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Mick Cooke calls for more foresight on League of Ireland fixtures

The Premier Division clubs had a very tight turnaround to contend with either side of the weekend...



Mick Cooke calls for more fore...
Soccer

Mick Cooke calls for more foresight on League of Ireland fixtures

The Premier Division clubs had a very tight turnaround to contend with either side of the weekend in the League of Ireland.

After action on Friday night, all 12 clubs had matches on Monday and there is more to come before this weekend is out with two fixtures on St Patrick's Day and the rest on Saturday.

Former Drogheda United has told Newstalk.com that there should be more foresight on the scheduling of fixtures, especially when it comes to this week when St Patrick's Day falls on a Friday.

"One argument that I always had when managing, 'Why are there midweek fixtures so early in the season anyway?' That's one point of argument," he said.

"But to look at this week where you've Patrick's Day on Friday, I'm sure there are plenty of punters who would love to go to a game on Thursday night, have 7 o'clock kick offs and know that they can socialise afterwards with their other halves or their mates, and then maybe play Thursday-Sunday. Put a bit of thought into it rather than a game on Monday night.

"I know it clashed with Man United and Chelsea but even apart from that, I think a bit of forethought by pushing the Monday game back to Thursday - the majority of people are off work on Friday - and still have the games on Sunday afternoon, which people could go to in daylight."

He also adds that quick fixture turnarounds would be preferable in the summer rather than this early in the season.

"The League would be up and running maybe 10 or 11 games and there would be more interest at that stage with teams trying to get out of the bottom, plus who's in the Top 4 or 5. And I think the bright evenings would attract more people to travel."

Mick Cooke outlines difficulty of quick League of Ireland turnarounds

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