BOLTON kicked off at 5.15pm last Saturday, 12.15pm against Arsenal the previous week, 8pm on a Monday night at Manchester City the week before that and 1pm the previous Sunday at Newcastle.

Wanderers are no different to any other Premiership club in having to switch the days and times of matches for the sake of television.

Fans get sick to the back teeth of having to turn up at all times of day and night, on whichever day the television companies decree, to support their team.

Whatever happened to games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday?

Sky TV is not the bad guy here. If it wasn't for their huge investment, the Premiership would be a shadow of the success it is today.

Surely, we would rather have a first class league kicking off at different times than a second rate league played on a Saturday afternoon.

But the increasing number of kick off times makes you wonder when the first game will take place in the early hours of the morning for the benefit of the Far East market.

There has got to be a serious argument for having, say, Liverpool versus Manchester United kicking off at 5am to get the maximum viewing figures in China.

There is certainly a market over there. Both Premiership games between Manchester City and Everton last season were screened live in China - as each team had a Chinese player in their squads - and attracted an incredible 300 million viewers.

Compare that with the couple of million or so who watch Sky TV games over here and there has to be a temptation to tap into that huge Far East market.

There is a precedent in boxing with the world title fight between Ricky Hatton and Kostya Tszyu taking place at 2am in Manchester in June for the benefit of the American television audience.