Telly U-turn means fans can see Toon

NEWCASTLE United fans will be able to legally watch the Magpies’ first three games of the season from their own homes after Premier League clubs agreed that all fixtures scheduled to be played this month should be broadcast live in the UK.

The governing body had previously not planned to make every behind-closed-doors game available via the league’s existing broadcasting partners and none of Newcastle’s top-flight fixtures this month were due to be televised.

Gateshead MP Ian Mearns had written to Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, while the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust (NUST) backed the calls by Mr Mearns and the Football Supporters’ Association for the top-flight to change their mind.

Following a Premier League shareholders’ meeting yesterday, clubs agreed that all 28 games scheduled for to be played in September should be broadcast.

Newcastle’s trip to West Ham on the opening day will be shown on Sky Pick at 8pm, having previously been due to be played five hours previously, while the Magpies’ first home league game of the campaign, against Brighton on Sunday, September 20, will be shown at 2pm on the same channel.

The black-and-whites’ final league game of the month, away at Spurs, is due to take place at 3pm on Saturday, September 26 but the outcome of Jose Mourinho’s side’s Europa League qualifier against Lokomotiv Plovdiv could affect this. Whatever happens, Newcastle fans will be able to watch the game from afar.

Sky Sports and BT Sport had already selected 17 matches for live broadcast for the first three match rounds of the 2020/21 season. Of the remaining 11 matches, Sky Sports will broadcast an additional six, BT Sport a further three and BBC and Amazon Prime Video one each.

The Premier League have confirmed that they are also in discussions with BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT to agree a similar solution for radio. Supporters will not be able return to stadiums until October at the earliest and, naturally, capacities will be greatly reduced when that happens.

The Premier League are considering appropriate arrangements for matches which will take place after October 1 and reiterated that ‘getting fans back into full stadia as soon as possible’ was the league’s number one priority ‘with safety always being our priority’.