Trust Press Release
The Foxes Trust is dismayed at the plans announced by the clubs to allow the Tigers to use the Walkers Stadium on the date of City’s last home game and move their match to another date
Trust Chairman Ian Bason explained “The final home game of the season always has a special atmosphere and it looks as though our fans will really have something to celebrate this year, in comparison to recent seasons, so to learn that the game won’t be played on a Saturday is real kick in the teeth to fans”
“We don’t think plans to play on a Friday night is showing any consideration to fans who live away from the City, as everyone knows that Friday afternoon is a terrible time to travel any distance, while the pitch will be wrecked if we play the day after the Tigers”
Fellow Trust board member Alan Digby questioned whether all options had been considered “If we accept our game has to move, and we suspect contracts will have already been signed, then why not consider the following Tuesday, our normal evening game night, which at least makes travelling easier and gives the pitch time to recover from the rugby”
Digby further warned “From what we understand, this is also a case of the Safety Authority setting the standards for next season, as once the Tigers have increased capacity the clubs will not be allowed to stagger kick off’s on the same day. We hope the Rugby authorities get their act together this summer and publish fixtures early enough to be fed into the Football League’s fixture calculations to minimise clashes and fixture moves for both sets of supporters”
Chairman Bason said “We will be questioning the club to see if the level of revenue generated from the Tigers using our ground is a significant figure. It must be remembered that when our club built the Carling Stand at Filbert Street in the 1990’s, we all had to travel to the City Ground to watch our side and we don’t see why the club has disrupted it’s own fixtures and upset fans to help the Tigers, had we been consulted before this decision was taken, that would have been the advice we would have given”