Fixtures

We have a FSF representative that oversees the fixture production, he is a friend and colleague of mine and I asked him about leaks to the fixtures...here is what he said

Paul

There has been a significant tightening of the consultation regime over the last 2 or 3 years as a result of leaks in the past. For example the Working Party meeting on Monday only saw the first two, the last two and the holiday fixtures. And we saw them on monitors - no paper copies any more.

Where in the past there has been a genuine leak - and it can't now be of the whole set - (a) it has been possible to make a last minute switch before release and (b) the source of the leak has been traced and dealt with.

The media agencies didn't get the fixtures until late today and then only in encrypted form. They can then set them up as templates overnight. But they don't get the key to unencrypted them till early tomorrow. The clubs get them first (from 7 to 7.30) and the media get them from 8.10 with a 9.00 embargo.

So anything you heard today is almost certainly nothing more than guesswork.

ps
Just to follow up on my previous note, I looked on the Sunderland fans website
to see the speculation there - all three were wrong, including one screen grab
in the format we saw yesterday and which had apparently been circulated on
Facebook.

Incidentally, we are told the guys working on them had made 600 changes over the
week-end which shows how diligently they try to cover all factors. Whether that
screen grab was from an earlier version I wouldn't know. But i very much doubt
it.

There is no point in believing leaks as the fixtures are fully done tomorrow in the morning before releasing them so any leaks can be sorted by tomorrow morning.

There is no point in believing leaks as the fixtures are fully done tomorrow in the morning before releasing them so any leaks can be sorted by tomorrow morning.

well to be fair the post suggests the fixtures are finalised the day before and sent to the clubs and the media, while the code to unencrypt them get sents out today