Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has called upon the Premier League to respect the fans after the decision to change the date of our fixture against Tottenham.
Prior to Spurs securing their place in the Europa League final, they made a request to the league to move our fixture from Sunday May 18 to give themselves more time to prepare for the showpiece event.
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Despite Villa challenging the idea given the impact it would have on our fans, the decision was ultimately made to move the game to Friday May 16 with a 19:30 KO, just 10 days before the fixture is set to be played.
While he insisted that it’s no problem for him or the players as they will ultimately adapt and be ready to play regardless of the date, Emery was clearly annoyed about the impact it will have on supporters who perhaps can now no longer make the game and have already paid and made arrangements to be in attendance.
It certainly feels as though there has been a distinct lack of consideration in that regard, and Emery was keen to communicate that and insisted that his priority is to protect the Villa fanbase from such decisions.
“Respect our fans, this is the most important, respect our fans,” he told the media at his pre-Bournemouth press conference, as per VillaTV. “For me, the decision about to play on Friday or Sunday it’s poor decision, it’s not relevant. We can play Friday, we can play Sunday.Â
“But our supporters, they prefer to play and because the plan changed 10 days before the match. And I can understand they prefer to play on the weekend, but of course, I am going to focus on the match on Friday and I accept it, but I understand the supporters. I have to protect our supporters.”
What makes it harder to accept for fans is that no such steps were taken to help us during a hectic period in our schedule as we were aiming to advance in the Champions League, while the French FA were able to clear Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 commitments to give them maximum time to rest and prepare for our quarter-final tie.
In turn, there is also inconsistency in the way the Premier League approaches the issue, and with many fans now facing the disappointment of missing out on our last home game of the season and going through the hassle of securing refunds if possible on travel, accommodation and tickets, it’s a mess of a situation that has been created just over a week before the game is to be played.
