CITY refused Sir Alex Ferguson's request to push Saturday's derby clash at Eastlands back for the sake of the fans.

Ferguson is deeply unhappy that the Reds 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 Thursday 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, Blues boss Stuart Pearce has said 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.

Problems

"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."

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