Millwall unhappy at “illogical” decision to schedule early Sunday start for Rotherham United game

BY LUCAS BALL

Millwall have described switching next month’s away trip to Rotherham United to an early Sunday kick-off as “illogical”.

A number of the Lions’ games have been moved, with the match against the promoted Millers now a 12:30pm kick-off on Sunday August 26 instead of a standard 3pm start on the Saturday.

The earliest train to Rotherham gets in just 33 minutes before kick-off, meaning many fans will be forced to travel up to Yorkshire the night before the game, adding further expense to their travels.

Rotherham’s stadium is around 170 miles away, with the ‘illogical’ decision slammed by Millwall Football Club.

A Lions statement said: “From the first stage of contact about a proposed rescheduling of this fixture the club has been strongly against moving the day or kick-off time and later took the issue to a dispute, overseen by The EFL, having been unable to reach a fair compromise with Rotherham United Football Club.

“After the dispute was concluded and a seemingly fair outcome achieved, South Yorkshire Police took the fixture to a full Safety Advisory Group meeting after which it was unfortunately decided to move the game to its new date.

“The club remains firmly against what it believes to be an entirely illogical decision and regrets that fair solutions offered by itself and by The EFL have been rejected.

“As is always the case in such circumstances the club has fought strenuously with the needs and interests of its supporters at the heart of its argument, as well as those of the management and team, and regrets that on this occasion a decision it believes to be completely unjustifiable, and one which shows clear moral mistreatment of football fans, is the unfortunate outcome.”

The match at Bristol City has been switched from Saturday December 1 to Sunday December 2, and brought forward to a 1pm kick off.