Kieran Maguire issues ‘big’ Tottenham claim as they’re hit by ‘special Amazon issue’
Tottenham have been hit by a “tidal wave” of fixtures over the festive period partially because of the demands of broadcasters.
So says finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the power the TV companies yield over top-flight sides.
BBC Sport reported last Friday (24 December) that the Premier League had met with managers to discuss rising Covid numbers the previous day.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte was not happy with the discussions, describing them as “like talking to a wall”.
Tottenham’s squad has been stretched thin over the already-busy winter fixture programme amid the spike in Covid cases.
Maguire claims that the demands of Amazon mean there was never likely to be any form of circuit-breaker in the Premier League.
“From an operational point of view, the manager is concerned about maximising the performance of his playing squad,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“A tidal wave of fixtures combined with the constraints put on by injuries and Covid can be very challenging.
“As a result of that, it can impact on results at Tottenham. If that’s the difference between qualifying for the Champions League or not, that’s big.
“But at the same time, the Premier League has a contract with Sky, BT and Amazon and they don’t want to be in breach of that.
“There is a special issue as far as the Amazon contract is concerned because they want people to sign up to Prime over that Christmas period.
“Once you are into their regular service, many people say that it’s difficult to leave because the service is very efficient.
“So it has always been used as a means to generate extra custom from Amazon’s point of view.
“Christmas is their busiest time. That means they are less flexible in terms of where the Premier League can put mid-week fixtures.”
Sky, BT and Amazon agreed a new £5billion package in May for the rights to broadcast the Premier League between 2022 and 2025.
Tottenham face Watford in their first match of 2022 tomorrow (1 January).
In other news, pundit tips Matt Doherty to join Premier League rivals after being told “you can leave” by Tottenham.