Jose Mourinho has expressed a sentiment that evokes Garth Brooks’ legendary country song lyric: “I got friends in low places.” The Manchester United manager has joined the chorus of Premier League big six bosses calling out the schedule makers for festive period fixture congestion.
Those league schedule makers must kowtow to the television broadcast partners, as TV rules the sport (just like every sport all across the world). Mourinho said he doesn’t have “good friends in the right chairs” to get favorable fixtures, and claims that other managers do. The Portugese said in an interview with beIN Sports:
“The answer is always the same. You television companies make the decisions and we have to accept. I believe you make the decisions but I also believe that some clubs, or some managers, have good friends in the right chairs and I don’t have them.”
Mourinho’s club posted a message on the official website just before Christmas bemoaning the holiday period workload and how it’s been grossly unfair to them. United and Liverpool did get shafted though by having to play two games in three days this past weekend while Tottenham Hotspur had zero. Liverpool almost had it to deal with it on back to back weekends, as they were originally scheduled to play on both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day.
Liverpool and their December 24th opponent Arsenal both complained about having to be the only game on Christmas Eve, so they moved the contest to the 22nd.
United had to played in four games during a 215 hour span over Christmas and New Year’s. Meanwhile Arsenal and Tottenham had about 75 hours more than United in between their first and last festive period matches.
For what it’s worth, almost everybody who leads a side battling for the top four has hit out at the schedule makers: Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and Chelsea’s Antonio Conte.
After a FA Cup third round clash with Derby County on Friday, United will have ten days off until their next match, when they welcome Stoke City to Old Trafford.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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