Are Manchester City too petty to reject Manchester United’s request?
Earlier this week we heard that Manchester United had asked Manchester City to push forward their derby from 5th May to 6th May, keeping in mind that Manchester United play Milan away at San Siro on 2nd May, Wednesday night.
It’s not as bad as what Spurs had earlier (play in Sevilla on Thursday night, then play Chelsea on Saturday), but it’s tough considering United have been playing twice a week for a long time now and the injuries are putting a big strain on the squad.
While Chelsea had a Champions League match to consider on Tuesday and thus rejected Tottenham’s request to play on Sunday, Manchester City have no such commitments. In other words, Manchester City could very easily have delayed the game by a day, but they chose not to.
Why not? Is it because of the club rivalry? If so, it is a sad and negative choice made by City. Is it because they want to beat United so badly that they’ll take any advantage they can get? If so, devious, but still sad.
No issues though. Manchester United have little choice but to grit their teeth and pull through the final leg of the season. I find it a bit strange that a club that has no other commitments to honor and a club whose season is more or less over (they can’t really get relegated unless they lose 3 games really badly and Charlton win their next 3 by huge goal margins, and they can’t really challenge for Europe, you know) would chose to act like this.
Some people may call this as ’standing up’ to a big club’s bullying, but this was anything BUT bullying. Manchester United will not complain about this (hopefully), and they’ll play without any grudges. The club rivalry puts in an extra edge to this situation, but there’s no need for City to not act honourably.
On BBC’s 606, there’s a City fan whose reaction to this was:
“Nice one City - why should we aid United’s title chances?”
If that’s how the club thinks, that’s a very petty reason to reject United’s request.
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We’ll play it at Old Trafford as well, shall we? Will that help you? How about if City start with 10 men and United start with 12? Anything else we could do to make it easier for you?
Why on earth would City want to make a match easier for the opposition?
I think so - it comes across as trying to get one over on their neighbors - no reason why they couldn’t delay the game for one day - not a good gesture by Manchester City.
As you sat - it’s very petty.
Wouldn’t care if Man City were at least challenging for a European spot.
the club had to take into consideration the home fans. if the request had come as soon as united knew they would be playing on the Wednesday then it may have seemed churlish. the request to move the match 10 days before the fixture shows little regard for home fans who may have had to swap a saturday for a sunday shift, arranged train tickets, etc. but as usual, united care little for the fans of other clubs.
The question is would United do the same for City if the situation was reversed, somehow I don’t think so. Get back on off your little soap box you sad little man .
It’s not just the fact that City didn’t want to help Salford Utd (as if they would have helped City!) you’ve also got to consider fans (Although Utd don’t care about theirs). Many fans Travel and to change at the last minute would have been unacceptable, costing them time and money to change hotels, trains planes etc. and city are not prepared to do this in a time where sky rule the KO times, making it difficult enough for fans anyway!
It seems as though you’ve got the classic “Everyones against me” complex that all rags do!
Have you not considered it may be down to the fact that a late change with no pre-warning might be a problem with staffing/stewards/police etc? More importantly what about the fans that may have to travel who have already booked trains/hotels etc. We do have a few fans who don’t live in Manchester. Maybe it’s about a club thinking about its fans! A Strange concept for united fans? Without the real reasons behind the refusal we can’t really comment.
Why shouldn’t we get one over on our neighbours - for once we would like to have a game on a Saturday afternoon. Not only do united have penalty decisions decided to order and one of the dirtiest yet unpunished players in the league in Paul Scholes, they now believe that they should control the fixture list too. United have incredible resources and a large squad that should be able to cope with a few injuries.
Poor squad management at United isn’t City’s problem.
The big 4 bias has to end and every fan of every club ouside of this select group should applaude this decision.
Oh and if you haven’t noticed WE DON’T LIKE UNITED OR WANT THEM TO SUCCEED - its our birthright and we’re sticking to it!
Firstly, the request was made at a very late date, meaning that plans and arrangements for the game, both for the club and supporters would have had problems. You might not know this, but City also has thousands of supporters outside Manchester who have booked flights and hotelrooms for the derby (myself included). There are also safety issues. Greater Manchester Police must have personnel available. Anyway, there are a great many issues other than “a better chance to beat the reds” that come into question when you try to rearrange a Manchester derby. Try to use your brain b 4 writing such rubbish as this.
Whoever wrote this is blinkered and very naive. The reason given is because the city board did not want to disrupt things for the fans, something united have no concept of. Furthermore, would the rags do the same for us?…I think not.
“Manchester United will not complain about this (hopefully), and they’ll play without any grudges.”
This article has got to be a wind-up.
So, United won’t complain about City not agreeing to reschedule the game at short notice, disrupting the plans of 40-odd thousand of their fans who’d paid around £35 a ticket, to help a club whose own fans constantly complain about not having many games on Saturdays. That’s really good of them.
Ahmed Bilal - you, sir, are a mong. And a bitter blinkered red mong at that.
The report came out on Tuesday - assuming that the rejection, at the latest, was on Monday, that is about 12 days before the game.
Yes, it is a hassle when a club has to change their plans, but the motives are in question - is it out of ego, a desire to not let the rivals get one over them, what? The eventual rationalisation may be the fans, but if you give them 2 weeks’ worth of warning, is it really going to be that big a deal to delay by a day?
My gut feeling is that the club does not want to be seen as helping a city rival at the expense of inconveniencing a handful of fans.
Would they have done the same thing if City were in 5th, qualified for Europe, without a chance to get to the CL and the club asking them for this type of change was someone like Watford or Wigan (for whatever reason)?
On the surface, there’s plenty of ‘warning’ time AND United would not ask something like this without reason. So for City to refuse to help is questionable.
But you’re right, without knowing the reasons we can’t say for sure what it is.
Yet another example of a mid table boring Prem club with nothing to play for not listening to the needs of a vastly more important club playing in the Champions League to earn even more cash to stretch even further away from whichever poor souls try to reach their own zenith of 5th place. How could City fans put their 26,000 season ticket holders before Ferdinand’s hamstring and Vidic’s big toe? Appalling behaviour - where will it end?
I agree 100% with the comments posted by Pete above.
Anything that can possibly hinder any success whatsoever for the Man United Yankees sits very comfortably with me.
Am I one of those “Bitter Blues” that United fans love to hate?
YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!!!
George also makes valid points re fans arrangements but the reality is that in the Sky Sports era clubs have willingly and wholly embraced the corporate mentality (United being one of the worst offenders) and the ordinary fan just doesn’t matter anymore.
I see.
Give Man U a better chance of beating us Ahmed.
Cracking idea!
They’ve never done us any favours in their history. Wouldn’t allow us to use OT when our ground burn’t down in 1920, yet we let them use ours after the war.
They wouldn’t hand the Championship Trophy over when we pipped them to in 1968.
Gave us ZERO allocation for the Manchester derby back in 1990/91
and, no, I don’t want to see the game on a Sunday as I have made plans.
And what about the City (and United) fans who are travelling along way to see the game? They’ve booked flights, hotel rooms etc. 2 weeks notice is simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH to change the fixture. Will Utd pay for flights/transport/accomodation to get these people to and from the game? NO is the answer to that - so why should City waz there own fans off just to please Utd.
Utd have known this sequence could happen for months they should have planned accordingly. Oh and BTW Sky and the GMP would ALSO have objected to the game being moved at such short notice.
Utd fans (and anyone else) should get a grip before whinging. City are putting theie own fans first. Well done!
I can only agree with comment number 9
Ahmed Bilal - you, sir, are a mong. And a bitter blinkered red mong at that.
The great thing about the internet is that it allows free speech. The downside is people like Ahmed Bilal think they are a source of wisdom and knowledge.
Ahmed Bile you are a fool. “but if you give them 2 weeks’ worth of warning, is it really going to be that big a deal to delay by a day?”
Typical Rag - selfish damm everyone else attitude. Also how can we bee seen to favour anyone. What would Chelsea have to say on the matter. What was arranged was arranged so lump it.
Why should we pander to anyone so they can make more cash and become even more finacially adrift.
I`d be quite happy if the reason was just to wind up the rags but I sadly I dont think it is.
Whatever the result I fully expect fergie to bemoan everything and Manure fans to complain about city deciding to put some effort in. Its disgraceful we should have our own and own fans best interest at heart.
What about season ticket holders, like myself, who have had to organise their time in advance? I think that United have got a nerve! Just another example of The Premier League’s complete disregard of football supporters. This seems particularly true of MUFC, where their own fans are now suffering price hikes and being forced to join cup schemes.
Ahmed Bilal you are the biggest numpty walking the planet.
why the hell should city fans, be inconvenienced just because manyoo, are playing wednesday night, they should of asked 2 months ago as a precaution.
OK then so would everton do it for liverpool. NO!
would Rangers do it for celtic or vice versa! Hell No!
would Spurs do it Arsenal. NO!
Get over it manyoo fans.
it just shows what a weak team city are to not play fairly. its not like they have anything 2 lose, whereas man united have everything 2 win. bet united will still beat city anyway….
Name: Ahmed
Club: MUFC
Description: Paranoid Blinkered Mong
remember the 2-2 at old trafford a few years ago, that Utd insisted was played the day before the full members cup final ?
what goes around comes around
Why the hell should City of moved it?winning trophys is based on lots of things like team depth and skill.The fact that they have the arrogance to ask just goes to show how much respect they have for other teams themselves.
Sam. Ask Cristiano Ronaldo about fair play
How can you expect City or their supporters to understand they have not & WILL not ever take part in a Champions League semi-final.
actually changed my mind now, the date should not be changed
As a United fan I have say I’m not surprised Citeh didn’t put the game back, I didn’t expect them to and I don’t blame ‘em for not doing so.
If them playing on the original day gives them a slightly better chance at winning the match you can’t blame them can you?
Poor lambs need all the help they can get anyway.
but i think it shud not be the responsibility of any team to decide, think that a body should be in charge to decide individually which dates should be moved. perhaps the fa or uefa
I think the arguments against acceding to their request are relatively simple:
(1) it would potentially disrupt the plans of up to 45,000 City fans (and indeed some of the up to 3,000 away fans)- I for one am absolutely fed up of all the fixture changes we have to endure and as a season ticket holder I get no refund;
(2) we are not playing for ‘nothing’ - setting aside local pride, we are by no means one of the richest clubs and each position in the premiership is worth £500,000 - a lot of money to us;
(3) would this be considered acceptable behaviour to Chelsea fans, who also have fixture congestion, injuries etc etc - ‘fairness’ applies to all not just the Rags;
(4) haven’t you any idea how important local derbies are to all supporters - I would neither expect utd to do the same for us nor condemn them if they did.
I agree entirely with Martins comments above. it’s sooo unfair
Talking of favours nearing the end of the season. How many of you rags have been around long enough to remember United going easy of Fergie’s mate at Derby County on the last day of the season. A result which virtually ensured City’s relegation. If you want any more favours go and ask the Pope
Ahmed I think you’re being quite naive here, and for a reason I’ve not yet seen stated on here. Manchester City like all premiership clubs is a business. Like United it has debts. The difference is that ours [for reasons of long term financial mismanagement I am sure] is not leveraged and has an impact on the day to day running of the club. Every decision we make at the moment has a price tag as its main concern. A single place higher in the premiership gets us half a million cold. If you look at the table you will see we could finish 14th or 10th, a £2 million difference. You think because we’re safe we should roll over and get keestered? Don’t start a business any time soon mate.
So yes, if it gives us an advantage, and Utd have to rest players because of the champions league effort a few days before, then no right minded chairman would accept this request. If it was a game against Watford because they were still in the FA cup or something, we would have rejected this request. The united factor means nothing.
And by the way, have you tried to reschedule a flight recently? Or purchase a train ticket inside two weeks of the date of travel? In case 1 you pay a significant penalty, and in case 2 you certainly dont get that nice cheap advance saver you had previously.
Plus I imagine the Po-Po would have to pay about three thousand rozzers double time instead of time and a half, so I’m sure they didn’t want it either.
Don’t you remember when United put in a mysteriously lacklustre performance against Derby in May 2001, so helping to send City down?
What goes around comes around. Tough luck!
Free speech? can anyone tell me why my last post was deleted?
Ahmed Bilal-you are a first class prick
City’s main reason for this I am sure is to assist their team in putting a jolt to our title bid. If Sky offered more dosh to move it then this ‘all about our fans’ nonsense would be seen for what it is.
I don’t want blues to like us & I’ll always detest the bitter mongs but they are within their rights, whatever the motive, to refuse the request.
United will need to win this game and they will.
What free speech?
Diablo - people tell me that every day. first class eh?
Ahmed, rubbish! You made an arrogant statement about “a handful of fans” and I questioned it. But hey, like you said, “what free speech.” If it is detrimental to the red cause….forget it. Oh yeah…like I said before,Sam your an idiot.
cheers.
Gate receipts on a Sunday are always less then on a Saturday and invariably some City fans will have made travel arrangements to come for the game. Why should City suffer the financial consequences and inconvenience their own fans.
Complaining about having too many games because of success is a bit like complaining about paying a lot of tax!!! I would be happy if City had as many games to play as United, just as I would like to pay more tax.
Perhaps Ahmed would like to cast his mind back to 1986, though United weren’t as successful then, so he probably supported someone else. City were due to play United the day before the Full Members Cup Final. Obviously not the biggest game in our history, but still important. We asked United if we could put the game back one day so we had a day’s rest.
I don’t need to tell you what United’s response was…
Has anyone considered that the decision may not have been down to Manchester City? Imagine that a month or 4 weeks before the match United approached City to reschedule the match.
City approach the GMP and say “we’d like to move the match to Saturday 3pm or 5.15pm”
GMP: “No way, we can’t have derbies in the evening, too much drinking, violence and nonsense”
City: “OK, can we move it to Sunday?”
GMP: “No way because we’ve already set up policing for Saturday, everyone’s off on Sunday, we can’t change it at such short notice, you need to give us at least a month’s notice, more if it’s a change from a Saturday to a Sunday as it messes with out rotas”.
City: “Hmmm…. well what about the following week… no we have to play Tottenham then because of what happened with Arsenal when they couldn’t play us and the match had to be rescheduled 3 times because the stadium was inaccessible via public transport. OK - well we could play Tottenham and then later in May play United we’ll approach the FA”
FA: “don’t be silly, it clashes with play-offs and the FA cup final. You can’t move the match, United will just have to play it that morning.”
United: “not fair” (tantrum, hissy fit) “you’re all nasty, bitter, petty blues and doing it on purpose”
Fact is, City are on a loser whatever they chose to do here.
How about football clubs have some consideration for their fans, who base their entire weekend around 90 minutes, only for it to be shifted at the last minute! And i’m desperate to beat them so why should we change to help them?
City could beat you if we didnt turn up
C’mon Ahmed - you’re not this naive
The first comment summed it up - “Why on earth would City want to make a match easier for the opposition?” …. Don’t start getting all ethical 
It’s City’s decision, if they do it really nice of them if they don’t it’s NOT mean of them. This IS the schedule anyway.
MU 7 CITY 0
TAKE IT U SULKY BLUES!
HOHOHHOH…N WE WILL GET YOUR RICHARDS NEXT SEASON! HOHOHOHHO…MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I’ll be working on the Sunday, if the game was changed from Saturday I couldn’t go-I’m a season ticket holder-do we matter in this?
I can’t believe there’s anyone as naive as you ahmed.
I’m a united fan too, but talking about how petty city to refused united’s request is like listening to mourinho talking about not to attack people at the media…
and whether the game’s delayed or not, man utd will win anyway…
Steve - do you matter? well that’s an existential question, isn’t it, and as such one for you to answer rather than me.
this all nonsense idea will be over when man united took all the three point at may 5. Ok! city fans
Er…Ahmed, you sir, are a liar. I did not swear and well you know it.
What about the 40,000 tickets already sold and thoses fans expecting to go to the game on saturday?
Myself and my sons have family commitments for the sunday so why should we miss the game because united have been sucessfull?
come on united - 4-2!!
unlucky city 0 - 2. weve won it anyway, beat city jst 4 fun.
Actually Ahmed, I DID repost it. Number 39. the only bit I missed out was telling Sam to go home because his mams got cake. Oh, and while Im at it, I didn’t indulge in name calling, I was stating a fact.
“Ahmed Bilal-you are a first class prick”-Diablo. Just quoting.
“Diablo, people tell me that every day” Just quoting again.
Now I remember - if you attack another commenter I’m going to be harsher than if you attack me
Anyway, moving on…