Football loves conspiracies.

For instance, there's Sam Allardyce's conviction that NASA has evidence of an alternate universe in which he's a well-regarded Italian manager known for gritty, defensive football rather than an unfairly derided English manager known for gritty, defensive football. Then there's the rumours that despite appearing to be round, Steve Bruce is in fact completely flat.

Both are wrong, obviously. But a document leaked to The Times shows that the ardent fixture list truthers might have been onto something all along.

A Premier League document for broadcasters shows that the fixture list is influenced by TV scheduling requirements, and that the league treats the elite clubs differently to the rest.

The Times says that 'top eight' and 'top six' teams, a grouping based on average positions over the last three seasons, are kept from playing each other on the opening and closing weekends of the season, as well as on FA Cup semi-final weekends.

To minimise the chances of the big clubs playing each other at the same time and splitting a TV viewership, the document states that, "not more than two Top Six Club Matches shall be scheduled to be played as part of any individual fixture programme".

The document also states that, "not less than one Top Eight Club Match shall be scheduled to be played as part of each fixture programme," presumably to make sure there are no boring weekends devoid of big games.

So, there we are. It was Richard Scudamore on the grassy knoll all along.