Sir Alex Ferguson expressed his fear at the influence TV
schedules will have on the outcome of this season's Premiership
title. Manchester United's drive to reclaim the title accelerated
on Saturday as Ferguson's side pulled nine points clear of Chelsea
at the top of the Premiership following a 3-1 derby win over
Manchester City.
And although United have benefited from being able to play all six
league fixtures immediately after European engagements on home
soil, Ferguson is concerned about what may happen when the
Champions League cranks up again next March.
Already the Scot knows the game which follows the away leg of
United's first knockout round tie will be a Saturday lunchtime
visit to Fulham. And, having seen United suffer signs of fatigue
during the latter stages of Saturday's game, which came 63 hours
after the completion of their Champions League win over Benfica, he
believes the men who decide which games will be broadcast should
adopt a more sympathetic attitude.
"I don't think TV has been fair to us," complained Ferguson. "We
have just had three games in eight days and to go from playing on a
Wednesday night to Saturday lunchtime is not easy. "This could
easily have been a Sunday game, which would have given us a proper
chance to prepare properly. "Instead, all we did was rest the
players, then tell them to go out and grit their teeth.
"In the last 20 minutes you could see the effect of that. Quite
understandably, they were pretty tired."