Stuart Pearce insists Manchester City did not snub Sir Alex
Ferguson's request to push Saturday's derby clash at Eastlands back
24 hours out of spite.
Ferguson is deeply unhappy that the Red Devils are being forced to
tackle their neighbours at lunchtime on Saturday having only got
back from their Champions League semi-final in Milan in the early
hours of this morning.
It was 3.30am when United touched down at Manchester Airport, and
even though they currently boast a five-point lead at the
Premiership summit, Ferguson believes it is unfair to ask his
players to return to combat so quickly.
Yet, despite securing agreement from Sky TV for the game to be
switched, Ferguson's efforts were blocked by the Premier League,
who wished to maintain the `integrity' of their tournament, and
City, who steadfastly refused to budge.
However, rather than reaching their decision out of malice, just to
score a petty point over their local rivals, Pearce claims City's
rejection was borne out of an issue that arose around last year's
Premiership game with Everton, which attracted controversy after it
was shifted to a Sunday and an 11.30am kick-off.
'We have not made this decision to spite Manchester United, we have
made it because this game has been pencilled in for Saturday all
season,' said Pearce.
'They made a request from Manchester United to move the game to the
Sunday morning at roughly the same time as we played against
Everton last year.
'On that occasion, we received letter after letter, from both our
fans and Everton's, with respect to travelling plans that had been
made on the basis of the game being played a day earlier.
'The list of problems we encountered was endless, so when it came
to this situation we just felt it was totally unfair to supporters
who had spent a lot of money on travel and tickets. That is why the
game wasn't moved.'
The lack of help United have received from the Premier League in
their challenge for honours this term has been a regular cause for
complaint by Ferguson.
Although the Scot has not actually claimed the Old Trafford outfit
are being victimised, he was very critical of the Premier League's
decision to order Tottenham to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on
Easter Saturday just 36 hours after a UEFA Cup tie in
Seville.
Spurs duly lost the London derby and Ferguson fears his own side
may be adversely affected by having to play again so quickly this
week, even though Rio Ferdinand, Louis Saha and Nemanja Vidic
should all be available.
'It is an unfair decision,' complained Ferguson.
'Other countries help their teams prepare properly for a European
night. There is a problem.
'We have not had much help from Premier League but we will be there
on Saturday.'
However, Pearce cannot really see what Ferguson's problem is on the
basis that by playing on Saturday, United get more time to prepare
for their pivotal trip to Chelsea next week.
'It would have given me great pleasure to see Manchester United win
last night and to have two English teams in the final,' he said.
'That is my personal point of view.
'But you never know, the game might actually work in Manchester
United's favour because they will have an extra day to prepare for
their match against Chelsea next week.'