We asked our fans' jury: “With Plymouth at Ewood Park next Tuesday and Rovers facing the prospect of a midweek trip to Portsmouth in February, what do you make of the ‘conscious scheduling decisions’ of the EFL?”  

The welfare, opinions and comfort of fans and supporters are not priorities in most major sports any longer.

Fans are "punters" who allow themselves to be manipulated and exploited in respect of attendance, refreshments and merchandising.

It's not surprising that we now have "conscious scheduling decisions" in a game that was once a sport but now is merely another business for the wealthy to tinker with until they find a new toy. 

If the supporters are unhappy then the solution is in their own hands. The fact that they continue to allow themselves to be exploited simply matches their dubious tribal instincts.

Paul Yates

I don't personally see it as a huge issue, an away trip to Portsmouth is a difficulty whatever the day and time. By consciously scheduling the fixtures they are trying to cut their losses and maximise the crowds for more accessible games.

For the die hard away supporter it creates difficulties for isolated fixtures but makes the majority manageable whilst attracting more fans to more accessible matches.

A random fixture generator may appear fairer but after taking into account TV rights, local policing issues, contrasting home/away matches for teams in close proximity and whatever other issues must be considered, it suddenly becomes less random anyway. 

Kelvin Wilkins

The EFL have shown a complete disregard for supporters by purposefully scheduling long away trips on Tuesday nights. From my experience, midweek matches under the lights can create some of the best atmospheres, especially if it is a big derby game. 

The regular broadcasting of midweek games on TV and online will allow more fans to see their team play away and avoid the long distances. But it just does not make sense to schedule the longest trips on a midweek in the first place. Blackpool manager Gary Bowyer weighed in on the argument by commenting his fans, apart from the 100 that travelled, were unable to see a great performance by his side at Plymouth on a Tuesday night. He's right - football should be for the fans. 

With midweek Football League fixtures often competing against European football kicking off at the same time, having local derby games on a Tuesday night would encourage both home and away fans to swap their sofas for the live event. No one wants to be travelling down to Portsmouth on a winter night, and I'd be surprised if there are any more than a couple of hundred Plymouth fans at Ewood next week. 

Sam Jones