ilkleyram

Not criticising the guy(s) at all for fighting back given that they didn't appear to have started anything, but am I the only one to be surprised by the hypocritical nature of the authorities - football and police - in all this? 
Here's a guy who has been widely named and identified in the press, and lauded, for fighting in a football ground, never mind the circumstances - an element usually ignored by those in charge.  But he has not (yet) had his collar fingered, nor threatened with a lifetime ban from all football grounds or whatever the going rate is nowadays.
All this shortly before Vinicius Jr was sent off for retaliating to a choke hold from a (white) Valencia player having been subject to continuous racial abuse by the crowd, the Valencia player receiving no punishment even though the choke hold was clear on replays and sustained rather than momentary

I’m not sure I follow your logic either. Every season for every club since I first watched footy could have been different were it not for a ref decision here or there or a save or a missed open goal. Twas ever thus and ever will be.
The plain fact is that we weren’t good enough to go up this year. We challenged but fell short. The proof lies in the table. Lots of reasons for that chief amongst them in my view - you may not agree - the effects of the financial and disciplinary issues we’ve faced. Our club has been decimated from the academy upwards and Clowes, rightly i think, decided after his internal review that the issues on and off the pitch needed time to fix, thus the 4 year contract for his chosen manager and the 5 years to get established in the championship goal.  They go hand in hand.
I suspect that he runs his, very successful, business in the same way. Building (excuse the pun) it over time. He’s not the type, it seems to me (and I’ve never met him) to chuck a load of money at something for instant success, rather he wants to build a club on firmer foundations over time, thus 4 years and 5 years. Logical. And, in my view, sensible, especially given what went before him. But demanding patience from those of us that watch. If we go up next year then great; if it’s the year after then not as good but so be it.

I’m not sure I follow your logic either. Every season for every club since I first watched footy could have been different were it not for a ref decision here or there or a save or a missed open goal. Twas ever thus and ever will be.
The plain fact is that we weren’t good enough to go up this year. We challenged but fell short. The proof lies in the table. Lots of reasons for that chief amongst them in my view - you may not agree - the effects of the financial and disciplinary issues we’ve faced. Our club has been decimated from the academy upwards and Clowes, rightly i think, decided after his internal review that the issues on and off the pitch needed time to fix, thus the 4 year contract for his chosen manager and the 5 years to get established in the championship goal.  They go hand in hand.
I suspect that he runs his, very successful, business in the same way. Building (excuse the pun) it over time. He’s not the type, it seems to me (and I’ve never met him) to chuck a load of money at something for instant success, rather he wants to build a club on firmer foundations over time, thus 4 years and 5 years. Logical. And, in my view, sensible, especially given what went before him. But demanding patience from those of us that watch. If we go up next year then great; if it’s the year after then not as good but so be it.

I don’t think any of us want to stay in this division particularly so no need to apologise for thinking that way. Having said that I enjoyed last season and I’ll more than likely enjoy the one coming too. There haven’t been too many over the last 60 years that I haven’t enjoyed.
But we are, whether we like it or not, a league 1 club and we will be for a least a season yet.  Other clubs with equal history, with good support have been in this division for several seasons - ipswich, Sunderland, leeds, the neighbours, Bolton, Wednesday if they lose at wembley, to name but a few.  All those are making their way back and so therefore can we. And prospective players will see that as well as the facilities and the crowd. We’ll be an attractive employer.  But current players will go just as they’ve always done. It’s the nature of the beast.
 It’s the reason I think a 4 year contract for Warne and team was right - it was a Clowes message saying this will take time. It might also have been all Warne would accept and Clowes wanted him enough, but none of us know that. It was also the message you wanted, effectively. He was appointed part the way through the season with the aim of getting us established in the championship. If we’d gone up this year we would have been slightly ahead of schedule. Go up in the next two seasons and we’re on schedule.

I’m not sure I follow your logic either. Every season for every club since I first watched footy could have been different were it not for a ref decision here or there or a save or a missed open goal. Twas ever thus and ever will be.
The plain fact is that we weren’t good enough to go up this year. We challenged but fell short. The proof lies in the table. Lots of reasons for that chief amongst them in my view - you may not agree - the effects of the financial and disciplinary issues we’ve faced. Our club has been decimated from the academy upwards and Clowes, rightly i think, decided after his internal review that the issues on and off the pitch needed time to fix, thus the 4 year contract for his chosen manager and the 5 years to get established in the championship goal.  They go hand in hand.
I suspect that he runs his, very successful, business in the same way. Building (excuse the pun) it over time. He’s not the type, it seems to me (and I’ve never met him) to chuck a load of money at something for instant success, rather he wants to build a club on firmer foundations over time, thus 4 years and 5 years. Logical. And, in my view, sensible, especially given what went before him. But demanding patience from those of us that watch. If we go up next year then great; if it’s the year after then not as good but so be it.

I don’t think any of us want to stay in this division particularly so no need to apologise for thinking that way. Having said that I enjoyed last season and I’ll more than likely enjoy the one coming too. There haven’t been too many over the last 60 years that I haven’t enjoyed.
But we are, whether we like it or not, a league 1 club and we will be for a least a season yet.  Other clubs with equal history, with good support have been in this division for several seasons - ipswich, Sunderland, leeds, the neighbours, Bolton, Wednesday if they lose at wembley, to name but a few.  All those are making their way back and so therefore can we. And prospective players will see that as well as the facilities and the crowd. We’ll be an attractive employer.  But current players will go just as they’ve always done. It’s the nature of the beast.
 It’s the reason I think a 4 year contract for Warne and team was right - it was a Clowes message saying this will take time. It might also have been all Warne would accept and Clowes wanted him enough, but none of us know that. It was also the message you wanted, effectively. He was appointed part the way through the season with the aim of getting us established in the championship. If we’d gone up this year we would have been slightly ahead of schedule. Go up in the next two seasons and we’re on schedule.

I’m not sure I follow your logic either. Every season for every club since I first watched footy could have been different were it not for a ref decision here or there or a save or a missed open goal. Twas ever thus and ever will be.
The plain fact is that we weren’t good enough to go up this year. We challenged but fell short. The proof lies in the table. Lots of reasons for that chief amongst them in my view - you may not agree - the effects of the financial and disciplinary issues we’ve faced. Our club has been decimated from the academy upwards and Clowes, rightly i think, decided after his internal review that the issues on and off the pitch needed time to fix, thus the 4 year contract for his chosen manager and the 5 years to get established in the championship goal.  They go hand in hand.
I suspect that he runs his, very successful, business in the same way. Building (excuse the pun) it over time. He’s not the type, it seems to me (and I’ve never met him) to chuck a load of money at something for instant success, rather he wants to build a club on firmer foundations over time, thus 4 years and 5 years. Logical. And, in my view, sensible, especially given what went before him. But demanding patience from those of us that watch. If we go up next year then great; if it’s the year after then not as good but so be it.

I’m not sure I follow your logic either. Every season for every club since I first watched footy could have been different were it not for a ref decision here or there or a save or a missed open goal. Twas ever thus and ever will be.
The plain fact is that we weren’t good enough to go up this year. We challenged but fell short. The proof lies in the table. Lots of reasons for that chief amongst them in my view - you may not agree - the effects of the financial and disciplinary issues we’ve faced. Our club has been decimated from the academy upwards and Clowes, rightly i think, decided after his internal review that the issues on and off the pitch needed time to fix, thus the 4 year contract for his chosen manager and the 5 years to get established in the championship goal.  They go hand in hand.
I suspect that he runs his, very successful, business in the same way. Building (excuse the pun) it over time. He’s not the type, it seems to me (and I’ve never met him) to chuck a load of money at something for instant success, rather he wants to build a club on firmer foundations over time, thus 4 years and 5 years. Logical. And, in my view, sensible, especially given what went before him. But demanding patience from those of us that watch. If we go up next year then great; if it’s the year after then not as good but so be it.

I don’t think Clowes has said exactly that. He said that he wanted us to be established in the Championship in 5 years, which is subtly different. To be established imo means that we have to be in at least our second championship season in (now) 4 years time.  Clowes opinion may not be the same as mine.
That does mean (if you take my definition) that we don’t have to be promoted this season but would have to be promoted by the end of 24/25 to meet that goal.
We fans may still have to be patient. Given the number of new players we’ll probably need it could take more than one window. It’ll almost certainly mean that we might not get a fast start to the season. I’m old enough to remember that there were more than a few mutterings about Brian after his first full season; I can certainly remember muttering about Jim until the team clicked 15 games in - and neither of them had to deal with transfer windows or a club coming out of considerable financial restraint. Performance isn’t always linear season on season. 
 

I don’t think Clowes has said exactly that. He said that he wanted us to be established in the Championship in 5 years, which is subtly different. To be established imo means that we have to be in at least our second championship season in (now) 4 years time.  Clowes opinion may not be the same as mine.
That does mean (if you take my definition) that we don’t have to be promoted this season but would have to be promoted by the end of 24/25 to meet that goal.
We fans may still have to be patient. Given the number of new players we’ll probably need it could take more than one window. It’ll almost certainly mean that we might not get a fast start to the season. I’m old enough to remember that there were more than a few mutterings about Brian after his first full season; I can certainly remember muttering about Jim until the team clicked 15 games in - and neither of them had to deal with transfer windows or a club coming out of considerable financial restraint. Performance isn’t always linear season on season. 
 

I don’t think Clowes has said exactly that. He said that he wanted us to be established in the Championship in 5 years, which is subtly different. To be established imo means that we have to be in at least our second championship season in (now) 4 years time.  Clowes opinion may not be the same as mine.
That does mean (if you take my definition) that we don’t have to be promoted this season but would have to be promoted by the end of 24/25 to meet that goal.
We fans may still have to be patient. Given the number of new players we’ll probably need it could take more than one window. It’ll almost certainly mean that we might not get a fast start to the season. I’m old enough to remember that there were more than a few mutterings about Brian after his first full season; I can certainly remember muttering about Jim until the team clicked 15 games in - and neither of them had to deal with transfer windows or a club coming out of considerable financial restraint. Performance isn’t always linear season on season. 
 

I don’t think Clowes has said exactly that. He said that he wanted us to be established in the Championship in 5 years, which is subtly different. To be established imo means that we have to be in at least our second championship season in (now) 4 years time.  Clowes opinion may not be the same as mine.
That does mean (if you take my definition) that we don’t have to be promoted this season but would have to be promoted by the end of 24/25 to meet that goal.
We fans may still have to be patient. Given the number of new players we’ll probably need it could take more than one window. It’ll almost certainly mean that we might not get a fast start to the season. I’m old enough to remember that there were more than a few mutterings about Brian after his first full season; I can certainly remember muttering about Jim until the team clicked 15 games in - and neither of them had to deal with transfer windows or a club coming out of considerable financial restraint. Performance isn’t always linear season on season. 
 

I thought Paris was abroad 

When I first started watching live football we had lardy, incompetent refs and linos from all over Europe come to the BBG often making poor decisions.  What we also had then - though we didn't really appreciate it - were players who helped run the game despite the referee.  You had very little diving (Franny excepted and the dirties generally), feigning injury, time wasting, rolling around, so called professional gamesmanship.  Players generally just got on with the game without moaning too much.  Watch old footage and it's a completely different (and much better imo) spectacle.
The sea change was the EPL and Sky money.  The influx of players from overseas (not all of whom added bad habits - Bergkamp, Ardiles, Eranio, Baiano - and many others, were hugely positive additions), the added/greater importance of money on businesses/clubs succeeding, the growth in a win at all costs attitude, the language - the refusal to call it out as cheating the essence of the sport, because TV/pundits don't want to damage the brand - pundits and TV coverage themselves offering greater exposure, technology that allows 20 cameras to a match, all played a part in raising the importance of the match officials and their individual decisions whilst diminishing their reputation, despite the fact that refs and linos now have more money and attention and training and technological help than they ever did before.
If we could somehow get back to the point where players helped officials by not falling down theatrically when Curtis coughed on them in the penalty area (ie cheating aka 'you made the ref make a decision'), if we could get back to the point of real men playing (mens) football and accepting life's slings and arrows and playing the game sportingly, of no pundits ever dissecting a ref's decision (or preferably no pundits) and just moving on, if we could abolish VAR which serves to question every decision the officials make, then we might start to get somewhere.  As there's fat chance of any of that ever happening we're largely stuck with what we've got until technology takes over completely.  And even then it'll be wrong.
 

Blimey. That match v Bolton at Peterborough passed me by 🤣🤣😉

Blimey. That match v Bolton at Peterborough passed me by 🤣🤣😉

You’d imagine that somewhere in the lexicon of examples of refereeing errors there is a whole months worth of training devoted to the mistakes of Stuart Attwell - a referee over promoted initially, sent back to lower leagues to improve himself and then over promoted all over again.
One of the fundamental problems with VAR imo is that it encourages officials not to make decisions ‘because VAR will correct any errors’, which it patently does not.  It’s the same in cricket - umpires have stopped watching for ‘no balls’ now or deciding if batsmen have been run out or caught, because the technology will compensate for their indecision. Football is going the same way.
 

You’d imagine that somewhere in the lexicon of examples of refereeing errors there is a whole months worth of training devoted to the mistakes of Stuart Attwell - a referee over promoted initially, sent back to lower leagues to improve himself and then over promoted all over again.
One of the fundamental problems with VAR imo is that it encourages officials not to make decisions ‘because VAR will correct any errors’, which it patently does not.  It’s the same in cricket - umpires have stopped watching for ‘no balls’ now or deciding if batsmen have been run out or caught, because the technology will compensate for their indecision. Football is going the same way.
 

When I first started watching live football we had lardy, incompetent refs and linos from all over Europe come to the BBG often making poor decisions.  What we also had then - though we didn't really appreciate it - were players who helped run the game despite the referee.  You had very little diving (Franny excepted and the dirties generally), feigning injury, time wasting, rolling around, so called professional gamesmanship.  Players generally just got on with the game without moaning too much.  Watch old footage and it's a completely different (and much better imo) spectacle.
The sea change was the EPL and Sky money.  The influx of players from overseas (not all of whom added bad habits - Bergkamp, Ardiles, Eranio, Baiano - and many others, were hugely positive additions), the added/greater importance of money on businesses/clubs succeeding, the growth in a win at all costs attitude, the language - the refusal to call it out as cheating the essence of the sport, because TV/pundits don't want to damage the brand - pundits and TV coverage themselves offering greater exposure, technology that allows 20 cameras to a match, all played a part in raising the importance of the match officials and their individual decisions whilst diminishing their reputation, despite the fact that refs and linos now have more money and attention and training and technological help than they ever did before.
If we could somehow get back to the point where players helped officials by not falling down theatrically when Curtis coughed on them in the penalty area (ie cheating aka 'you made the ref make a decision'), if we could get back to the point of real men playing (mens) football and accepting life's slings and arrows and playing the game sportingly, of no pundits ever dissecting a ref's decision (or preferably no pundits) and just moving on, if we could abolish VAR which serves to question every decision the officials make, then we might start to get somewhere.  As there's fat chance of any of that ever happening we're largely stuck with what we've got until technology takes over completely.  And even then it'll be wrong.
 

It doesn't, in principle, apart from being traditional, which is probably not much reason at all other than traditions are, imo, important in that you shouldn't change them without either some thought or some considerable gain. There used to be matches on Christmas Day - different social times.  But, let's face it, football generally since the advent of the EPL and the input of Sky's millions, has steadily had its traditions kicked out of it often with no, or very little, reference to the paying customer and what they may think. The changes have often  come about because, largely, they suit television (and one channel mainly) and the TV audience first and foremost.  The matchday customer comes a distance behind.  So too the clubs and players. The pendulum has swung far too far
But where the time is important, where it matters, is not whether it's 3pm or 745pm or even 12 noon per se.  It is that it can be all of those times, and others, with no thought as to the practical consequences for those that might wish to plan to go to the event.  And they give no thought, the TV companies and the EFL authorities, because they're really not bothered.  The money is what is important, the TV spectacle is what is important when what should be important is the club, the players and (most of all, imo) the paying customer, or fan as we used to be known.
In League 1 or Championship terms we are a TV draw.  Our kick off times will vary home and away often with relatively little notice and probably happen to us more than most.  There will be fans who buy tickets who won't be able to go; fans whose travel arrangements made months in advance that have to miss out; away games impossible to get back from on public transport; times when we have to play matches closer together than will be ideal.  No thought will be given to players or fans; every thought will be given to TV company scheduling and TV audience. 
There's a girl who sits near me who has had a season ticket since PP opened who comes up from Essex.  So too does my son, coincidentally.  They both buy a season ticket knowing that they won't be able to get to all the matches - other than sitting in the same place with people they know and enjoying that, what will be the point of their renewing if they know that the real likelihood is that they will have to miss even more matches?  It's already not financially worth their while to buy a ST.  This just makes it worse.  And how does that help Derby County if they don't renew and Derby can't resell their tickets?
The benefits such that they are, are the wrong way round for very little gain.  And that's why timing is important. Some traditions are worth trying to keep.

It doesn't, in principle, apart from being traditional, which is probably not much reason at all other than traditions are, imo, important in that you shouldn't change them without either some thought or some considerable gain. There used to be matches on Christmas Day - different social times.  But, let's face it, football generally since the advent of the EPL and the input of Sky's millions, has steadily had its traditions kicked out of it often with no, or very little, reference to the paying customer and what they may think. The changes have often  come about because, largely, they suit television (and one channel mainly) and the TV audience first and foremost.  The matchday customer comes a distance behind.  So too the clubs and players. The pendulum has swung far too far
But where the time is important, where it matters, is not whether it's 3pm or 745pm or even 12 noon per se.  It is that it can be all of those times, and others, with no thought as to the practical consequences for those that might wish to plan to go to the event.  And they give no thought, the TV companies and the EFL authorities, because they're really not bothered.  The money is what is important, the TV spectacle is what is important when what should be important is the club, the players and (most of all, imo) the paying customer, or fan as we used to be known.
In League 1 or Championship terms we are a TV draw.  Our kick off times will vary home and away often with relatively little notice and probably happen to us more than most.  There will be fans who buy tickets who won't be able to go; fans whose travel arrangements made months in advance that have to miss out; away games impossible to get back from on public transport; times when we have to play matches closer together than will be ideal.  No thought will be given to players or fans; every thought will be given to TV company scheduling and TV audience. 
There's a girl who sits near me who has had a season ticket since PP opened who comes up from Essex.  So too does my son, coincidentally.  They both buy a season ticket knowing that they won't be able to get to all the matches - other than sitting in the same place with people they know and enjoying that, what will be the point of their renewing if they know that the real likelihood is that they will have to miss even more matches?  It's already not financially worth their while to buy a ST.  This just makes it worse.  And how does that help Derby County if they don't renew and Derby can't resell their tickets?
The benefits such that they are, are the wrong way round for very little gain.  And that's why timing is important. Some traditions are worth trying to keep.

It doesn't, in principle, apart from being traditional, which is probably not much reason at all other than traditions are, imo, important in that you shouldn't change them without either some thought or some considerable gain. There used to be matches on Christmas Day - different social times.  But, let's face it, football generally since the advent of the EPL and the input of Sky's millions, has steadily had its traditions kicked out of it often with no, or very little, reference to the paying customer and what they may think. The changes have often  come about because, largely, they suit television (and one channel mainly) and the TV audience first and foremost.  The matchday customer comes a distance behind.  So too the clubs and players. The pendulum has swung far too far
But where the time is important, where it matters, is not whether it's 3pm or 745pm or even 12 noon per se.  It is that it can be all of those times, and others, with no thought as to the practical consequences for those that might wish to plan to go to the event.  And they give no thought, the TV companies and the EFL authorities, because they're really not bothered.  The money is what is important, the TV spectacle is what is important when what should be important is the club, the players and (most of all, imo) the paying customer, or fan as we used to be known.
In League 1 or Championship terms we are a TV draw.  Our kick off times will vary home and away often with relatively little notice and probably happen to us more than most.  There will be fans who buy tickets who won't be able to go; fans whose travel arrangements made months in advance that have to miss out; away games impossible to get back from on public transport; times when we have to play matches closer together than will be ideal.  No thought will be given to players or fans; every thought will be given to TV company scheduling and TV audience. 
There's a girl who sits near me who has had a season ticket since PP opened who comes up from Essex.  So too does my son, coincidentally.  They both buy a season ticket knowing that they won't be able to get to all the matches - other than sitting in the same place with people they know and enjoying that, what will be the point of their renewing if they know that the real likelihood is that they will have to miss even more matches?  It's already not financially worth their while to buy a ST.  This just makes it worse.  And how does that help Derby County if they don't renew and Derby can't resell their tickets?
The benefits such that they are, are the wrong way round for very little gain.  And that's why timing is important. Some traditions are worth trying to keep.

It doesn't, in principle, apart from being traditional, which is probably not much reason at all other than traditions are, imo, important in that you shouldn't change them without either some thought or some considerable gain. There used to be matches on Christmas Day - different social times.  But, let's face it, football generally since the advent of the EPL and the input of Sky's millions, has steadily had its traditions kicked out of it often with no, or very little, reference to the paying customer and what they may think. The changes have often  come about because, largely, they suit television (and one channel mainly) and the TV audience first and foremost.  The matchday customer comes a distance behind.  So too the clubs and players. The pendulum has swung far too far
But where the time is important, where it matters, is not whether it's 3pm or 745pm or even 12 noon per se.  It is that it can be all of those times, and others, with no thought as to the practical consequences for those that might wish to plan to go to the event.  And they give no thought, the TV companies and the EFL authorities, because they're really not bothered.  The money is what is important, the TV spectacle is what is important when what should be important is the club, the players and (most of all, imo) the paying customer, or fan as we used to be known.
In League 1 or Championship terms we are a TV draw.  Our kick off times will vary home and away often with relatively little notice and probably happen to us more than most.  There will be fans who buy tickets who won't be able to go; fans whose travel arrangements made months in advance that have to miss out; away games impossible to get back from on public transport; times when we have to play matches closer together than will be ideal.  No thought will be given to players or fans; every thought will be given to TV company scheduling and TV audience. 
There's a girl who sits near me who has had a season ticket since PP opened who comes up from Essex.  So too does my son, coincidentally.  They both buy a season ticket knowing that they won't be able to get to all the matches - other than sitting in the same place with people they know and enjoying that, what will be the point of their renewing if they know that the real likelihood is that they will have to miss even more matches?  It's already not financially worth their while to buy a ST.  This just makes it worse.  And how does that help Derby County if they don't renew and Derby can't resell their tickets?
The benefits such that they are, are the wrong way round for very little gain.  And that's why timing is important. Some traditions are worth trying to keep.

It doesn't, in principle, apart from being traditional, which is probably not much reason at all other than traditions are, imo, important in that you shouldn't change them without either some thought or some considerable gain. There used to be matches on Christmas Day - different social times.  But, let's face it, football generally since the advent of the EPL and the input of Sky's millions, has steadily had its traditions kicked out of it often with no, or very little, reference to the paying customer and what they may think. The changes have often  come about because, largely, they suit television (and one channel mainly) and the TV audience first and foremost.  The matchday customer comes a distance behind.  So too the clubs and players. The pendulum has swung far too far
But where the time is important, where it matters, is not whether it's 3pm or 745pm or even 12 noon per se.  It is that it can be all of those times, and others, with no thought as to the practical consequences for those that might wish to plan to go to the event.  And they give no thought, the TV companies and the EFL authorities, because they're really not bothered.  The money is what is important, the TV spectacle is what is important when what should be important is the club, the players and (most of all, imo) the paying customer, or fan as we used to be known.
In League 1 or Championship terms we are a TV draw.  Our kick off times will vary home and away often with relatively little notice and probably happen to us more than most.  There will be fans who buy tickets who won't be able to go; fans whose travel arrangements made months in advance that have to miss out; away games impossible to get back from on public transport; times when we have to play matches closer together than will be ideal.  No thought will be given to players or fans; every thought will be given to TV company scheduling and TV audience. 
There's a girl who sits near me who has had a season ticket since PP opened who comes up from Essex.  So too does my son, coincidentally.  They both buy a season ticket knowing that they won't be able to get to all the matches - other than sitting in the same place with people they know and enjoying that, what will be the point of their renewing if they know that the real likelihood is that they will have to miss even more matches?  It's already not financially worth their while to buy a ST.  This just makes it worse.  And how does that help Derby County if they don't renew and Derby can't resell their tickets?
The benefits such that they are, are the wrong way round for very little gain.  And that's why timing is important. Some traditions are worth trying to keep.

It doesn't, in principle, apart from being traditional, which is probably not much reason at all other than traditions are, imo, important in that you shouldn't change them without either some thought or some considerable gain. There used to be matches on Christmas Day - different social times.  But, let's face it, football generally since the advent of the EPL and the input of Sky's millions, has steadily had its traditions kicked out of it often with no, or very little, reference to the paying customer and what they may think. The changes have often  come about because, largely, they suit television (and one channel mainly) and the TV audience first and foremost.  The matchday customer comes a distance behind.  So too the clubs and players. The pendulum has swung far too far
But where the time is important, where it matters, is not whether it's 3pm or 745pm or even 12 noon per se.  It is that it can be all of those times, and others, with no thought as to the practical consequences for those that might wish to plan to go to the event.  And they give no thought, the TV companies and the EFL authorities, because they're really not bothered.  The money is what is important, the TV spectacle is what is important when what should be important is the club, the players and (most of all, imo) the paying customer, or fan as we used to be known.
In League 1 or Championship terms we are a TV draw.  Our kick off times will vary home and away often with relatively little notice and probably happen to us more than most.  There will be fans who buy tickets who won't be able to go; fans whose travel arrangements made months in advance that have to miss out; away games impossible to get back from on public transport; times when we have to play matches closer together than will be ideal.  No thought will be given to players or fans; every thought will be given to TV company scheduling and TV audience. 
There's a girl who sits near me who has had a season ticket since PP opened who comes up from Essex.  So too does my son, coincidentally.  They both buy a season ticket knowing that they won't be able to get to all the matches - other than sitting in the same place with people they know and enjoying that, what will be the point of their renewing if they know that the real likelihood is that they will have to miss even more matches?  It's already not financially worth their while to buy a ST.  This just makes it worse.  And how does that help Derby County if they don't renew and Derby can't resell their tickets?
The benefits such that they are, are the wrong way round for very little gain.  And that's why timing is important. Some traditions are worth trying to keep.