Russians pull plug on Aston Villa's UEFA match against CSKA Moscow

Feb 23 2009 by Paul Bradley, Birmingham Mail

“They are happy to mess around 38,000 people who went to the game live by bringing the game forward by 30 minutes. But they don’t give a damn when the fans genuinely can’t get to the game on the other side of Europe and rely on television to watch it.

“It shows that money is more important than fans in modern day football.”

A spokesman for Five said: “Unfortunately negotiations with CSKA Moscow and the Russian Football Federation came to a halt over a commercially insurmountable issue. In this case, it is the reality that it is not viable for us to broadcast this game.”

A spokeswoman for Setanta added: “ITV and Five have the broadcasting rights for the UK.

“We can only show the UEFA cup ties on our Ireland, USA and Canada channels.

“Even if you get Setanta Ireland in your home in the UK you will not be able to see the game as the signal will be switched off at kick-off.”