SAINTS fans will have to wait until tomorrow night to discover whether their team’s home game against West Ham will change dates at just a week’s notice.

Sky Sports picked the game between Saints and the Hammers for live broadcast on their Monday Night Football show.

As a result, that bumped the game from Saturday, February 6, to Monday, February 8 at 8pm.

Supporters have been buying tickets and making travel arrangements to attend the game, but just a week before the potential clash, the date could change again.

Should West Ham draw with Liverpool in their FA Cup fourth round meeting, then Saints’ game with the Hammers will be switched again.

It will move back to the original date of Saturday, February 6, with a 5.30pm kick-off.

That is because West Ham would have to play an FA Cup replay on the Tuesday or Wednesday night meaning they would not be expected to also fulfil a Premier League fixture on the Monday.

Given that Sky will broadcast the game either way, the obvious way around it would have been for the game to have always been played on the Saturday evening, meaning there was no danger of a change.

As it is, Saints fans will have to wait for the result of the FA Cup tie, which has an evening kick-off time, also for live TV broadcast, to discover when Saints will play their next match.

Saints fan Nick Illingsworth described the scenario as “stupid” and said it was just another example of the television companies riding roughshod over fans’ needs.

“They don’t give a hoot for the supporters,” said Illingsworth. “People don’t know what plans to make because they don’t yet know when the game is going to take place.

The editor of Saints fans’ webzine, The Uglier Inside, doesn’t absolve the club from blame either.

“What really hacks me off is that the club wants to have their cake and eat it.

“All the Premier League clubs are happy to take all the extra millions from the television deals, but they don’t seem keen to reduce ticket prices.

“A season ticket holder should be able to claim a partial refund if games are moved because of television and they can’t make the game as a result.”

The West Ham game will be the eighth time Saints have been shown live on Sky or BT this season.

Previous home games shown were against Everton, Norwich, Manchester United, Bournemouth and Arsenal, as well as the trips to Chelsea and Liverpool.