Fast food football

Growing up, there was little live football on the telly.

There was the FA Cup Final, and the next couple of weekends, the Home Internationals and sometimes an England international or maybe a schoolboy internation through the rest of the year.

In other words, a rare event, that made each game memorable even if the football itself mostly wasn't.

If you take this weekend, if you had access to sSky and BT this were the games you could have watched without moving from your sofa:

Saturday:

Huddersfield v Brentford

Chelsea v West Brom

Leeds v Sheffield Utd

Leicester v Man City

Arsenal v Liverpool

Sunday:

Southampton v Burnely

Newcastle v Tottenham

Aston Villa v Fulham

Man Utd v Brighton

Monday:

Middlesborough v Watford

Peterborough v Sunderland

Sheffiled Wednesday v Cardiff

Everton v Crystal Palace

Wolves v West Ham

The sheer amount is due to the fact no supporters are allowed to attend matches, but four or five games a day, going from midday to ten in the evening is, even for a fan, a lot of football.

And many times when I come to write a blog the next day, I can't usually remember which teams played in what I watched less than 24 hours before, let alone the score.

I would hope that when there is some normality, we see much less football on TV than we did prior to COVID, to make each match more of an event, but I know that's not going to happen, there will be the same, and when the next TV deals are struck, there will be even more to watch, if you want to and can afford it.

Another issue is that in order to get the season completed in five weeks less than normal, to get the calendar back on track, many players are playing two games a week, every week, and then internatioanl week comes round and they up that to three. It is madness. We are feeling the strain in living with COVID, imagine how it is with footballers, highly paid they might be, but in contact sport, not knowing if they will be infected, and having wives and children back home.

We all need a break, a long break, when this is over, time to reflect and to heal. For footballers there will always be another game, another tournament to play before the season starts again in August.