'What a joke': Jeff Stelling goes off on a superb rant about TV companies dictating match schedules

Newcastle United fans who made the trip to London on Saturday to watch their team get annihilated by Arsenal did so knowing that they would likely have to spend the night in the Capital.

The TV overlords, who we've had many a pop at over this season, once again set a late kick-off for a Newcastle United away game in London meaning any fans wanting to travel to the game would have to drive, get a coach or spend the night as there would be no train home after the game.

We obviously exist in our Newcastle bubble, so we don't really see how many times other sides get screwed over in this way, but it definitely feels like Newcastle, who have the most distance to cover in a season, get the messy end of the stick when it comes to this stuff.

Newcastle fans are getting constantly shafted by TV schedulers

It could be considered the price of being entertaining that the TV companies constantly want us on live and the schedule changes are a necessary evil, but Jeff Stelling went on a rant about it on TalkSPORT and he hit the nail right on the head.

TV companies, especially Sky, are constantly ramming it down our throats that they're an eco-conscious company and we should all go green and save the planet. Then they make Newcastle fans have to drive the length and breadth of the country if they want to get back to their families after the game because they moved the game to a time when there are no trains for the return journey.

The rant by Stelling came in the middle of a discussion about Newcastle's recent form when Ally McCoist touched on how good our fans were on Saturday and that they stayed until the final whistle, which is what triggered Stelling.

It's great that we can still get a good Jeff Stelling rant even post-Sky Sports

"Well they didn't have anywhere else to go because they couldn't get a train home. I'm sorry, what a joke. What a joke putting Arsenal against Newcastle on at 8 o'clock on a Saturday night when there are no trains back for Newcastle fans. And it's the TV companies who encourage us to be green who decide on the scheduling for games like that. So nobody can use the train so they have to go by car or by coach, it's nonsense.

"Football fans are treated like they don't matter at all. what would football be like without fans? well we know what it was like during COVID, it was awful. Football fans need to be treated with more respect."

We fans have been saying it for ages now, there is absolutely no thought given to the fans when these decisions are made, and this is after both the Premier League and the TV companies came out and said they'd be more mindful of the fans when moving fixtures.

Jeff Stelling may not be the hero we deserve, but he's the one we need right now and with Ally McCoist cheering him on from the sidelines, it's great to see two people on TalkSPORT talking sense.