supporters will sell out our allocation, Sky will get their atmosphere, and nothing will change."
Leeds supporters' cumulative away following this season recently surpassed the 50,000 mark with their 4-0 win at Watford on Tuesday night. United have sold out each of their Championship away ends during 2024/25.
The FSA have continually called for matchgoing supporters to be treated with greater respect, while Leeds manager Daniel Farke says he has 'given up' with fixture amendments.
"I've given up hope that we can do the fixture list with common sense," Farke said during a recent pre-match press conference. "We have to adapt and find some solutions to do it in a smart way and have the best possible outcome. To claim it's unfair doesn't help you, the best way is probably not to speak too much about it and address the topic behind the scenes to the key people making decisions."