Leeds United fury over 'senseless' EFL decision ahead of QPR and Millwall fixtures

Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has vented his frustration at the EFL fixture calendar ahead of the fixtures against QPR and Millwall next month.

The Whites boss said he had 'given up hope' of a sensible fixture list after an upcoming fixture against Portsmouth was moved even closer to the meetings with the London clubs. Leeds United will play Pompey on March 9 before facing the Lions on March 12 and the R's on March 15, making it three Championship matches in a week.

The meeting between Farke's side and Portsmouth at Fratton Park has been moved back 21 hours and will now kick off at midday on Sunday, March 9, rather than on the Saturday. That's so it can be shown on Sky Sports and ITV. That will leave Leeds United fans facing a 250-plus mile journey that takes around five hours from the early hours of Sunday morning.

Daniel Farke criticises EFL scheduling

Farke underlined the issues for supporters as well as his side. He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "First of all I always hope the fixture schedule is positive for our supporters, it's a supporters game and you give them the opportunity in terms of travel times to make it for the games.

"If you’re just thinking about TV and not the supporters who attend the stadium you will one day lose the love of our fanbase. I think this is a quite important topic. This is my first worry.

"To have the fixture list that it's also right in terms of fair play and the sense of the game. Sometimes you're struggling a bit to understand why the fixture list is how it is because when I have a look on this week it's difficult to understand why you have to play Wednesday evening, a late kick-off and then the quickest possible turnaround to play Saturday lunchtime.

“In terms of fair play, it's not great because we faced a side with one week to prepare. The next game is then scheduled on the Tuesday. Wednesday would also be possible, keeping in mind the next game is Monday. Sometimes it's hard to understand in terms of fair play.

“When you judge it just with common sense, all the supporters want the best players on the pitch and recovered, they want to see a proper product, proper football quality.

“If you're just back in the early hours of Thursday morning and play Saturday, you have to have more changes and rotate. Sometimes it's not great for fair play and the sense of the game. Sometimes it makes no sense. Sometimes it does you a favour, the feeling since I worked for this club is that it's the other way round."

QPR boss on Championship calendar

QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes has also taken issue with the fixture schedule in the Championship this season. His side were handed away trips to Swansea City and Norwich City on Boxing Day and December 29, losing in Wales and the drawing at Carrow Road.

Cifuentes said at the time: “I think we need to put everything into perspective. When I look back at our two games away, I don’t understand why some teams had two games at home and others had two games away, in our case two long away games against good opposition.

“We know the Swansea game was not good. Against Norwich the first half was very good but the reality is that the team is working hard trying to go through adversities we’ve been facing.

“I’m very happy with seven points from four difficult games. We need to give credit to the players according to the amount of injuries, to the schedule and the level of the opposition. It’s not perfect, I will always ask for 12 points, but the commitment that the guys are showing even on bad days, those guys are working very hard. Today you can see leaders.”

In other news, QPR and Millwall rivals are set for a 'blockbuster' managerial appointment in a head-turning week of Championship negotiations.