Express & Star

Matt Maher: Premier League really needs to start playing the long game

The Premier League takes the issue of piracy very seriously; just ask Newcastle United.

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Why, then, does it appear so content to drive supporters toward watching matches on illegal streams?

When top-flight football resumed in June every match was broadcast live meaning that while fans might have been shut out of the ground, they still had the opportunity to watch their team in action.

Yet as things stand, that will not be the case when the new season begins barely a fortnight from now. No agreement is in place which will give supporters access to matches not broadcast in the UK. If your team isn’t on Sky or BT Sport, you aren’t going to see it, at least not legally.

“It seems a ridiculous situation that the only people in the world virtually who aren’t going to be able to watch Premier League matches live will be law-abiding citizens in Britain who don’t use pirate broadcast streams, and the populations of North Korea and Saudi Arabia,” Kevin Miles, the chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Association, said earlier this week. “We’ve had representation from people who haven’t missed a game for their club for 40 or 50 years.

“They’re faced with either watching a match on an illegal stream or missing out on matches for the first time and that cannot be the way.”

Miles fears the Premier League have underestimated the strength of feeling among supporters and the clock is already ticking on finding a solution.

For those who miss watching their club, the coming weeks will be among the toughest yet, with the partial reopening of stadiums meaning some will be able to attend matches and some won’t.

Some good news arrived yesterday, with the announcement the EFL had reached a temporary agreement with Sky which allows supporters to access match streams before the expected return to stadiums in October.

For the Premier League, which has many more broadcast partners, each with their own interests to protect, negotiating a similar arrangement is admittedly far more tricky.

But there is a bigger, more important long-term issue at play which the Premier League would be foolish to ignore.

Create a scenario where regular match-going supporters have no access to watching their team and you risk seriously testing their loyalty. In a much-changed world, clubs simply cannot take their affections for granted. Forget about the fans and they may very soon forget about you.