When Saturday Comes, whether the inspiration for a dodgy Sean Bean movie or the self confessed ‘half decent football magazine’, is a phrase enshrined in the English football lexicon.

Not so anymore. Of this weekend’s full Premier League programme, only West Ham United’s trip to Aston Villa will kick off at the traditional 3pm time on Saturday.

Only one other game, Manchester United v Wigan Athletic, kicks off on Saturday lunchtime with the remaining eight being played on Sunday.

You could blame John Logie Baird but in Wednesday’s Guardian, Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, played down television’s role in damaging tradition, saying:

“Out of the 10 matches only three have been displaced ostensibly for television… The remaining six have been moved due to participation in the Uefa Cup, transport issues and a combination of the police and Uefa.”

In response Malcolm Clarke, chair of the Football Supporters’ Federation, made the salient point that UEFA Cup participants only play on Sundays because they are scheduled on a Thursday to avoid clashes with televised Champions League games.

Is Clarke right when he says the Premier League is “threatening its own future” and risks damaging “the whole football pyramid”?

Something has certainly been lost and not just at 3pm on a Saturdays. The Sunday brood, as perfectly captured in ‘Damned Utd’, David Peace’s fictional account of Brian Clough’s 44 day tenure at Leeds, is also no more.

Old Big ‘Ed called Sunday “the loneliest bloody day of the week for a football manager” if his team had lost the day before.

We can only wonder what the great man would make of it all now.

Padraic Halpin, London