What might be going on here -

From memory this will not have been the first time we?ve had an issue with Newcastle as those with longer memories (Elk above) will recall the kick off of our away game with them last season was announced very late. (But not the date I think). This was due to winning their Europa League round. The difference between this situation and now is that there is no discretion as I understand as regards Prem games following Thursday matches - they get played on a Sunday.

I suspect the late announcement of that kick off was City wanting to play the game as early as possible on a Sunday to gain the maximum advantage from Newcastle?s trip to the back of beyond.

Those will longer memories will also recall our home match with Stoke was also subject of a late announcement re kick off due to Stoke?s involvement in the Europa League. We knew we would be playing Sunday but the kick off time was announced quite late. This was also subject to Stoke winning a knockout match in an earlier round.

No idea if really true or not ? but I?d hazard a guess City have played hardball as regards Sunday kick-offs following Europa League matches. Early is to our advantage. We played Swansea this season at 1.30 after their Europa League match as well.

So back to Newcastle. I suspect what has happened is that City wanted to play the original game Tuesday, giving us more time to prepare for a crucial game at Cardiff which we would need to travel to Friday night.

I?m sure the rule was a few years ago, that if teams played Sunday, a midweek game had to be moved to a Wednesday. Now it seems that there is discretion in this.

When the draw and BT Sport announcement was made we applied to the Prem to get the game moved and we have been in dispute with the Prem and Newcastle about this since then. Newcastle want Tuesday as they are already out of the cup. We want Wednesday.

Both clubs would have known the potential issue since the start of the season and at least from the date of the draw where there was a chance of our match being a TV game. Is it not beyond both their abilities to make an announcement early so fans know what?s going on?

Posted By: KentonCanary, Jan 11, 08:14:18