Manager Karl Robinson expressed his frustration at the EFL for their handling of Salford City’s scheduling in his press conference previewing his team’s match against Stockport County on Thursday night.
The Ammies will play host to second in the league Stockport County on Thursday night with the match being shown live on Sky Sports.
Robinson was calm throughout the pre-match press conference when being asked about his side’s poor run of form and the challenge of playing the second best team in League 2.
But he seemed visibly angry when discussing Salford’s scheduling and the importance of getting enough eyes on the football club.
His frustrations were sparked when he was informed by a journalist at the press conference that while his side are forced to play Thursday night and then this coming Sunday; Stockport County have the privilege of playing their next game the following day on Monday night.
“Well that’s wrong. We asked to play on a Monday and we weren’t allowed,” Robinson said immediately after being told the news.
He then yelled over to a colleague, “Did you know that? Stockport are playing on Monday and we have to play on Sunday? Unbelievable.”
When the same journalist explained that Stockport’s away fixture at Crawley was moved to Monday because Brighton Women are using Crawley’s stadium to play against Manchester City Women on Sunday, Robinson asked the journalist: “What about Salford Women? Aren’t they playing?”
The Salford match against Stockport was intended to take place on Tuesday night in conjunction with every other League 2 fixture but the match was rescheduled when it was chosen to be broadcast live on Sky.
It is very much an anomaly for a League 2 fixture to be played on a Thursday but the decision was seemingly out of Karl Robinson and the club’s hands.
“I think it’s wrong that we were asked to play so quickly when TV cameras ask to move your game but it’s something we have to deal with,” the Salford manager said.
“There is no reason in our eyes why we couldn’t play on a Monday night which would’ve given our players extra time to recover.”
Robinson spoke about the need for there to be eyeballs on Salford City given they are constantly battling for attention with the bigger teams in the North West.
Despite the frustration with scheduling, he expressed the positive of Salford being on TV.
“We’re trying to make sure people have eyes on the football club, with the ownership that we have it’s imperative that we are on TV to make people understand the part of the journey we’re at.”
Robinson spoke passionately about how the EFL’s scheduling of Salford City matches have to work together with the Premier League’s scheduling of the Manchester and Merseyside clubs so Salford can get higher attendances and prosper.
These thoughts are especially relevant this weekend as Salford’s home match against Morecambe on Sunday will clash with the highly anticipated FA Cup Quarter Final match of Manchester United v Liverpool at Old Trafford.
“As much as we will make money out of the first game [vs Stockport County] we will obviously lose it through the lack of people that will be at our stadium on the Sunday [vs Morecambe], which isn’t fair on our ownership and it isn’t fair on our football club.”
(To get tickets to Salford’s upcoming matches click here)
The manager from Merseyside expressed how more effort needs to be made to benefit Salford given “the greatest teams in the world are based in and around our football club”.
“A little bit like when Liverpool and Everton were doing really well together, Tranmere were allowed to play their games on a Friday which made complete sense to put more bums on seats to make it easier to run the football club.
“Because at the end of the day, economically we’ve got to make sure it works and for us to be competitive we need to bring more people in.
“And we if we can do that in the right way, we will be a force and we will be a team that will be competing certainly next season.”
Listen to Karl Robinson speak in further detail on the need for more eyes on Salford City.
Karl Robinson ultimately hopes that the scheduling of fixtures won’t affect his players performance on Thursday night in what will “a tough test” against Greater Manchester rivals Stockport.
Fans can watch the match against Stockport County live on Sky Go Extra, Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Main Events and Sky Sports Ultra HD.
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