Brighton had an early evening kick off on Boxing Day only three years ago. The ground was full , some trains ran, plenty of coaches and park and rides were in existence to ferry people there probably with greater ease than on Saturday afternoons. . Even Jurgen locadia scored so miracles do happen.
The idea that this is a shocking novelty - it’s not. Sky (and now BT and Amazon) have been scheduling Christmas football for decades. It’s good for their ratings to have multiple evening matches. Bigger audiences.
Even Brighton /Brentford .
The club agree to it, both Brentford and Brighton will work with the police and transport providers to get everyone there and back - including trains - and it will not be , by any stretch , the lowest attendance ever.
I agree with this. People are over-exaggerating the difficulty of getting there. There are four or five park and rides, about 70 supporters' coaches, a near-empty uni car park, buses will be running (even if the trains don't) and anyone able-bodied living within two or three miles could walk it with ease (that pretty much covers the whole of Brighton). It won't be anywhere near a sell-out but I reckon there'll be about 23 to 25k there.
I love Boxing Day fixtures, it's a great opportunity to get out after a couple of days sat on the sofa, pigging out.