Football used to be played at 3 on a Saturday. This weekend's English Premier League had only one match at that time. I know that some matches are moved by the TV companies but that only affects a handful of them. What's the reason for the others changing and who is it who decides, the authorities or the clubs themselves?

The only reasons for moving away from 3pm tend to be the following:

1. Live TV
2. On police advice (i.e. a big derby game)
3. If clubs have played in Europe on the Thursday then they will have any league game moved to the sunday.

On Sunday, there were 6 Premier League games on. 3 were as a result of Thursday's UEFA Cup ties. 2 were on SKY. The police requested City v Stoke be moved to the sunday.

Was it not moved because at the time the tickets went on sale and police shifts were set, etc City might well have had a Thursday European fixture so it had to cater for that before the draw (which gave them the first thursday off). I think it was in effect also moved because of UEFA Cup commitments for all it ended up City didn't have any this week.

That's what I initially thought but this says otherwise:

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/...il/article.html

The Pompey-Fulham game was at 5 on Sunday because of the great south run!

Whilst on the subject of the traditional 3pm saturday kick off, can anybody tell me when either Rangers or Celtic last played an away SPL game at this time? I realise that their away fixtures tend to be on a sunday for TV but is it really since the pre-Setanta days that they've played at this time?

A Rangers supporting friend was bemoaning their away schedule at the weekend and brought this up.

You're right, of course. I'd forgotten about the Thursday evening matches having such an effect, maybe because it doesn't affect our Premier League so much (already).

Last season, there was at least one occasion where no EPL matches were at 3pm on Saturday - which was the first time since before WWII I think. It's usually a freak occurrence causes it i.e. all the televised clubs aren't in Europe on the Thursday night, and all the untelevised ones are, = disruption.

Regarding Rangers and Celtic away matches: Rangers most recent away match, Saturday 3pm, was v Hibs on 28th April 2007 (this was post-split; you have to go back to 4th March 2006 for a pre-split occasion I think... unless a festive game since then). Celtic's was v Livingston on 1st November 2005.